Child Protection Units in Ethiopia

Some ten years ago, Forum On Street Children Ethiopia, a network organization of NGOs working on children's issues, began to assess the role of police and their treatment of children both as victims and offenders.

Forum began advocating on behalf of children and conducting workshops for police around the country. The natural extension of this programme was to establish specialized child protection units (CPUs) in police stations, manned by officers with training in children's rights and an understanding of the difficulties children faced.

In 1997, a pilot project was started in four police stations around the capital: Addis Ababa, with one trained officer in each station dealing solely with cases involving children. The officers were employed by the police force but Forum assisted with refurbishing rooms and provided equipment.

Following the success of this pilot, more officers were trained and the programme extended to ten suburban police stations. Two officers (one male, one female) were assigned to each station and Forum-trained social workers attached to each unit, made up a team of three. Pilot projects were also launched in other provinces.

A coordinating office was established at police headquarters with a full-time ranking officer responsible for the activities of the units. This office also became the centre of collation and dissemination of data on children's cases (both as victim and perpetrator)from all 28 police stations around the capital. A data bank now exists of all cases handled since the project was initiated.

The officers at the unit do not wear police uniforms and are just as prepared to solve a child's problems through family and community intervention as through legal means. Importantly, they have begun to see the children as vulnerable human beings and not as the cause of trouble. In the districts where CPUs exist, community crime prevention and correction programmes have been established to divert children at risk and to avoid the necessity of removing them from their families. The CPUs do not function in isolation. They are connected to Drop-In Centres, Safe House Programmes and to a network of NGOs, which are able to accept referrals and offer professional services.

Although similar units have been attempted in other parts of the world, two factors distinguish the Ethiopian experience from others that have failed. Firstly, there was a commitment from senior police and legal administrators to establish such a programme. This commitment released funding to pay salaries for specialist officers to concentrate solely on children's issues. Secondly, the officers attached to the units were not seconded against their will. These officers were given the option to join the units, and had to show a commitment to children and to solving their problems. Officers were made aware that there would be no supplementary benefits from being involved with an NGO apart from free advice and ongoing training.

The Ethiopian experience has shown that cooperation between an NGO and the police can work. The community attitude to police has improved since the programme began. The number of children incarcerated in adult facilities has dropped dramatically, and a large number of children who would otherwise have started along the road of criminal activity have been diverted in more pro-social directions. Child victims are dealt with more humanely and as a result, abuse is more likely to be reported.

Forum will soon be extending the Child Protection Programme to all 28 police stations in Addis Ababa and to stations around the country. There is still a good deal of work to do. But from the Ethiopia experience, it is clear that excuses of lack of funding are not viable in the case of effective police practices. All that's needed is will and commitment.