JUDGE: CHILD SEXUAL ASSAULT IS OF THE BIGGEST VIOLENCE AGAINST

By: Ghamdan al-Duqaimi
Translated by: Mahmoud Assamiee

SANA'A, Dec. 15 (Saba)-Sexual assault is one of the biggest issues
of violence against children, says Head of Sana'a Juvenile Primary
Court Judge Afrah Ba-Duwailan. Ba- Duwailan says theft leads the
list of crimes children commit followed by sexual assault.

The following dialogue reveals more about children issues:

Q: What are the activities of Sana'a Juvenile Primary Court? What
are its specializations?A: The court works on geographical extension
covers the Capital Secretariat and Sana'a and Jawf Governorates and
has criminal specialization and it never deals with civil issues.
Rather, it investigates and judges in all crimes included in
criminal law and penalties No 12 for 1994, which are being committed
by juvenile less than 15 years. With exceptions from the general
system, the court executes its verdicts and also judges in issues of
vulnerability to depravation and children of social dangers. The
court also prosecutes adults who commit violations making children
heel. In addition, the court is considered one of the scientific
references to which a number of higher studies students come for
research. The court also trains students of the Supreme Judiciary
Institute during the period of annual practice. The court has
significant representation in many activities and exchange
experiences in field of child rights. Furthermore, the court has
supervisory duties on the role of care in which juvenile serve held
penalty detention issued by judiciary verdicts. The court has wide
networking with efforts of civil society to many problems.

Q: How many problems are there before court? What are their fates?
What are their orders via the kind?A: The maximum number has reached
260 case and the minimum 156, in addition to 100 executive issues
all of them have been achieved. These issues varied, theft, killing,
intentioned assault, rape, sodomy and declination. But theft leads
this crimes followed by sexual assault.

Q: What are the biggest issues of violence against children? What
are their sources?A: There is important point, some times it is
difficult to classify specific wrongdoing as violence due to social
and educational concepts. Depriving girl from education, exceeding
limits of family disciplining to torture and underage marriage are
examples of these concepts. Although underage marriage gets broad
argument, sexual assault remain the worst of all kinds of violence
because it affects not only the present time of the child, but also
his or her future, social, psychological and family status,
especially when the victim is girl because we are in a society does
not differentiate between the criminal and the victim. Some of these
victims convert into timely bombs stressed in the shame can and some
day they explode and avenge themselves on the society. We in the
juvenile court conducted easy study spatula study and found out that
most of those who sexually assault children were themselves victims
of sexual assault when they were in the age of their victims. There
is also a violence practiced in schools and there is child smuggling
and including them in military disputes.There is basic point axis
must not be neglected when talking about violence against children,
the infrastructure like lack of a center of psychological
qualification and a center for housing the victims and
rehabilitating them.

Q: In your opinion what is the extent of reporting on violence
against children?A: In fact, we lack counting mechanism and enough
awareness on the importance of notifying and reporting and that the
issues before the court do not reflect the reality of this issue.

Q: What is the mechanism of investigating children who are victims
of sexual assault?

A: We are not in need of a hall to all kinds of crimes. Our
measures are characterized by secrecy and we are away of formal
forms which enters in systems of other courts. We are committed with
our measures concerning children in the framework of children's
privacy and international committee's recommendations regarding
children protection.

Q: What are the references which ensure children protection against
all violations?A: Law insurances are considered the most important
references of child protection because they are criminalizing all
forms of child's violations. The most other important references are
crimes and penalties law, child rights law, juveniles care law and
direction of the general prosecutor over rescuing penal measures
law, in addition to ministry of education's decision banning
hitting children at schools and the international framework
represented in international treaty to child rights and its two
protocols in this regard.

Q: Do you see them enough?
A: Comparing to what the reality shows improving social lifestyle,
the depression in moral and psychological values and new
unimaginable phenomena, I do not see those insurances are enough.
There are forms of offenses have not been criminalized like child
smuggling but the country paid attention to this matter recently.

Q: Some international reports categorized Yemen as one of the four
countries executing children such as the sentence against juvenile
"Walid Haikal" what is your comments?A: I always follow up these
reports, especially concerning conditions of childhood and I think
that media covers most of judicial sentences in their best forms.
They applied deterring punishments on every one violates children
such defeasance of marriage of child Nojud and executing killer of
the Taizi child and killer of the barber and other sentences because
the life of human being is protected even while in his mother's
womb. Similarly, there are children who kill others and so that they
deserved punishment because the state is responsible to protect the
whole society. But according to Yemeni legislations, execution
verdicts are not applied on those under 18 years or implementing any
other physical punishment like lashing criminals if the doer is
under 18 years. There maybe execution verdicts issued by mistakes as
the case of "Walid Haikal" which met momentum in media and concerned
organizations. In this case, the verdict must be reviewed according
to the law and if there is no retreat from the judiciary, the
president of the republic has the right to issue general amnesty. We
have not to forget that we are in a community in which tribal
traditions play in crucial conditions different role against the law
and Sharia'a.

Q: What is your viewpoint about media role in enlightenment in child
rights?A: Media efforts are clear and there are newspapers have
allocated complete annexes to publish these humanitarian issues,
like for example al-Usra (family) annex of the Al-Thawra Newspaper.
Media role must be enhanced to face permanent illiteracy and this
role must be integrated with the role of the mosque. However, I
advice some newspapers not to publish pictures of juvenile and
details of the incidents they commit.

Q: As a head of court, national trainer to the criminal justice
principles and human rights, expert to the United Nation on refugee
rights affairs and Chairperson of Women Rights in Development and
Progress Forum, how do you read human rights map in Yemen?A: Yemen
is proud enough to root human rights motto in a tribal society. What
if Yemen, the country of fragile economy, achieves success in this
field and further realizes the democracy foundations, the real
guarantee to freedoms of people and their rights in expressing
their opinion? What if Yemen established civil societies, their
religious rituals, syndicates, political chooses, local governance
with wider powers, political guarantees of peaceful authority
exchange, the right of education, health and social care and people
right to returning to fair, independent and honest justice? If a
fault happens in implementation, these rights remain guaranteed by
the right of abolishing such mistakes. Human rights in Yemen are
many and inclusive guaranteed by law, constitution and the UN
Universal Declaration of Human Rights besides political, social,
civil and cultural rights and other treaties. All these guarantees
are coupled with political transparent will to push them into
touchable situation amid many development challenges. From my
reading to the human rights map, I say that the society needs
national project to publish human rights culture and every
development decision must be coupled with edification element. But
the most important thing is rooting concepts of human rights in
collective consciences of our generations to come.

Q: Why must we believe in this project?
A: I will give you a simple example, if you read martial status law,
you will find real wealth ensures woman rights and pushed injustice
away of her way but the law faces unjust social concepts and law
illiteracy hindering woman's benefit from this wealth in many
fields, like her inheritance right and her voice to reach the judge
only through her guardian. Law and constitution guarantee to all the
right to return to justices to take their rights and protecting
them. Another example is silence on reporting on family violence and
sexual abuses on which we turn our heads away hinting only "Us,
Asah", sh, hush . Is not this practice behind "shame" culture? Such
culture forced us to seek 15 percent of parliament seats to women as
a "Quota" system. To enable woman participate politically and to
face tribal systems have denied woman many rights.

Q: What are the biggest obstacles and difficulties facing you in
Sana'a Primary Juvenile Court? A: Difficulties in executing
sentences in regard of financial issues such as blood money because
of the family's poverty. Justice requires balances between rights of
all parties, the price might be very high if the victim could not
get his right and return to vengeance.