Office of the Ombudsman, Samoa‘s National Human Rights Institution Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child – September 2015 education for young prisoners on remand or held in detention103, and rules concerning labour.104 81. The NHRI further commends the establishment of the Youth Court as a special division of the District Court under the Youth Offenders Act 2007. The Youth Court has already heard a number of cases, many of an extremely sensitive nature.105 The NHRI will monitor decisions taken by the Youth Court and look to offer future training for judicial officers in applying relevant human rights standards in the administration of juvenile justice. 82. Whilst it must be recognised that significant steps have already been taken to legislate for juvenile justice standards as per the Committee‘s recommendation in its last Concluding Observations106, several areas of concern remain which demonstrate that the government is not upholding its obligations under Articles 37 (b), 39 and 40 of the Convention. The NHRI has collected information in relation to this through its monitoring of places of detention function and in the course of a number of investigations. 83. The Government should be commended for establishing an independent monitoring mechanism for places of detention through the enactment of the Ombudsman Act 2013.107 84. After receiving technical assistance from the Asia Pacific Forum for National Human Rights Institutions, the New Zealand Commonwealth Ombudsman‘s Office and the Pacific Ombudsman‘s Alliance, the NHRI conducted its first set of inspections of places of detention in Samoa In January 2015. The inspections identified a number of concerns relating to the implementation of articles 37 (b), 39 and 40 of the Convention and the standards referenced in recommendation 59 in the Committee‘s last periodic report. The main areas of concern related to classification, health and hygiene, labour and education and rehabilitation. The report findings also highlight that full implementation of the Prisons and Corrections Act 2013 has yet to be achieved.108 85. The program of inspections included a visit to Oloamanu Juvenile Centre, Samoa‘s only juvenile detention facility, located at Mulifanua, Upolu. However, the facility holds detainees up to the age of 26 years old and on the day of the visit the total number of inmates was 23, all male. A number of concerns were observed:  Staff sharing accommodation with inmates; 103 s 60 (2)(e)(v), Ibid s 47(1)(c) 105 A number of the decisions can be found at http://www.paclii.org/ws/cases/WSYC/[accessed 4 September 2015] 106 See recommendation 59 of the Committee‘s Concluding Observations. 107 Section 33 (e) of the Ombudsman Act 2013 requires the NHRI ‗to visit all public and, subject to section 48, private places of voluntary and involuntary confinement or detention‘. 108 Full findings and recommendations can be found in the Office of the Ombudsman/National Human Rights Institution, Detention Centre Inspections Report, June 2015, available at www.ombudsman.gov.ws 104 27