Cambodia justice 'fails children'

By Guy De Launey BBC News, Cambodia

Human rights organisations have criticised the way children are treated in Cambodia's justice system.

They say there are hundreds of under-age prisoners in the country's jails and many of them are forced to share cells with adults. A coalition of local and international groups has called on the government to pass legislation to protect the children.

Conditions in Cambodia's jails are notorious.

There can be as many as 60 inmates in a single cell, food is scarce, and standards of hygiene are poor. Life is difficult enough for adult prisoners but human rights groups say it is unacceptable that children are sharing the same conditions.

Beatings

There is only one facility in the country designed for juvenile prisoners. The rest of the rising number of under-age detainees have to take their chances with adults.

The local rights organisation, Licadho, says that children have reported beatings from prison officials and fellow-inmates alike.

An official from the United Nations' children's organisation, Unicef, warned that the problem was getting out of hand.

Sandy Feinzig has also been working with the government to introduce a juvenile detention law and a new criminal procedure code.

''This year our hopes are to get these two laws passed, which could do a tremendous amount to reduce the sentences for children, divert them into projects, provide alternatives to sentencing, all of which will lessen the overcrowding in the current prison facilities,'' she says.

The need for reform is clear. This week local newspapers reported that a prisoner in a provincial jail died from a "hunger-related disease".

A government spokesman said it was difficult to justify spending more on food for convicts, when many public sector workers earned just $20 a month.

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