The Philippine government’s plan to change the age of criminal liability from 15 years old to possibly as low as 9 years old has been drawing flak from netizens and concerned parents, and now two human rights bodies have spoken out against it too.
In statements released yesterday and today, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights (CHR) denounced the proposed amendment.
Approving it would further stigmatize children and turn them into crime scapegoats, HRW’s Asia Division Researcher Carlos H. Condes said.
“If the Senate makes good on its promise to pass this version, and it’s signed into law by the president, this would no doubt worsen the plight of Filipino children caught up in the justice system,” it reads.
The Philippines’ House Committee on Justice approved a bill that seeks to lower the age of criminal liability to 9 years old. This approval is just the first of three readings it must pass before it can be sent for enactment.
The Philippine Senate is currently reviewing its own version of the bill which lowers the age of criminal liability to 13 years old. However, some senators are no considering lowering it to 12 years old.
In its statement, HRW noted that The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child mandates that the age of criminal responsibility should be at least 14 years.
“Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the Philippines has ratified, the arrest, detention, or imprisonment of children should only be used as a last resort, and rehabilitation is a priority,” HRW reminded.
The bill’s proponents, however, maintain that their goal was not to detain minors but to reform them. Under the bill, those above 9 years old and under 18 years old can be exempt from criminal liability and undergo an intervention program instead, unless he or she was deemed to have acted “with discernment.”
HRW’s concerns root from the fact that even without lowering the age of criminal liability, minors are already subjected to “extreme violence” under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.
One high profile case was the death of 17-year-old Kian Loyd Delos Santos who in 2017 was fatally shot by police officers during an anti-drug operation even though CCTV footage revealed that he did not fight back.
The Philippines’ CHR, on the other hand, said that the bill wouldn’t solve the problems its proponents are trying to solve.
“Lowering the age of criminal responsibility be it to 9 or 12 years old is a simplistic response that disregards the complexity of juvenile delinquency,” CHR Commissioner Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana said in a statement posted on Facebook earlier today.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/commission-on-human-rights-of-the-philippines/statement-of-commissioner-gwendolyn-pimentel-gana-on-the-proposal-to-lower-the-a/1935343259915543/
Pimentel-Gana said that juvenile delinquency is rooted in socio-economic factors.
“Proponents of lowering the age of criminal responsibility claim that the measure is meant to discourage syndicates from using children for crimes. What will stop syndicates from using children below 9 years old then,” she asked.
For her, the best way to protect children is to go after the syndicates themselves and strengthen the implementation of the implement the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act.
Some lawmakers have expressed concern about the proposed change as well.
Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, who authored the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act that raised the age of criminal liability to 15 years old, said yesterday that the administration should focus on improving the economy to improve children’s lives instead.
“Poverty and hunger are at the root of these children’s problems. An increase in wages and jobs and lowering the prices of goods, and having them finish schooling are the solutions, not detaining our children and maltreating them. An iron fist is not the solution,” he posted on Facebook in Filipino.
https://www.facebook.com/officialkikopangilinan/photos/a.10152938930103200/10157072352328200/?type=3&theater
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