Panel rejects proposal to raise age of juveniles from 15 to 18
Manama : A proposal to amend the Juvenile Law by raising the age of juveniles from 15 to 18 was rejected by a legislative panel, recently.The Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee in the House of Representatives did not agree to the proposal stating that it contradicts the purpose of the Juvenile Law.
“The philosophy of law on which the Bahraini Child Code was established, which defines the age of children to be under the age of 18, differs from the philosophy on which the Juveniles Law is based and the penalties and regulations for reform and rehabilitation,” the committee said in a report issued after reviewing the proposal.
Presenter of the proposal, MP Roua Al Hayki, said in a letter addressed to the committee that “the proposal aims at legally treating the 16-18 years old age group with the treatment of the juvenile, especially as this category falls under the category of children according to the The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child”.
Al Hayki, who’s also the head of the Woman and Child Affairs Committee in the council, also said, “According to international studies, reintegrating children into society after committing crimes and ending their term is faster and better than reintegrating adults because of the nature of dealing with children accused or deviant compared with the policy of dealing with the adults.”
The proposal will be reviewed further during the next regular meeting of the Parliament on Tuesday.
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