154. The CCPJA makes clear provision for child care by the family. The CCPJA and the PDVA
have also made provision for circumstances under which parental and familial care may be
interrupted. The CCPJA has provided for criteria for determining whether a child needs
care and protection and placement of a child into a place of safety. The criteria include
substantial risk of harm by people including parents or guardians. Unfitness, absence or
abandonment of a parent also suffices for alternative care of a child.
155. The criteria listed under section 23 of the CCPJA also tallies with the grounds on which a
finding of domestic violence may be made under the PDVA. Under the PDVA, an
application for an order under it may be made by a parent or guardian of the child or
dependant, or a person with whom the child or dependant ordinarily or periodically
resides, where domestic violence involves a child or dependant; a parent or sibling, by
blood or marriage of the applicant or respondent, not being a member of the household; a
police officer; an enforcement officer; or a service provider approved by the Minister by
order published in the Gazette.
156. The CCPJA empowers a police officer, social welfare officer, a chief or any other member
of the community to take the child in need of care and protection and place that child in
his or her temporary custody or a place of safety. Any child taken into a place of safety
shall be brought before a Child Justice Court within 48 hours.
Article 28: Drug Abuse
States Parties to the present Charter shall take all appropriate measures to protect the child from the use of
narcotics and illicit use of psychotropic substances as defined in the relevant international treaties, and to prevent
the use of children in the production and trafficking of such substances.
157.
The Dangerous Drugs Act and the Liquor Act are the key instruments against alcohol,
drug and substance abuse. These statutes have not changed since the last report.
However, in light of the enactment of the CCPJA which defines a child as a person
below the age of 16 years, it is imperative that the statutes be revised in order to offer
protection to the child not by changing the age of exposure but rather including the
emerging substances that may be abused by children.
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