BUJUMBURA July 8th (ABP) – “Any young person accused or found guilty of having violated the criminal law shall entitled to humane treatment and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person”, according to article 18 of the African Youth Charter, in its section 1.
In this chapter of the application of the law, section 2 of the said article specifies that the States Parties to the African Youth Charter adopted on July 2, 2006 in The Gambia, undertake in particular to ensure that any young detainee or incarcerated in prisons or re-education centers are not subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment; and to ensure that any young person who is still a minor accused, is separated from those charged and subjected to different treatment.
They also undertake to set up special rehabilitation centers for accused and imprisoned young people, who are still minors, and to ensure that they are separated from adults; as well as setting up social reintegration programs for young prisoners, based on retraining, rehabilitation and reintegration into family life;
Finally, the States Parties to the said Charter undertake to ensure continuous education and the development of the skills of young prisoners as an integral part of the process of restoring justice; and to ensure that lawyers are made available to accused and charged young people. It is worth noting that Burundi is one of the Member States of the African Union (AU) that have already ratified this African Youth Charter.