Togo Solidarity Day

11 January 2010

Nearly two thousand men, most of them young, are packed into a sandy courtyard smaller than half a football pitch. Surrounding it are the doors to cramped communal cells where up to 80 men are forced to lie on their sides in order to sleep.

For months and often years, many of them are detained without charge and with no idea of how long they will be there. That's the reality of Lomé Civil Prison, in the West African capital of Togo.

Hardly the most suitable space in which to hold a public event! But that's exactly what Togo YMCA and a group of young prisoners managed to do with great success in December.

Prisoners huddled together to allow enough room for several rows of chairs to be placed in front of a make-shift stage. From here the struggle and injustice of their day-to-day existence was played out, led by a group of young prisoners supported by the YMCA. 

Seated in the audience were key figures in the Togolese justice system, including the Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice and Director of the Prison Service, as well as a representative from the European Union. They watched as the group of young men performed a powerful drama about life as a detainee in Togo, and then read out their hopes for change.

"We, the detained, have a role to play in ensuring that our rights are respected and fulfilled. We would like to take this opportunity to present our grievances and hopes".

Among these wishes were that every person's case should be fairly and quickly processed by a judge. Of the 1,874 people in prison that day, only about 300 had been judged. Also, that sufficient food be provided at least twice a day to all prisoners. Currently they only receive a small amount of poor quality food once a day.

One of the young prisoners expressed his frustrations through a poem:

Justice, where are you?
Arrested, beaten, transferred to prison
Sometimes without signing
Sometimes with no statement to sign
Once in detention, how long for?
No one knows

Lomé prison has possibly never been so quiet. As everyone watched and listened, the silence was only broken when prisoners cheered in response to the demands made by their peers.

After the Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice spoke, the cheers became louder. He announced that the following day 71 prisoners would be released. It seemed so simple, so arbitrary. An excellent result for any lobbying exercise.

But this alone won't be enough to change the system and to prevent further injustices from occurring. That requires a fundamental change to the judicial system, to the time it takes for cases to get to court and the availability of lawyers to deal with them. And that's exactly what Togo YMCA will be advocating for.

Over the next three years, with the support of Y Care International, Togo YMCA will continue working to ensure that fewer young people get caught up in the justice system in the first place and that those who do are treated with dignity and respect.