Togo: harsh detention conditions for children

Laure Elmaleh. The juvenile justice system in Togo has adopted a punitive approach: children and adolescents who commit a crime must be punished or disciplined. This mentality is reflected in the treatment they receive during police custody and detention, treatment that can undeniably be classed as inhuman and degrading, even torture. Law enforcement and victims of crime sometimes have recourse to employ such practices to punish minors or coerce a confession from them. The absence of legal representation for minors in police custody explains why this practice is so prevalent.

Legal aid, which is a legal obligation, is clearly lacking. Aid is only available from civil society organisations that provide it in prisons. The absence of representation prevents minors from asserting their rights and from spending less time in custody.

Judicial procedures are slow; there is also a lack of personnel, assessors, and court clerks, as well as a lack of resources (financial, material, and technical), which leads to procedural delays. Children sometimes remain in pre-trial detention for over a year for petty offenses, such as theft, for example¹. Downgrading crimes has not led to quicker justice, and the COVID-19 pandemic has caused greater delays in procedures.

LE. Previously, there was a section for minors in each of the 13 civil prisons. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the State has now crammed all minors into the sections for minors in just four prisons, with empty cells being used for solitary confinement.

The living conditions are truly bleak. The detention centres desperately lack adequate infrastructure, including mattresses and toilets. The hygiene in these centres is deplorable and there is little ventilation and minimal access to health care. The infirmaries in the juvenile sections lack medical personnel, medications and supplies. Children often come down with skin conditions and infectious diseases and their care is inconsistent. Some children do not have access to toilets and instead must use pots next to where they eat and sleep. They do not receive the educational and activity programmes provided by the prison administration. NGOs used to fulfil this role before the pandemic, however, this is no longer the case as visits have been suspended.

In December 2020, the brigade for minors, the only detention centre for minors in Lomé, was replaced with a Centre for Access to Rights and Justice for Children (*centre d’accès aux droits et à la justice pour les enfants, CADJE). This institution, which has thirteen (13) dormitories all furnished with mattresses and toilets, is closer to meeting international standards in terms of infrastructure. However, there remains a lack of funding and staff, especially guards. Another centre for minors opened on 8 October 2020 in the northern part of the country (Kara), but it is not yet operational.

Even though the construction of these centres is an improvement, the reality of the detention conditions of children remains unchanged. The centres lack funds, supplies, and technical resources and do not have specifically defined duties.

Homeless children can sometimes end up in detention. As there are no specific institutions to accommodate children living on the streets, the Police tend to “pick them up” and take them to prison while they find their parents. They are mixed in with minors suspected of committing a crime or a misdemeanour. Children born in prison also live in deplorable conditions. They do not receive any specific protection or favourable treatment. They live with their mothers in the same living conditions as the other prisoners in the women’s sections. There also doesn’t seem to be any specific protection or treatment for incarcerated mothers who give birth while in prison, such as alternatives to detention, for example.

LE. Neither NGOs nor families have been able to visit detention centres since the COVID-19 pandemic started. This has led to family ties being broken and a lack of external monitoring of prisons. Only the National Preventive Mechanism is allowed to visit. Visitation restrictions have not yet been lifted even though they are no longer necessary and are disproportionate to the current health situation.

Visitation restrictions have a more detrimental effect on children than they do on adults, as their perception of time is different. Maintaining ties with parents is essential for children.

Families also brought meals for incarcerated children, allowing them a better quality and quantity of food. The OMCT is looking at ways to regain access to prisons while respecting health measures. Discussions are underway with prison officials, mainly in Lomé, to set up a visiting room with plexiglass panels.

Reopening prisons to visitors is a priority if detention conditions are to improve. It is equally important that anyone involved with the penal system be educated on torture and mistreatment. During the CACIT and the OMCT’s 2019 and 2020 visits to prisons in Togo, some fifteen allegations of torture and other forms of mistreatment were reported. Staff must explicitly be made aware that torture is prohibited. The OMCT has provided training about these practices and the situation in Lomé has improved. More training of this kind should be provided in other regions of Togo.

For more information:

Consult the country- specific report on detention conditions of children in conflict with the law in Togo published in June 2021, by the CACIT and the OMCT for the 130th Human Rights Committee session.