Juvenile Detention Centers in Yemen: Balancing Social Function and Limited Resources

Haneen Al-Wahsh – Sawt Al-Amal (Voice of Hope)

There is no light on the horizon as Yemen enters a new round of complexities in light of regional changes and the concerns they raise. This comes at a time when Yemen remains among the worst countries in the world for child violations.

Recent international reports indicate that approximately 10 million children in Yemen are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, in a country where more than half of the population needs life-saving support. With the deteriorating living conditions and the rapidly increasing number of displaced people, most families are experiencing a severe state of fragmentation, leading to an increase in the crime rate among children, with some ending up in juvenile detention centers.

At a glance, it can be noted that the role of local and international organizations in Yemen for juvenile offenders is influential. These organizations must play a vital role in helping children overcome the difficult circumstances they are going through, and providing them with the necessary protection and support by providing basic services such as food, medicine, clothing, and shelter, especially in light of the crises and conflicts that Yemen is suffering from.

They also have to provide the necessary healthcare for children, provide them with educational opportunities, and encourage them to continue their education. They also help children who have been subjected to violence or abuse to undergo psychological and social rehabilitation, provide them with a safe environment, implement community awareness programs on the importance of protecting children’s rights, and encourage reporting cases of abuse and exploitation.

The role of organizations, whether local or international, is also to pressure governments and official bodies to provide the necessary protection for children, especially juvenile offenders, implement laws related to children’s rights, and work together to build the capacities of local institutions working in the field of child protection and provide them with the necessary skills and knowledge.

However, many local and international organizations and institutions still suffer from challenges that diminish their expected role in improving the conditions of juvenile offenders in Yemen. Perhaps the most prominent challenges facing these organizations currently are the conflicts that significantly affect their work and limit their ability to reach children, in addition to the lack of funding that limits their ability to expand the scope of their work.

With the importance of the existence of juvenile detention centers for the rehabilitation of children convicted of criminal offenses and those displaced from their families, their conditions in Yemen are no less tragic than the challenges faced by childhood itself. The juvenile detention center in Aden serves as a notable example.

Lack of Resources

In 2018, the Juvenile Detention Center in Aden Governorate resumed its activity after the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor completed renovations and provided it with some necessary and urgent supplies. This prompted the center to receive several children referred to it by the Juvenile Court.

The number of children received by the center, located in Al-Sha’ab city, in 2021 reached approximately 70 children, half of whom were girls. Their offenses ranged from theft and murder to being victims of rape and prostitution. The center’s officials emphasize that these children are treated as “victims of family disintegration, not criminals.”

In 2022, the Juvenile Detention Center received support from the International Rescue Committee, which fully renovated the building, including the girls’ section, and rehabilitated the housing, administration, kitchen, and sanitation facilities.

However, the center’s officials state that “despite the modern building and infrastructure, the center lacks necessities. There is no operational budget, and it lacks various essential services, which deprives it of its social, educational, and psychological functions, turning it into a prison.”

The 40 girls in the Juvenile Detention Center lack the most basic services, except for simple meals provided by the center at the expense of philanthropists. Official support is entirely absent, and the presence of organizations is almost non-existent, except for some field visits that “do not satisfy hunger or make a difference,” according to the center’s officials.

Dr. Salwa Abdullah Salim, Minister of Justice for Women and Children Affairs Advisor and General Director of Women and Children at the Ministry of Justice, says: “The Juvenile Detention Center in Al-Sha’ab city, as the only center in Aden and the neighboring governorates, receives children from different governorates, such as Abyan, Shabwa, Lahj, and Al-Dhali’, after being referred by the competent courts.”

She points out that the center has large spaces and rooms, but lacks the most important services for children, such as educational and health programs, and social and vocational rehabilitation, such as training in handicrafts. She adds, “The lack of resources has forced the center to implement simple sports programs adopted by the social supervisor, such as playing football and tennis for a short time.”

We Want to Learn

Yemen is approaching the launch of a new academic year, while recent international estimates indicate that 4.5 million Yemeni children are out of school, two out of every five children, according to a recent report by Save the Children. With the decline in children’s enrollment in schools, education was the first wish of the children I met at the Juvenile Detention Center. “We want to learn,” the children chanted in unison.

This dream requires urgent intervention from organizations concerned with children, according to Dr. Salwa. “We must guarantee these children’s right to education, either by adopting literacy programs or by enabling them to enroll in schools in coordination with the Ministry of Education,” she says.

Officials at the center confirm that most juvenile delinquents are displaced and illiterate, despite some approaching adulthood, a dilemma the center has been unable to address, with its efforts focused on meeting the most basic needs.

Urgent Appeals

“Through you, I appeal to the working organizations, the Presidency, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, and the local authority to urgently pay attention to the children of the Juvenile Detention Center.” This call was made by the Advisor to the Minister of Justice for Women and Children Affairs, stressing that the center’s operations are sustained solely by self-efforts of the Juvenile Court and the center’s staff.

The Juvenile Detention Center, located in Al-Sha’ab City, issued an urgent appeal in early 2024 through several news websites, demanding an operational budget to meet the urgent and necessary needs for food. It added, “The center is in dire need of furniture for the kitchen, and several mattresses, blankets, covers, and pillows for the juveniles’ sleeping quarters, as the Juvenile Detention Center in Aden was the only one in the country before the opening of a center in Hadhramaut.”

According to Dr. Salwa, the center faces major challenges, including a shortage of psychological and social specialists. She believes that addressing these challenges will not be truly successful without vocational training programs for juveniles, such as training them in handicrafts, along with other educational programs. She asserts that these programs will provide them with a basic resource after their release from the center, helping them to change the reality imposed on them due to the economic deterioration and social fragmentation that the country is experiencing.

It is noteworthy that UNICEF recently launched a legal program for juveniles, in coordination with the Ministry of Justice, aimed at providing lawyers for children who have not reached the legal age for courts and are referred to the Juvenile Court and Prosecution. The lawyers will review and follow up on the children’s cases before those sentenced are transferred to the Juvenile Detention Center.

With humanitarian actors reluctant to address the needs of the Juvenile Detention Center, the reality on the ground indicates that an uncertain and bleak future awaits a large number of children convicted of urgent criminal cases, as well as those facing protracted and dangerous situations.