A second chance: released from juvenile detention and back in school
Mohammad Al-Amin was 14 years old when he was arrested. He had been accused of vandalism and was transferred to a child detention centre in the outskirts of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. He was terrified. Al-Amin had no idea what the conditions would be in a place that was far from his home. He arrived at a noisy facility, that was crowded with…, More than 5,000 children reunited with their families, The virtual children’s courts were developed to help expedite the backlog of cases involving children. Many had been detained after being accused of minor offences. The courts also helped to alleviate health concerns, with crowded conditions at the detention facilities putting young people at increased risk of contracting COVID-19. “When I started…, Call for virtual children’s courts to become permanent, The virtual courts were suspended in July 2021, after COVID-related restrictions were lifted in Bangladesh. UNICEF is advocating for these courts to become a permanent fixture of the justice system in the country. These virtual courts would allow for children to remain in school pending their court hearings. It would also help to avoid the…, Return to normality and school, On his release from detention, Al-Amin was assigned a probation officer to take care of the case proceedings, and two social workers to help with his return. “Rana bhai and Redwan bhai [the social workers] look after me now and visit me every now and then to see what I am up to – whether I’m studying or not, whether I’m on the right path or not,”…
