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Welcome to
N A N A Y
PHILIPPINES
-- Where young and old in the Philippines and abroad
support and recognize each other as important members
of society
NEWS UPDATES
US Congress to examine plight of jailed Pinoy
street kids
By Jose Katigbak, STAR Washington Bureau
The Philippine Star 09/14/2005
WASHINGTON — About 5,000 children, the majority of them
innocent and some as young as eight are currently languishing in jails
throughout the Philippines mixed together with hardened criminals and at grave
risk of violence and sexual abuse, children’s rights advocate Fr. Shay Cullen
said.
An Irish Catholic priest who has worked as a missionary in the Philippines since
1969, Fr. Cullen is in Washington as a key witness at a Congressional hearing to
examine the plight of street children around the world and their incarceration
in overcrowded jails under deplorable conditions.
On the eve of his testimony he told a press conference on Monday that President
Arroyo should declare a moratorium on the arrests and detention of children and
appoint a "roving ambassador for children" with the authority to coordinate the
efforts of all agencies at national and local levels in addressing problems
facing the youth.
He said in his testimony before Congress he will suggest that US aid and
assistance to the Philippines be tied to how well the Arroyo administration
safeguards human rights and protects children.
Fr. Cullen said US assistance should be given directly to agencies working with
the government to help street children.
"The principle should be that aid should not be given where it is going straight
to politicians and not directly to projects for children," he said.
Earlier in the day Fr. Cullen and Lord David Alton, co-founder of the
international human rights organization Jubilee Campaign and a former member of
the British House of Commons, visited the Philippine embassy in Washington and
suggested fines be substantially increased against local officials who do not
comply with a law requiring them to establish shelters exclusively for child
offenders.
Fr. Cullen said it was unfortunate that a Juvenile Justice bill that seeks to
prohibit the treatment of child offenders as adult criminals was stalled in the
Philippine Senate.
He lauded the Supreme Court for changing some rules that have allowed the
release of some 150 children to the custody of his PREDA foundation over the
past nine months.
Fr. Cullen is founder of the People’s Recovery Empowerment Development
Assistance Foundation, Inc., which has been providing help to street children
and rehabilitating and educating them to be productive citizens.
He lamented the absence of adequate social services in the Philippines and said
because of this street children were being warehoused in jails regardless of
whether or not they have committed a crime.
Children are often apprehended without warrant and frequently jailed without
being charged.
"Because kids don’t vote, politicians ignore them. It is up to us to be their
voice," he said.
He said he has asked provincial authorities for vacant government buildings at
San Nicolas, Castillejos, Zambales to be converted into a children’s home and
rehabilitation center but his plea has fallen on deaf ears.
Fr. Cullen said because of his advocacy work for children he has received so
many death threats that he has lost count.
Later in the week Fr. Cullen will brief the Filipino American community at a
forum organized by the National Federation of Filipino American Associations,
the Philippine American Foundation for Charities and the Philippine American
Chamber of Commerce on how they can help protect street children.
A petition to "Save Filipino children in prison" is being circulated on an
Internet website www.PetitionOnline.com for presentation to the United
Nations and international rights groups in an apparent effort to force the
Philippine government into taking action.
The petition calls on the government to protect children, to release them from
prison, train and rehabilitate them and reunite them with parents or place them
in foster homes.
Contact Information
- Telephone 305-981-3232
- FAX 305-981-3231
- Postal address
- 659 N.E. 125 Street, North Miami, Florida 33161
- Electronic mail:
joybruce@aol.com
elsabayani2003@yahoo.com
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