President Leonel Fernandez and First Lady Margarita Cedeno were present yesterday at the Presidential Palace ceremony to mark the implementation of Law 136-03, which establishes the Code for the Protection of the Fundamental Rights of Boys, Girls and Adolescents and supplants Law 14-94. Diario Libre reports that as of today, the regular courts will no longer hear cases involving minors. Similarly, child financial upkeep cases will no longer be heard by justices of the peace, but by one of the 17 specially-appointed courts to handle youth issues. The president of the Supreme Court of Justice, however, has urged that the number of these courts be increased.
In other changes to the law, children now have the right to accuse their parents of mistreatment.
Speaking during the event, First Lady Margarita Cedeno emphasized that the new legislation does away with the previous notion that viewed children and adolescents as the property of their parents, the state, the judges and the non-governmental agencies, whereas the new system regards them as persons under development, subject to the basic rights that protect their dignity.
By the same token, the law establishes that minors can now be sued for damages. Jail sentences will be given to youths only in those cases where no other penalty is possible. Nevertheless, the new code establishes that minors between the ages of 13 and 15 who cause physical injury or are the perpetrators of sexual assaults, violent thefts, kidnappings, drug trafficking and other penal law violations will be sentenced to three years in jail, and those between the ages of 16 and 18 sentenced to five years. The law says these sentences can be carried out in a specialized detention center.
Also participating in yesterday’s event were the president of the Supreme Court of Justice Jorge Subero Isa, Vice-President Rafael Alburquerque, Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito, Conani president Kirsys Fernandez and the president of the National Council of Business, Elena Viyella de Paliza.