Tdh’s Alternative to Detention measures for children in Palestine: Supporting Productive Lives

Terre des hommes Lausanne (Tdh) in Palestine supports hundreds of children each year who are in conflict with the law, by working with children and staff in rehabilitation institutions in Gaza and the West Bank. Tdh aims to enhance Alternatives to Detention (A2D) for children who receive rehabilitation services in community settings rather than being sentenced and jailed.

The children targeted for A2D measures are aged 14-16 and come from households with economic and social vulnerabilities. The selected children must not hold any serious violations nor be sentenced judicially.

Before any activities are attended; parents or guardians sign written forms and letters to document their consent and ensure their child(ren) will commit to attending. Vocational training activities cover carpentry, aluminium fabrication, blacksmithing, plumbing, and electrical car maintenance.

Tdh works in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) to identify children matching the above criteria who can benefit from A2D measures. A2D benefits the child first and foremost as well as their family and the police, prosecutors, judges, rehabilitation centres and the community. It can reduce the stigmatisation, violence, humiliation and rupturing of social relationships that a child in conflict with the law can bring and is therefore also more likely to stop the child from reoffending.

“I have friends now. They pass by my house so we could go to the vocational training centre together. I’m treated with respect there and I learned carpentry. After the training is over, I want to work at a carpentry workshop near my house,” says Jehad*, 15, who is enrolled in the A2D programme.

During the ‘Enhancing Access to Justice for Children’ project’s first year 2021-2022, with support of Sawasya ll Joint Programme through UNICEF Standard of Procedures (SoP), we were able to enrol 28 children in Gaza in A2D working with the Palestinian Ministry of Social Development’s vocational training centres, and 27 other children are now enrolled in A2D activities for the project’s second year.

The ‘Enhancing Access to Justice for Children’ project, which started in 2021 and has been supported by UNICEF oPt through SAWASYA II programme in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, aims to strengthen the justice system in Palestine through investment in capacity building of juvenile justice actors and child protection stakeholders, developing child-friendly SoPs to deal with children in conflict and in contact with the law, providing psychosocial support services (PSS) to children in conflict with the law through the judicial proceedings and after the release from the rehabilitation facilities, and application of alternatives to detention. So far, over 1,250 individuals were reached, including 921 children.