new Juvenile Justice Law at a conference organized jointly by UNDP and UNICEF

31 August 2008, Somaliland ― Somaliland has launched a new Juvenile Justice Law at a conference organized jointly by UNDP and UNICEF. The new law aims to provide a fair justice system to protect and promote the physical and mental well-being and personal development of child offenders, while fostering the child’s sense of dignity and worth. 31 August 2008, Somaliland ― Somaliland has launched a new Juvenile Justice Law at a conference organized jointly by UNDP and UNICEF. The new law aims to provide a fair justice system to protect and promote the physical and mental well-being and personal development of child offenders, while fostering the child’s sense of dignity and worth. It aims to protect the rights of children in accordance with international conventions and international human rights law, and in a manner consistent with local cultural and Islamic values. The law further seeks to harmonize the provisions of secular, sharia and Somali customary laws relating to children. It introduces provisions protecting the rights of children in legal proceedings and establishes various new institutions, such as Children’s Courts, Children’s Police and Children Rehabilitation Centres. Traditional elders currently deal with around 80 percent of cases involving children. This system is essentially designed to keep the peace ― the result being that the punishment is directed towards the clan and not the individual perpetrator. Compensation may not go to the victim but rather to the family or clan of the victim. A Justice for Children office, set up as part of the inter-agency cooperation between UNICEF and UNDP, is playing a catalyst role in collaborating with the administration of Somaliland to implement the new law.