The Juvenile Justice Project emerged from the findings of research carried out in the first phase of the Young People’s Project (YPP). In the course of this research carried out in Port Vila, the YPP found that many young people, in particular males who are more often young offenders, stated that they preferred to have their disputes resolved and offences addressed through the utilisation of existing kastom approaches rather than through the state legal system. Young offenders who were interviewed expressed concern regarding the treatment they had received from police and the penalising rather than reconciliatory outcomes of the state court system. A more general problem which young people identified in their dealings with the law was a lack of understanding of the state legal system and their rights under this system.
Many young people stated that they preferred to have their disputes resolved and offences addressed through the utilisation of existing kastom approaches rather than through the state legal system.
Another key finding of the research of the first phase of the YPP was that young women’s experience of traditional systems of justice is different to that of young men. For this reason it was intended that a special effort would be made to identify gender differences and concerns in the administration of justice in Vanuatu. While the focus of the project was particularly on the assessment of issues of juvenile justice, it was felt that it would also generate some fundamental and important questions on broader issues relating to the contemporary relevance and applicability of kastom law.
Of particular interest to the Cultural Centre was the finding that it was in the area of juvenile justice that young people expressed most interest in their traditional culture and felt that kastom is of most relevance to them.
In response to these issues the Juvenile Justice Project was formulated with the following objectives:
1) To develop a plan of action to more effectively address the needs and rights of young offenders;
2) To undertake research on kastom (kastom) approaches to the issue of young offenders and the conceptions, principles and practices involved in these;
3) To initiate a broad-based and participative process of discussion around issues of juvenile justice culminating in a national summit meeting;
4) To identify the strategy and mechanisms needed to develop and provide an alternative system which effectively negotiates and incorporates kastom and western legal conceptions of justice to respond in a positive way to the situation of young offenders in Vanuatu;
5) To provide expertise and training on issues of juvenile justice and alternative dispute resolution to staff of the Young People’s Project at the Vanuatu Cultural Centre.
Download 'The Report of the Juvenile Justice Project'.
