Writer: Ana Janet Sunga
Editor: Indra Monemnasi

Talking on Timor Leste (known as East Timor) everything is started from zero. People must work hard to develop the country, neighbours, their family and
themselves. In economic side, every body is fighting for getting at least the normal standard of life. In justice side, it is the same as well. No body wants to
be discriminated from justice. Nice story that East Timore's independence was bringing new light and freedom for justice to every body.

Living in the community, people are really care in accompanying their children and teach them how to be an example child for others. Of course, their parents
do not want their child to be a brutal person. When you travel, you will see many children are playing and walking on the street. They jumping and running on
the road. Even they do not care if the car is coming. The children even never thought that playing in the road could bring them disaster that could short their
life. Something important that needs to be paid attention to by everybody?

Here is a story. Aze Belo is a short but tough looking 16-year old boy who hails from Baucau District. Despite his rugged features, he spoke to us in a soft
and warm voice and seemed rather shy at first. Two of UNICEF staff (Dulce and Ana Janet) explained briefly about UNICEF's work with the Division of Social
Services and the Ministry of Justice in helping uphold the rights of children in conflict with the law, and how we monitor the results of this partnership by
seeking feedback directly from the children. Aze nodded his head and seemed to have been briefed well already by the DSS social workers about the purpose of
our visit. Despite the long travel from his home in Caisidu, Baucau to the DSS office in the main capital of Baucau, he appeared fresh and well-groomed,
sporting a clean pair of pants and shirt. His face looked rather anxious but he soon began to relax as we started the interview and allowed him to speak freely.
He would give us occasional smiles but his eyes and voice gave away the pain he still felt from his whole experience of coming into conflict with the law and of being incarcerated.

Aze grew up in a quiet farming village in Caisidu, Baucau where most people rely on subsistence farming of corn, cassava and vegetables for their survival.
Like most children at-risk and children who come into conflict with the law, Aze comes from a large family and has long stopped schooling even before he got
involved in a crime. Aze is the 7th of a brood of 11 siblings. His father died when he was merely 8 years old, leaving his mother and the rest of his brothers
and sisters to fend for themselves. Aze finished only up to 5th grade of schooling. Like his brothers, he had to stop schooling due to lack of economic resources to sustain the costs of education. For Aze and his brothers, life after school meant helping out in the farm and playing /hanging out with friends. Despite the economic hardships, Aze describes his family as a happy and close-knit family. He describes his family and neighbours as his sources of strength. Eventually, he was able to find a job as a conductor for a bus operator where he worked for one year before his arrest. Every now and then, he travels to Dili to stay with one of his older brothers, who works there.

Unfortunately, Aze was accused of physically assaulting two young men who beat-up his older brother. As already famous that Baucau people is
called a "muturabu", means "brutalian". Aze was accused as a 'muturabu' child. According to Aze, his brother had a disagreement with a group of youth in
their village in Baucau. Aze didn't know the cause of the quarrel but his voice carried a lot of bitterness when he recounted how the group went looking for his
brother in Dili and brought his brother to the Caisidu jungle where they beat him up and almost killed him. Aze was in Dili during his brother's ordeal. He found
out from his younger brother how the group detained his brother in a house where they beat him and burned him with a cigarette. Aze remembered the two men who came to visit him in Dili looking for his brother before the incident. Aze proceeded to Baucau to confront them about the incident. The 2 men denied
beating his brother and claimed that they were even the ones who saved his brother's life. This confrontation resulted to a fight, which resulted to the two men sustaining moderate injuries (injuries in the knee and arm region) from Aze. A few hours after the incident, the two men came back with the police who arrested and detained him. The day was March 18, 2003, a day that would forever be ingrained in Aze's memory. It took a long 5 months thereafter before Aze was released from detention upon order by the trial judge.

From Aze's narration, it seemed that the police and judicial actors who handled his case did not follow legal procedures to the letter, but treated him kindly, nevertheless. At the police level, Aze was handcuffed by the police and detained in the police detention cell together with adults, which are contrary to legal procedures. According to him, nobody explained to him his rights as a suspect.
"Yes, I do not know. No body telling me the procedures of justice." However, he claims that the police were good to him, gave him moral support and explained to
him what will happen after he leaves the station. His mother and a human rights officer were also allowed to visit and talk to him during his police detention.
In accordance with legal procedures, Aze was brought to the investigating judge within 72 hours of arrest and was transferred to Becora prison the next day.

Aze was brought before public prosecutor of East Timor, Mr. Domingos Barreto before facing the Investigating Judge. According to Aze, he did not know and could not understand the roles of the judicial actors present during the initial hearing. Aze told us that he did not have a legal counsel and that he was not apprised of his rights. "I do not understand how come the police do not give me some ideas or advice as children? I think they should, at least tell me not to do anymore. If in the future I still do the same thing, then they can capture me
before bringing me to the judge." This reveals the lack of effective legal advice and representation of child suspects, and the frequent disregard of the right of children in the justice system to be informed of and to be heard in important matters affecting their lives.

Another glaring ignorance or disregard of the law is the absence of Aze's parents or any social worker or support person during the investigation hearing. Aze
recounted how his family was asked to wait outside the courtroom.

At the investigation hearing, the investigating judge interviewed Aze and the victims regarding the fight that led to the case being filed. Aze explained that
the incident was spontaneous and triggered by the victims' severe beating of his brother, but the victims denied this. Both the judge and the public prosecutor tried their best to convince the victims to settle the matter out of court but the victims
refused. It appears, at least, that judicial officers are open to diverting cases of children in conflict with the law and to seeking alternative solutions to their incarceration.

