STATEMENTS & DECLARATIONS
Proposed legislation in Philippines may put children at greater risk of torture

July 24, 2012

Proposed changes to lower the age of criminal responsibility in the Philippines will only put children at great risk of torture or other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The IRCT wishes to express its deep concern over the proposed legislative changes to the Juvenile Justice Law in the Philippines and echo the sentiments of member Balay Rehabilitation Center, based in Quezon City.

“Children are more likely the victims than the perpetrators of violence,” Balay explains in a public statement opposing the changes.

The amendment to the 2006 Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act would lower the age of criminal responsibility – the age in which children can be deemed criminally responsible for their behaviour – to 12. This is in direct contravention of the recommendation from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which has urged states to set the age of criminal responsibility at 14 to 16 in order to contribute to a juvenile justice system that is in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

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