Young detainees in Burundi are living in a miserable condition, it seems, the criminal justice system of the region is insensitive towards the requirements of the young people.

Alison des Forges, senior regional adviser to Human Rights Watch asserted,

children, who are treated as adults, are sometimes tortured for confessions. Most of them cannot access legal advice or representation.

Their older inmates often subject the children who are undergoing trail to sexual harassment. And this sheds negative impact upon the minds of young people.

The living condition is so deplorable that more than 25 children have to share common room, where some have reported to stay awake all night. The children are also afraid to take shower least they become prey by their ’seniors’, who tend to hawk upon them. Also, children have accounted their misery over sharing common toilets.

Figuratively, there are more than 400 children under the age of eighteen detained in prison, while others are captive in communal holding cells and police lock-ups.

Special centers for the child offenders must be established in the region however, the authorities are trying to make a move in the direction by providing alternatives to incarceration. Now, lets see, how far the government can go in framing their move.

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