Vice Minister of Justice, Ivo Jorge Valente said the government identified a site in Tibar, in Liquiça District, where it intends to build the new detention centre for minors.
Currently minors share space with adult prisoners at the Becora Prison in Dili.
The vice minister said this project falls under the major projects category so it will need to be coordinated by the National Development Agency (ADN).
The Timorese government allocated US$500,000 out of the 2014 state budget for the design and construction of the detention centre for minors scheduled to begin in 2015.
“The land title is clear. Now all we are waiting on is the design. When it is completed construction will begin next year,” Vice Minister Valente said, in his office in Colmera, Dili.
The government hopes the new facility will allow state institutions to provide vocational training and re-integrative education to young offenders rather than having the minors to share space with adult prisoners.
The Program Coordinator for child protection, NGO Forum Tau Matan (FTM), Honorio Almeida said the government has to create adequate conditions that protect young offenders based on signed international conventions on child rights.
Currently the draft Juvenile Justice Law is being considered by the Council of Ministers that includes sections on the government’s ability to build a rehabilitation centre for minor and allows the Ministry of Social Solidarity to create an alternative centre that looks after the welfare of children who are in trouble with the law.
“The two centres are very important for minors who have broken the law but allow them to be separated from the adult prisoner population at Becora prison.They need a space where they can be rehabilitated and treated with dignity,” said Almeida.
