A United Nations (UN) report has revealed that Guinea has been holding minors in substandard prisons for several years without trial.
The UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has called on Guinea’s ruling military junta to end this practice, criticising the widespread use of pre-trial detention for children, which often results in illegal and arbitrary imprisonment.
The report states that underage detainees make up nearly five percent of Guinea’s overcrowded prison population, and alternative measures to detention are rarely applied.
Due to the nearly automatic use of pre-trial detention, many minors are held for several years without trial, despite legal limits of two months for misdemeanour cases and four months for criminal cases.
Some of these minors were attending school before their detention, but the prisons lack educational support. Furthermore, the prison conditions are dire, with poorly equipped infirmaries and inadequate food, both in quantity and quality.
These conditions violate international standards to which Guinea is a signatory.
The UN report was based on 15 prison visits conducted between March 2023 and June 2024, during which the UN engaged with judicial authorities, the justice ministry, and human rights organisations.
Guinea has been under military rule since a coup in September 2021 that ousted civilian president Alpha Conde.
Although the junta had pledged to return power to civilian leadership by the end of 2024, they have shown little commitment to fulfilling this promise, raising concerns about the future of governance and human rights in the country.