The sad fate of 17 children on Uganda's Death Row

New Vision reports that Luzira Prison is stuck with 17 juveniles sentenced to death who cannot be hanged because of their young age at the time of their offence. Some of them, now adults, have spent 12 years on death row. Their fate is now in the hands of the Minister of Justice.

The law does not allow the execution of any convict who is below 18. Such a person is to be detained in safe custody until the minister decides their fate.

In the case of the 17 juveniles, it is unclear if the minister will order their execution since some of them are now adults, sentence them to life, or simply release them.

The presiding judge is mandated to recommend to the minister what to do with the children. However, the cases date back to 1997, making it hard to trace the judges who passed the sentences, or, in fact, for the judges themselves to remember the details of each case.

Despite the Children's Act requiring children sentenced to death to be handled by the family and children's court, those on death row in Uganda were deprived of remedial action.

One can only wonder how letting children languish for years on death row can actually achieve anything positive in the children's lives or in fact for Society. Certainly, 12 years of waiting will not have helped justice.

A new report, launched yesterday by the Foundation for Human rights initiative now urges the minister to act appropriately to spare the juveniles the anxiety of waiting.