PANEL SESSION VI "“ ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH

Bogor "“ Public Relations, After recess and lunch break, the Sixth Panel Session "“ Access to Justice for Children and Youth started. The keynote speakers were Mrs. Angie Bamgbose from Solomon Island, Mrs. Diah Suastri Dewi, SH. from Indonesia, Mr. Bruce Didimas from Papua New Guinea, and Mr. Vibol Op from Cambodia.

In her presentation "Children and Youth in Conflict with The Law", Mrs. Angie Bamgbose explained that children and youth of Solomon Island tend to have criminal problems. Due to this, protection on them are needed because someday they will join and work inside the community.

The protection can be implemented using formal law system and traditional law system. But there are still several problems to be dealt with: the lack of human resources, the lack of capacity from government and RSIPF, communication and logistic, and the minimum numbers of available data. Those problems can be overcome by building a thight bond between government and the NGO, recording the community who need changing, and also team building.

Furthermore, a delegation from Papua New Guinea, Mr. Bruce Didimas, explained the justice system his country has, the village court system. This court system covers : criminal, civil, mediation, preventif, and join sitting.

The last keynote speaker, Mr. Vibol Op, described the law terminology of criminal offense perpetrated by children in Cambodia. Most of criminal offense perpetrators are 14 to 17 years old boys, drop out students from poor families. Until today, Cambodia does not have any particular law on criminal offense by children, so sentenced must be taken from verdict or alternative punishment.