Retired president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Paul Harrison, and his team will today attempt to uncover the circumstances that led to the tragic deaths of seven teenagers, five of whom perished in a fire at the Armadale Juvenile Centre in St Ann, last month. The other two succumbed to injuries they received in the incident that sparked national debate.

Child rights activists and the country at large will today begin to observe the commission of enquiry, announced by Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in May, into the tragedy that left the country in shock.

The deaths of the seven young women, who were wards of the state, have again re-ignited intense debate on the status of children's homes and other institutions.

In a recent Gleaner interview, senior lecturer in gender development studies at the University of the West Indies, Dr Leith Dunn cautioned that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was not being observed in many state institutions.

She argued that staff at children's homes should be properly trained and held accountable for their actions.

Dunn had charged that employees in these institutions who refused to carry out their duties effectively should be dismissed.

Meanwhile, as the Justice Harrison-led commission of enquiry gets under way, an investigation carried out by The Gleaner recently revealed that many of the critical recommendations of the Keating Report on Children's Homes in Jamaica, have not been implemented in some places of safety.

The probe found that many places of safety had ignored a recommendation calling for the separation of criminally charged children from others in the state facilities.

In particular, the 2006 report, which outlined the status of children in Jamaican places of safety and residential childcare facilities, proposed a physical separation of juveniles in need of care and protection from those deemed to be uncontrollable and those who have committed criminal offences.

It was argued by one attorney-at-law that children who were in conflict with the law should not be mixed with others.

"You shouldn't have them mixing with children who are in need of care and protection," the attorney noted.

In response to the findings of the investigation, Rashida St Juste, communication manager at the Child Development Agency, had acknowledged that there was a challenge in relation to the failure to separate children with criminal charges from others, at the Glenhope and the Homestead places of safety.

"Ideally, what would be needed to achieve separation is an expansion of existing places of safety and/or additional POS being built," St Juste had said, in an emailed response to The Gleaner.

The Office of the Public Defender, a Commission of Parliament, has also signalled that it would be carrying out its own investigation into the Armadale incident.

Public Defender Earl Witter had said his office would be conducting a probe into possible infringement of the children's right to life and protection against inhumane treatment and punishment.

He said his office would also be focusing on the conduct of correctional officers and police personnel involved in the incident.

In the wake of the Armadale tragedy Prime Minister Golding had ordered the immediate closure of the facility.

The other girls who were being housed at Armadale have since been transferred to the Ministry of Education's Diamond Crest Villa property in south Manchester.