New Vision (Kampala)
Chris Ocowun
9 July 2009
Kampala — AUTHORITIES in northern Uganda have been asked to separate young criminals from the older ones who often prey on them.
The call was made by the Uganda Human Rights Commission during a dinner hosted for the new chairperson, Medi Kaggwa, at Bomah Hotel in Gulu district on Tuesday.
This follows complaints by human rights stakeholders that children were being remanded with adult criminals in the same cells in northern Uganda for lack of a remand home for children in the region.
"The adults train the children to become hardcore criminals. Let us save these children by establishing remand homes for them," commissioner Constantine Karusoke said.
He added that it was important to rehabilitate the children affected by the war in the north to prevent them from turning into unmanageable youth in future.
Gulu resident district commissioner Col. Walter Ochora blamed officials in the resident state attorney's office for deliberately losing documents to frustrate the court process.
The regional prisons commander ‚Alfred Okullu, said relatives of suspects were being extorted by corrupt officials with promises of assisting them.
During a tour of the UPDF 4th Division detention centre, Police and prisons cells, Kaggwa recommended that court, Police and prison facilities should be built in one area to save inmates from travelling for long distances between the prisons and courts.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
