Presentation on Juvenile Justice System in Cambodia in

Presentation on “ Juvenile Justice System in Cambodia” in The 1 st Meeting of the ASEAN Juvenile Organizing Committee (Bangkok from 1 st- 4 th September, 2014) by H. E Chan Sotheavy Secretary of State Ministry of Justice Cambodia 1

Table of Contents I. The Juvenile Justice System and Its Function II. Challenges related to the treatment of children and youth in conflict with the law III. Advancements related to the treatment of children and youth in conflict with the law IV. Practical suggestions to provide services for those children and youth in conflict with the law 2

I. The Juvenile Justice System and Its Function 1. Structure of the Courts: In Cambodia, the structure of the courts is divided into two levels: Lower Court: • Capital/Provincial Courts of First Instance (there are in total 23 Capital/Provincial Courts). The lower court is divided into specialized courts such as: Criminal Court, Civil Court, Commercial Court, and Labor Court… Higher Courts consist of: • The Court of Appeal • The Supreme Court The Appeal Court and the Supreme Court are also divided into specialized chamber courts including : Criminal Chamber, Civil Chamber, Commercial Chamber, Labor Chamber… etc. * In Cambodia, a separated special court for children has not yet been established. 3

2. The Function: • All levels of courts exercise judicial power over all types of cases including juvenile cases (Art 4 of the Law on the Court Organization, July 2014). • Each court takes action on the case and makes a judicial decision independently as to their competence (Art 14 of the Law on the Court Organization, July 2014) and based on key principles such as the followings: 1. The best interest of Children in Conflict with the Law is guaranteed. 2. Treatment minors in humanitarian ways that preserve their dignity is guaranteed. 3. The freedom of expression of the minors is guaranteed. 4. Police custody, pre-trial detention and imprisonment is the last resorts and are to be carried out within the shortest period of time. 5. The judgment of the diversion within the legal framework is guaranteed. 6. The functioning of child friendly proceedings in minor cases is guaranteed. 4

* The procedures in dealing with a criminal case involved minors, there are 5 stages as states in Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP) 2007 : 1 - Case file in Judicial Police stage: For Judicial Police - Article 96 of CCP stipulates the term of police custody due to the types of offences committed by minors. • • In case of felony, a minor aged between 14 years old and less than 16 years old may not be placed in police custody for more than 36 hours. In case of misdemeanor, a minor aged between 14 years old and less than 16 years old may not be placed in police custody for more than 24 hours. In case of felony, a minor aged between 16 years old and less than 18 years old may not be placed in police custody for more than 48 hours. In case of misdemeanor, a minor aged between 16 years old and less than 18 years old may not be placed in police custody more than 36 hours. A minor who is less than 14 years old may not be placed in police custody. - Article 100 of CCP stipulates about the judicial police officer notify by all means the parents, the legal representative or any person who is responsible for a minor. 5

2 - Action of Prosecutor stage: Any rules implemented in judicial police stage also pertain to the prosecutor. 3 - Action of Investigating Judge stage: The investigating judge as stipulate: - Article 212 of CCP stipulates that a minor under 14 years old may not be temporarily detained. The investigating judge can decide to send the minor temporarily to his parents or legal guardians. - Article 213 of CCP stipulates the duration of provisional detention for felonies committed by minor from 14 to under 18 years old. - Article 214 of CCP stipulates the duration of provisional detention for misdemeanors committed by minor from 14 to under 18 years old. 6

4 - Hearing : - Article 39, 40, 41 of CC stipulates the measures of supervision, education, protection and assistance for the minors. - Article 160 of CC stipulates principal penalties applicable to minors from the age of fourteen and over. - Article 163 of CC stipulates that a minor is not subject to provision pertaining to repeated offences. 5 - Execution of Criminal Judgment : 7

II. Challenges related to the treatment of children and youth in conflict with law - The drafting of the “Juvenile Justice Law“ is more time-consuming than expected (it has not yet been adopted ). - The separated special court for children has not yet been established. - The understanding of the Child-Friendly proceedings among law enforcement officials is limited. It’s sometimes there is a lack of available services for example: legal services, care giving services, the services in seeking parents and family members. . … in order to assist Children in Conflict with the Law. - The registration of case files is made by hand as the computerized case file registration system has not yet been implemented (it is not as quick as the use of the computerized case file registration system). - Limited community awareness of integration of children released from prison. 8

III. Advancements related to the treatment of children and youth in conflict with the law 1. Advancement within legal framework and other provisions • Fundamental Law • Ancillary Law • Special Law All is adopted and is being implemented • The draft of the law on “Juvenile Justice” is being forced to be adopted within a short period of time. 9

