Failure by psychologists to assist minor children facing the law, non-systematic
consideration of the best interests of the child in some court decisions concerning children
facing the law, insufficient resources allocated for fees of legal counsels and compensation
of assessors in courts do not allow for maximum protection of minors facing the law.
Cameroon therefore envisages:
-
systematic psychological assistance for minors facing the law;
development of programmes on capacity-building for justice system stakeholders;
adoption as soon as possible of the Civil Code, taking into account the concerns
relating to the protection of the rights of the child.
c) Survival and Development (Art.5)
The rights to life, health, education, food, maintenance and development are the
fundamental rights of the child that are guaranteed and protected by our Constitution and
other laws on the promotion and protection of human rights.
In addition, the Government of Cameroon is taking concrete measures to ensure the full
and harmonious development of the child in key areas such as education and health.
Specifically, in response to the recommendation of Article 5, taking care of minors in
custody fits into the overall framework of the prison health that has been pegged to the
national health system. Infirmaries within large detention centres were transformed into
independent medical centres. It is in this light that the last recruitment competitive
entrance examination into the prison administration was opened to the medical staff. In
June 2013, there were 201 medical staff within the prison administration, and distributed
as follows: 18 medical doctors, 36 State Registered Nurses (SRNs), 113 auxiliary nurses,
34 health and laboratory technicians. Five medical doctors are about to end training and
will soon be absorbed into the corps.
Moreover, in the last competitive entrance examination of May 2014, 10 candidacies were
reserved for SRNs and 15 for auxiliary nurses, thereby increasing the medical staff to 226.
To this staff should be added three positions for prisons administrator, psycho pathologists
in the same competitive examination.
Regarding children in specialized training and rehabilitation institutions , the infirmaries
found within such institutions take care of them.
d) Participation (Art.4)
With to the best interests of the child, his participation is effectively seen in the judicial or
administrative proceedings affecting him. This is reflected especially through:
- the presence, during court proceedings involving children, of assessors charged with
ensuring the protection of children’s views;
- the presence, in court administrative services, of social work services in courts (all the
courts in regional headquarters do harbour a social work service; and in the divisions,
MINAS Sub-divisional Delegates do play this role, given the shortage in personnel).
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