The Protection of Juvenile Justice (PJJ) was established and officially recognized in 2001 by the Council of Ministers and Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Cambodia as a non-profit, non-partisan, Khmer-administered, local NGO. In addition to such problems as poverty, malnutrition, and lack of education, health care and other protective services, an increasing number of Cambodian children are
at risk of sexual exploitation, violence, crimes and various other forms of abuse. However, little attention is paid to children who get into trouble with the law of Cambodia. With a growing number of children becoming both perpetrators and victims of many types of criminal acts, crimes committed by and against children have grown more serious and more frightening in Cambodian society. Yet the country’s justice system fails to adequately rehabilitate child offenders and assist child victims. While many child offenders are sentenced to prison, and others detained in custody awaiting trail, more children continue to fall victim to abuse, trafficking, and economic and sexual exploitation, both inside and outside the country. The victimized and abused children desperately need justice for all this abuse. BACKGROUND
Children are particularly vulnerable to all kinds of abuse and have poorer access to the justice system and thus, the Protection of Juvenile Justice (PJJ) was created in order to focus on the critical issues affecting children within the legal system. PJJ seeks to protect the rights of children, and stands prepared to defend abused children throughout all stages of the legal process. In addition, PJJ aims to assist in the construction of a legal system based on principles of equal justice and the rule of law. The Protection of Juvenile Justice (PJJ) was established and officially recognized in 2001 by the Council of Ministers and Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Cambodia as a non-profit, non-partisan, Khmer-administered, local non-governmental organization. PJJ is staffed by a professional team of Cambodian lawyers with specialties in child-related issues and legal training. The PJJ Director, Mr Sim Souyong, leads the PJJ team and is a lawyer and an expert in child rights issues. He served as Director of NGO Committee for the Rights of the Child (NGOCRC) for four years. He volunteered to start and run PJJ in 2001 with support from the team of volunteer lawyers who are dedicated to serving children in Cambodia free of charge so that they will receive fair and proper treatment in both criminal and civil matters. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
PJJ has been active in and expanded its activities to nearly all the provinces throughout the country. PJJ works closely with municipal and provincial courts of all levels, and other relevant organization. It receives active support from the Royal Government of Cambodia, and the various other local and international organizations. The Protection of Juvenile Justice (PJJ) has three main objectives, and successfully achieving these objectives will help to build a protection and promotion of juvenile justice and respect for the rule of law in Cambodia. The three objectives are:
- Provide free legal assistance including legal consultation, representation and defense to meet the needs of child victims and child offenders through all stages of the legal process in the Cambodian justice system;
- Educate law enforcers including police, military police, prison officials, court officials, sub-district chiefs, social workers, teachers and relevant NGOs regarding the Convention on the Rights of the Child and relevant Cambodian laws in order to foster a culture of respect for the rights of children in Cambodia; and
- Improve the condition of children in prison through means of proving rehabilitation services including health care, vocational training and other non-formal education, and promote a safer treatment of child inmates through separate detention from adults.
