Kids' trial raises controversy among associations
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Algeria decided to reduce criminal responsibility for kids from the age of 13 to 10, after the Justice Ministry’s proposal, which included a new article in the Revised Penal Code No. 49, accusing kids at the age of ten of committing any act that is punishable by law, as kids are exposed to trial and disciplinary punishment in re-education centers, a matter that opposed the international law, and this was surprising for kids associations in Algeria, which demanded the need to reconsider the law, which they described as a “crime against childhood.”
Algerian network for kids “Nada” criticized the Article 49 that was amended in the last Penal Code, describing it as a “black point and a terrible decline in the field of children’s rights”.
Head of the Network, Abderrahmane Araar ‘s told Echorouk that the old law limited the responsibility of Algerian kids at the age of 13 years, meaning that a child under the age of 13 is not punished, and is irresponsible in the eyes of the law, whatever the size of the violation and the crime that he/she committed, and this contributed, according to the Justice Ministry, to the exploitation of kids in the crime, prompting the Ministry to include the changes in Penal Code to reduce the responsibility of the Algerian children to 10 years.
In his explanation of the meaning of criminal responsibility, Araar said that the child in the age of ten and above shall be punished for any act or offense or crime, by subjecting him/her to a special trial in the presence of specialists in the field of childhood and psychologists, as the kid shall be exposed to questioning and trial by the juvenile judge, who may order disciplinary sanctions in line with the size of the crime he/she committed.
Revised Penal Code was issued in the Official Gazette in the end of 2013, and was a setback in the field of children’s rights, prompting the network “Nada” to conduct a sensitization campaign to revise Article 49 of the law and free the Algerian children from 10 to 13 years, from any responsibility, but this was rejected by the Justice Ministry, who agreed to retain the age of ten with easing the criminal penalties on children under 13 years by referring them to the disciplinary punishment in special centers.