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On the other hand UNICEF, we had been told, firmly opposed the initiative. Today, first the first time since this issue cropped up, they spoke publicly about the matter. Here is UNICEF's "official position" which they spoke about candidly after having met officially with the Southside commander this morning.

Luwani Cayetano, Child Protection Officer - UNICEF
"From the UNICEF side, we wanted to make it very clear that moving forward we would like to work on some of those alternatives. How can we work more concretely on some of the things that are ongoing, but also how we can have some more inventive approaches? So right now in the pipeline we are talking about implementing diversion. So we talked a little bit about that. We talked about strengthening parents and working with parents. For us those concrete things we are saying, we were kind of re-stating our commitment to participate in those aspects, but unfortunately not in the curfew."

Emanuel Pech
"So the curfew will continue?"

Luwani Cayetano, Child Protection Officer - UNICEF
"From our understanding yes."

Emanuel Pech
"Are you concerned because from my understanding what the idea or the consensus coming out of UNICEF is that the curfew will do more bad that good? Is there a concern for you on that?"

Luwani Cayetano, Child Protection Officer - UNICEF
"Yeah I think for us though is that we have seen globally that curfews do not work. They don't necessarily reduce crime. It doesn't really addressed the root cause of the problem which is that adults are recruiting children and so we need to deal with the adults and that we then kind of displace the efforts of what we should be doing."

Emanuel Pech
"What is your response to the argument that the children are not being detained, rather they're being placed in protective custody?"

Ilja Talev, Social Policy Specialist - UNICEF
"Well, I think in this case it is a little bit an issue of schematics, because what we are ultimately seeing in practice is that police officers are effectively taking children, in some cases they are taking them home to their parents, in other cases, they are taking them to prison cells or to cells. Now you can speak about how these prison cells are equip, whether they have all the facilities, maybe they have a mattress, maybe they have a television set. Still, does this replace the comfort of the child's home and is this an alternative to the caring environment in which the child will otherwise find itself."

"When I was growing up we grew up on the streets and we played out in the streets. We were very happy and I remember this in my neighborhood when they put up lights in the parking lots so we could play football at night and we grew up in an environment which was conducive for playing, for developing our interacting with our friends out in the streets and there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. Since we cannot provide a safe environment for children, the best way for us is for us to keep our children at home. What we should actually be asking ourselves is what can we do to provide, to make the environment for children outside safe and happy. So that we don't have to worry when they go out, we won't have to worry about their safety, we won't have to worry about them participating in crime or being victims of crime. There is no really justification nor is there scientific proof that this measure actually is working."

Now although that is a strong position to take on the matter, UNICEF said they remain committed to continue the discussions as they work together to achieve the common goals. Meanwhile the child curfew measure will continue to be implemented. Although we could not confirm the figure, we understand that a handful of children have been picked up.