JUSTICE MINISTER HAILS WORK OF LAW DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
Fri, 27 Oct 2017 12:16:54 +0000
By Chikumbi Katebe
GOVERNMENT has hailed the Zambia Law Development Commission for implementing their mandate to ensuring Zambia laws conform to the international standards in relation to prisons and correctional facilities.
Minister of Justice Given Lubinda was delighted that the ZLDC has made itself visible to stakeholders and the general public through its works and efforts in various legal reforms it had embarked on.
Mr Lubinda hailed the ZLDC through the chairperson Justice Roydah Kaoma at the presentation of the report on the law reform project on the review of the Prisons Act and allied legislation.
Mr Lubinda has emphasised the need to amend the Prisons Act to ensure that Zambia abides to the improvement of prison management in line with the numerous international protocols.
He said the law reform process was triggered by the numerous challenges in Zambian facilities – overcrowding, circumstantial children, lack of transport and medical facilities, inadequate sanitary facilities, cooking facilities and low officer ration.
Mr Lubinda said the government was committed to providing support to the legal reforms to help transform the prison service into a correctional service with full recognition and respect of human rights in the holding facilities.
He especially pointed to the recognition of the rights of unborn children of incarcerated women and the life of circumstantial children who were locked up together with their mothers.
The report has been financed with support from the European Union, UNDP and the Sweedish Government among other stakeholders involved in formulating laws to reform operatives and status of the correctional service in Zambia.
And ZLDC chairperson Justice Kaoma lamented the poor holding facilities which forced inmates to live n inhumane conditions, and appealed for support to work quickly to enforce new laws.
“The ZLDC is mandated to investigate and recommend revision and reform of the law so as to respond to the needs of the Zambian society.
She said the ZLDC was handing over phase 1 of the draft Correctional Service Bill as they continue to work in depth towards the next phase with consideration of the rules and regulations, and administrative mechanisms in benchmarking purposes and bet practices world over.