TAIZ* Nov. 1 ? A workshop to raise police officers' awareness on how to deal with juvenile offenders was organized by the Department of Women and Children's Affairs in the Interior Ministry in cooperation with UNICEF between 17 and 27 October in the Red Crescent Centre in Taiz.The seminar was led by Dr. Ali Awad Farwah* General Director of the Department of Women and Children's Affairs in the Interior Ministry. A hundred and twenty police officers from the governorates of Sana'a* Taiz* and Hodeidah* a third of which were policewomen* participated in the training.According to Farwah* the workshop aimed at increasing police officers' awareness of how to treat young offenders and minimize the use of violence against them.Yemeni children are not only exposed to police violence but also to domestic violence* early marriage* sexual abuse and child smuggling. Violence against children eventually leads them to homelessness and crime. In addition* family disintegration and the absence of connections between families and schools lead children to behave illegally* according to Farwah. "In all cases* juveniles should be regarded as victims not criminals* and the police have to take care of them and provide them with an encouraging environment and facilities that will make them law abiding citizens*? Farwah explained. ?Regulations authorize policemen and women to transfer homeless children to child protection centers.? Mansoor Abdulsatar* director of juvenile affairs for the Sana'a police department said the workshop educated participants on how to improve the psychological state of children who commit crimes.Waleed Al-Jabri* a policeman from Taiz* said the workshop had shown participants the right way to transfer juvenile offenders to the prosecution."I gained quality knowledge of children?s legal rights*" said Huda Hezam Al-Shameeri* a participating policewoman. She said* "Through field visits* we discovered that we are obliged to comply with children's rights. The authority should hasten the investigation into crimes committed by children* and then return them to their families or to the child protection centers*" she added.There are no specific statistics as to the number of children exposed to violence by police* but* if there is violence* it is due to the policeman or woman?s ignorance of children's rights* according to Farwah. Farwah added that the number of children in prisons keeps changing every day due to transfers and releases. However* due to the existence of child courts and the child police* the number of children held in prisons has decreased significantly. Although Yemen signed the United Nations' Charter on the Rights of the Child in 1989* the age an offender becomes an adult in Yemeni legislation remains confused* with some stating that a child becomes an adult at the age of 15 years old while others consider a person to be a minor up to 18 years old. Farwah commented that a proposal to raise the age where an offender is an adult to 18 years old in all Yemeni legislation is currently being reviewed by Parliament....

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