New court eases trauma for child victims

A new 'child-friendly' court is making it easier for underaged plaintiffs in rape and abuse cases to deal with previously frightening legal proceedings. "Children need protection during the entire case, from the initial contact with doctors and police to the trial, where there is confrontation with the person the child is accusing. We have made an environment that is comfortable for children," said Superintendent Leckinah Magagula of the Royal Swaziland Police Department. Situated inside the High Court building overlooking the city centre of Mbabane, the capital, an auxiliary room beside Court Room B is painted like a brightly coloured playroom, allowing children to relax in the presence of attorneys and counsellors, who are referred to as 'intermediaries'. During the trial a child plaintiff monitors proceedings through headphones, which allows children to avoid the traumatic experience of confronting their alleged abusers face to face. "The concept of a child-friendly court was necessary because it was so hard on children to have to meet, again, the person who traumatised them. Children who have been raped can now testify in private, with the assistance of trained intermediaries," said Nonhlanhla Dlamini, Director of the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA). As the trial proceeds, lawyers pose questions to the child plaintiff, which he or she listens to on headphones in the auxiliary room. The intermediary seated beside the child then repeats the attorney's question. If there is any distortion in the question, the lawyers in the courtroom can object, and the corrected question is repeated to the child by the intermediary. The child's response is captured by a video camera and shown on monitors in the courtroom, where the judge, lawyers, the accused and the public gallery see it. SWAGAA, which offers counselling, medical referral and legal advice to abuse victims, has been campaigning for a child-friendly way of handling abuse cases in courts. Prior to the NGO's founding in 1994, the concept of sexual abuse was scarcely understood in Swaziland, and the very idea of spousal abuse was considered impossible in this patriarchal country. "When some of us were beginning to learn about issues pertaining to abuse of women and children, SWAGAA had already put up a magnitude of work to assist the voiceless. Without SWAGAA, it would never have dawned on some of us - the plight faced by children and women," said Attorney General Phesheya Dlamini. The attorney general's office, the NGO Save the Children and the Director of Public Prosecutions worked with SWAGAA to draft legislation establishing a children's court. Although the special court was publicly launched two years ago, it was not until late 2004 that enabling legislation was promulgated into law. Legislation allowing intermediaries to work in the children's court was only passed in March this year. "But the process of justice for child victims of abuse begins long before a court trail," said SWAGAA director Dlamini. In February, the British High Commissioner's office, the National Emergency Response Committee on HIV/AIDS, and the United Nation's Children's Fund, sponsored a SWAGAA seminar for the human links required in a successful court battle - police, prosecutors, doctors, intermediaries and judges all attended a packed programme. "They learned of the trauma an abused child goes through, both physically and emotionally. What was happening in the past is that the involved parties pointed fingers at each other when abuse cases failed: the prosecutors said the police didn't collect sufficient evidence; the police said doctors were not adequately documenting abuse cases," Dlamini explained. Two prosecutions in the new children's court so far have resulted in convictions in both cases.