* The Draft of the Law on “ Juvenile Justice ” This draft law consists of 108 articles classified into 16 chapters : Chapter 1: “ General Provisions ” consist of 4 articles (article 1 to 4) Chapter 2: “ Principal and basic rights of Children in Conflict with the Criminal law ”consists of 2 articles (article 5 to 6) Chapter 3: “ Criminal and Civil Responsibility of Children in Conflict with the Criminal law ”consists of 5 articles article 7 to art 11) Chapter 4: “ Judicial Police and Investigation ” consists of 11 articles (article 12 to 22) Chapter 5: “ Prosecution ” consists of 8 articles (article 23 to 30) Chapter 6: “ Investigation ” consists of 15 articles (article 31 to 45) Chapter 7: “ Competency of Court of First Instance ” consists of 11 articles (article 46 to 56) Chapter 8: “ Competency of Supreme Court ” consists of 9 articles (article 57 to 65) Chapter 9: “ Diversion ” consists of 13 articles (article 66 to 78) 10

Chapter 10: “ Principal of Sentencing and imprisonment ” consists of 3 articles (article 79 to 81) Chapter 11: “ Rehabilitation by law ” consists of 2 article (article 82 to 83) Chapter 12: “ Detaining the minor ” consists of 8 articles (article 84 to 91) Chapter 13: “ Establishment and management of youth rehabilitation center” consists of 8 articles (article 92 to 99) Chapter 14: “ Release with condition ” consists of 5 articles (article 100 to 104) Chapter 15: Inter-Provision consist of 3 articles (article 105 to article 107) Chapter: 16 “ Final Provision ” consists of 1 article (article 108) 11

2. Advancement upon cooperation in justice system A. Cooperative Mechanism within the nation • Meeting mechanism for judicial police led by General Prosecutor is strengthened in all Capital/Provincial courts. • The Ministry of Justice (Mo. J) have conducted national meetings on “Juvenile Justice” in order to discuss the principles of national laws related to children and to engender cooperation with relevant institutions in dealing with child cases. • Meetings with development partners to discuss cooperation in providing services to children. 12

B. Cooperative mechanism amongst of Great Mekong Sub-Regional Countries • More Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) concerning cooperation between the Great Mekong Sub-Regional and Borderline Countries (It’s related to human trafficking). • Several meetings between the Great Mekong Sub-Regional Countries to find the solutions to the challenges. • Meetings attended by competent law enforcement officials from borderline provinces, borderline countries: Cambodia and Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam 13

3. Capacity Building for Judicial Officials - Mo. J organized national trainings on “Juvenile Justice” in order to: • Raise awareness of Juvenile Justice and implement alternatives to child detention, • Strengthen the use of Child-Friendly Proceedings in courts, and • Strengthen the understanding of laws. -Mo. J have organized skill trainings on registration of case files to officials in charge in the nation-wide capital/provincial court registrars to implement registration of case files effectively. 14

4. The Pilot Implementation of Child-Friendly Proceedings - The Child-Friendly Proceedings has been implemented as pilot implementation in Capital/Provincial courts including the higher courts. 5. Follow-Up, Monitoring and Evaluation - Organizing the registration of case files to guarantee the management of case file statistics, and following up the handling of the judges and prosecutors from the initial stage of the proceedings to the final proceedings. - Mo. J is preparing an indicator and a system to gather data on “Juvenile Justice” in capital/provincial courts. 15

IV. Practical suggestions to provide services for those children and youth in conflict with the law For Cambodia - The Child-Friendly Proceedings should be integrated into the curriculum of The Royal Academy for Judicial Professions , the Bar Association, the Clerk Training School, and the Police Training Centre. - The dissemination the Child-Friendly Proceedings and other child-related national laws to law enforcement officials should be continuously strengthened. - Cooperation between national institutions and development partners should be continuously strengthened to promote services for children. - The indicator and data gathering pertaining to child cases in the courts need to be made in order to improve following up of the data analysis and the implementation of the law. - Understanding of people in community about the reintegration of children released from the prison should be strengthened. - The meeting between national institutions and development partners working to deal with child cases should be regularly organized to find positive results and challenges in providing services to CICL. For the ASEAN Countries - A networking among regional countries should be set up (Adhoc meeting is not sustainable) and discuss the procedures. - In the future, a Joint Declaration on “Juvenile Justice” in the region should be created (The 16 issues and contents of the Declaration).

Thank you! The Ministry of Justice of Cambodia 17