This hearing appears to be the first and last hearing that Aze attended on his case. And also this is the first time violence against the rights of the children
by bringing a children come into the court without any explanation and or advice before judged.

At the Prison
For 5 straight months after this initial hearing, Aze spent his time in Becora prison anxiously awaiting the next hearing or trial of his case. It was very sad news about Aze that as children he should faced the prison and stay there as a big criminal creator while he was not. Aze's family had to find him a private lawyer due to the delays in his case. He claimed he was visited twice by his legal counsel and interviewed at least twice by Florencio of Division of Social Service before his release. He never completely understood the status and delays in the hearing of his case. According to Aze, the number one complaint of children in prison is about the delays in the court process. The uncertainty of their fate in prison is
the most difficult thing to bear. Aze describes the work of DSS social worker

Florencio
as following-up on the children's cases and facilitating communication between the children and their families. According to him, "Florencio asks us about our families so he can visit them and plan for our future." Aze expressed appreciation for the counseling that he and his family received from Florencio. Due to the distance of his Baucau home from the Dili prison, his family could not visit him
in prison.

With respect to case follow-up, Aze acknowledged Florencio's contribution in explaining the court process to him. Most of the time, however, he relies on his fellow child detainees to answer his questions about the legal process, based on their experience in attending hearings. According to Aze, the prison guards don't know the court process. When the children ask them about their cases or to clarify their queries about the court process, the prison guards could only tell them to just wait for the court release order.

Inside Becora prison, Aze was treated well by the prison guards. He fondly referred to Bernardo Borromeo (the head prison guard of the children's
block) as Tio Borromeo and spoke of how the latter was very kind to the children - he bought them cigarettes and asked the children to visit him frequently in his office. Aze also had praises for the other two female guards assigned at the children's block. He narrated how the prison guards frequently taught the children about good moral values. "Tio Bernardo always talked to us about good moral values. He encouraged us to find decent jobs and to avoid getting into trouble in the future." Aze complained of only one male prison guard whom he described as
"not very nice".

Activities in prison were considerable during Aze's first few months therein. He was able to attend a few sessions of the Portuguese language classes of the
Telecurso programme by the Ministry of Education, and the life-skills training on health and HIV Aids by the NGO, Yayasan Timor Hari [before the activities were
discontinued upon orders from the Ministry of Justice. ] However, he expressed dissatisfaction over the HIV Aids classes given by Yayasan Timor Hari, claiming
that the lessons touched on topics such as sex with girls which were taboo to them. He also complained about the Portuguese telecurso teacher, claiming that
he was not friendly with the students and sometimes uttered very strong or biting words. As a result, some children in prison chose not to attend the classes.

On the brighter side, Aze reminisced fondly of prison activities with the local NGO PRADET Timor Lorosae which engaged in drawing, games and sports activities
such as football and volleyball with the children. The activities were light and fun and the children could speak freely to the PRADET staff. Later on, Aze also learned how to play the guitar inside prison. He explained that the guitars and balls were given to the children by the DSS. Aze also expressed gratefulness
for the bible lessons he received from adult prisoners in preparation for christening. " I could not find any activities for the children during in the prison.
I was very sad because it was the first time for me living without parents in the prison. And was boring staying in the small and dark room and many mosquitoes. It will be very good if they could create more fun program there."

Life After Prison
After almost 5 months in prison, Aze was surprised to hear the news that he would be leaving prison. His legal counsel visited him in prison informing and
explaining to him about the court's conditional release order and the conditions he must fulfill. The court order required Aze to report every 15 days at the police station in Vemasse for a period of 3 months. On August 8, 2003, social worker Florencio accompanied Aze from Becora prison to his brother's home in Dili, and soon after to his mother's home in Baucau.

Aze was very thankful to Florencio for accompanying him in his release and return to his family. "Florencio provided valuable moral support to me and my family", Aze said. Aze's family was prepared by Florencio for this event during his previous home visit. Nevertheless, Florencio's presence at the point of reunification helped answer their questions and quell their apprehensions about what will happen to Aze's case afterwards. According to Aze, his family is very grateful to Florencio for the support he gave them on their son's case.

Today, Aze is back to working occasionally as a bus conductor for his previous employer. Conductor is a famous and interesting job for big number of the
children in East Timor right now because they would like to go anywhere and get money for their day-to-day life. Aze has simple plans for his future. Since he
could no longer return to school, he wants to continue supporting his family by working for the same bus company. He dreams of eventually being promoted to a
bus driver, a common desire it seems, by many bus conductors. Florencio and Domingos of Division of Social Service already spoke with Aze's employer to
endorse and facilitate Aze's promotion from conductor to a bus driver.

Life in the Community
Despite his release, life has not been the same for Aze. Aze still worries about the community's reaction towards his release from prison. Aze also fears
possible retaliation from the victims and their gangmates. He related one incident a month after his release from prison when a microlet full of the victims' supporters - around 20 in number - went to his home and challenged him to a fight. He met them head on and engaged in a verbal tussle with them before they eventually left. He reported the matter to the Vemasse police but was frustrated when the police did not take action. For this reason, he prefers to stay with his brother in his home in Dili rather than stay in Baucau. Now, whenever Aze visits
his family's home in Baucua, he tries to keep a very low profile in order not to be noticed or ignite the anger of the victims and their colleagues. This development highlights the need for social workers to work more closely with the victims and affected communities too in promoting reconciliation as part of the social reintegration process.

Asked how he would describe his whole experience in the justice process, Aze still managed to depict it as a positive experience for him in that he met a lot of
people who showed care and support for him and who taught him about being a better person. He described the experience as a learning experience and declared that, "We have to be more patient in handling and solving our problems. Otherwise, the same problems will happen again in our lives. We must not be
arrogant but practice patience."