Theme: Promoting Juvenile Justice through friendly Policing
Background
The Youth Bridge Foundation (YBF) as part of its governance initiatives, introduced in 2014 a project titled “Youth Awareness Improves Justice” to sensitize children and young people on their rights and responsibilities.
YBF in line with it mission to bridge gaps for the youth development, has taken the initiative to further deepen knowledge and engagement on the Children’s Act 1998 (Act 560) and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2003 (Act 653), among children and young people with the Ghana Police service. This has become necessary with increasing number of youth related violence among youth in schools, community attacks and vandalization of properties as well as the execution of instant justice, it is of utmost importance for civil society and the Police to build strong and better relationship with children and young people to influence them positively.
It is expected that this engagement with the Police would foster a cordial relationship between children and young people, the community and the personnel of the service. This initiative is under a project titled “Securing the future of young people in Ghana through improved Juvenile Justice Administration” funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
Proposed intervention
The “Young People and the Police” intervention is one of the strategies to address issues of lack of knowledge about the proper handling of child offenders and promote the Police as a friend to children and young people.
The program was organized for children and young people in Suhum, New Juabeng, Cape Coast and Agona Swedru in the Eastern and Central regions respectively.
The focus was to sensitize children and young people on the proper handling of juveniles from arrest to committal and provide children the opportunity to interact with the Police as a way of showcasing their service to children through friendly policing.
Objectives
The above interventions will achieve the following objectives
- Sensitize and create awareness on fundamental human rights, children’s rights and responsibilities and juvenile justice in Ghana.
- Educate the youth and general public on the legal underpinnings regarding children’s right and juvenile justice in Ghana
- Stimulate public discussion on the need for professional training social exclusion of children and young people with physical challenges.
Implementation strategy
The engagement is an open forum with pupils form Junior High schools to interact with the Police and allow the Police to demonstrate and teach children the proper ways of engaging the Police officer and how easy and accessible it is to engage the Police as well as to be educated on their rights and responsibilities.
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