De Lima bats for facilities for imprisoned women, children

Detained Senator Leila de Lima is pushing for the passage of a measure seeking the creation of appropriate facilities for imprisoned women and their children in detention centers to ensure that their right to life and human dignity is protected at all times.
 
In filing Senate Bill No. 1926 or the proposed “Mothers Deprived of Liberty and their Children Act of 2020, De Lima said it is high-time to introduce reforms in the treatment of women detainees to preserve their dignity and rights.
 
“Children who are born to mothers deprived of liberty while they await trial or while serving their sentence, are born without sin.  They should not be made to bear the wrath and cruelty of this world,” de Lima said.
 
“This measure hopes to be the catalyst that will shed a light into the horrors to which children born to mothers deprived of liberty have to live with and survive, that will make the world to which they have been born in better, and that will give them the compassion and mercy that children for all their innocence and purity rightfully deserve,” she added.
 
The senator cited the case of the late baby River Nasino, child of political prisoner Reina Mae Nasino, as compelling proof of the need to introduce reforms on laws that affect the rights of pregnant and nursing women deprived of liberty.
 
Reina Mae, she pointed out, lost in her appeal for the lower court to keep her baby inside the jail for a year, or for a hospital stay arrangement while breastfeeding her child after giving birth.
 
Her baby, River, eventually died at only three months old just after the court decided to separate them. The child had suffered acute respiratory distress syndrome.
 
“The tragic story unfolded before the public to witness:  how a still nursing infant was so heartlessly snatched from her mother’s bosom, deprived of her mother’s breast milk, which has long been scientifically proven to be effective in strengthening a child’s immune system, and caught in the middle of court pronouncements against her best interest,” the senator lamented.
 
Under the bill, all infants born to women PDLs while the latter is under detention, shall remain with their mothers for the first twelve months after birth.
 
“Thereafter, in allowing children to stay with their mothers while under detention or serving sentence, the best interest of the child shall be the paramount consideration,” she said.
 
“Decisions as to when a child is to be separated from his (or) her mother after 12 months from birth, shall be based on individual assessments and the best interest of the child,” she added.
 
The bill is in compliance with several international laws and principles, including, among others, the Nelson Mandela Rule which requires member States to work towards establishing in women’s institutions “special accommodation for all necessary pre-natal and post-natal care and treatment.”
 
The measure also takes into consideration Article 30 on “Children of Imprisoned Mothers” from the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The said Charter seeks to provide special treatment to expectant mothers and to mothers of infants and young children who have been accused or found guilty of infringing the penal law.
 
It also mandates parties to ensure that a non-custodial sentence will be first considered when sentencing such mothers.
 
“Non-custodial sentences for pregnant women and women with dependent children shall be preferred when possible and appropriate, with custodial sentences being considered only when the offense is serious or heinous in nature, after taking into account the best interest of the child or children, while ensuring that appropriate provision has been made for the care of such children,” the lawmaker said.