The Journey to UNICEF PACIFIC
How do you deal appropriately with a child or youth who has broken the law? Years ago, as a magistrate in the Fiji judiciary, Salote Kaimacuata found herself pondering this very question. Over years of experience, Salote found that the best approach is to have “an iron fist in velvet gloves”, ensuring that the punishment is adequate in relation to the crime, while keeping in mind that the defendant is a young person and thus still in the developing stages of his or her life. “Finding the right punishment, being fair to the wronged person, the person doing the wrong and keeping the community’s overall welfare at large was the hardest job as a magistrate,” recalls Salote. “The punishment is to suit the young person, his or her age, to make up for the wronged person’s loss and to give the right message that breaking the law was wrong.” Salote now works as a Child Protection Specialist with the UNICEF Pacific Child Protection Team, applying her experience as a magistrate to her current occupation. The UNICEF Child Protection Team forms partnerships with governments and civil societies to ensure a safe environment for children in 5 Pacific countries, namely Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Samoa. Challenges and lessons learned As a magistrate, the challenge for Salote was to ensure that after a young person appeared before the court, the punishment was intended to discourage them from breaking the law again and encourage them to make more positive choices in the future. “I wanted to help the person help themselves learn new ways of responding better to situations. With young people, they were too scared to speak in court (understandably), so I asked many questions to understand young person better to find the closest possible punishment so the young person will not return,” Salote reflects, adding, “I did not always get it right. So when the young person returned to court, I asked them, ‘What did I do wrong?’” In an effort to refine and improve legal responses to young offenders, Salote consulted with various colleagues and authorities including Police Prosecutors, Community Police, village leaders, young people and other magistrates from Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. Together with other key stakeholders, they formulated a communications framework called Community Corrections with the assistance of Ausaid Fiji Law and Justice. This enabled them to share their ideas on how to respond to young people who break the law in a way that helps them go on to make more positive choices in the future. Making the transition “Court work was dealing with all the areas of law not just children and youth court alone. I was a teacher and know some things about child development, child psychology and how to respond to children and young people,” Salote says. With her background in teaching and her specific concerns for young people in the justice system, Salote saw the opportunity to make a difference by working with UNICEF Pacific. “When you are a magistrate in government, you are too busy multi-tasking on a zero budget to serve your community; you don’t have access to the research nor the resources to do the job well. Partners like UNICEF, helped me to direct my focus on how children and youth are different from adults in all aspects and in particular when in conflict with the law.” The learning continues Salote continues to explore new horizons in child protection through her work with UNICEF Pacific. “First, I am learning to listen better to my own children Jioji and Talei, ask for their ideas more, value their input, change my ways and model behavior as more rewarding ways of responding to children,” says Salote. As she finds more effective and rewarding responses in her personal life, Salote does the same in the workplace, helping ensure that young offenders are dealt with in a way that helps them make better choices. Giving the law a human face when dealing with young people and changing the intention of punishment from degradation to rehabilitation has proven to be a fulfilling task. “The reward is the young person making better choices by finishing school, keeping their job and at the same time completing their punishment and feeling that the law can be human, fair and understands that they need help to get through that process of growing up to be an adult!” Salote says. “It helps to refocus, redirect young people to choices that can help them stay out of jail in the long run.” According to Salote, an important part of learning how to respond to young people more effectively through the justice system is to remember that childhood is a stage of development experienced by every human being. As Salote says, “Growing up as a child was fun and has to be fun and safe to ensure these children grow to be fun good adults for their children, don’t you think?”
|
.jpg)
