COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONCLUDES DISCUSSION WITH GUATEMALAN DELEGATION

CRC
27th session
29 May 2001
Afternnon


Expert Urges Government to Adopt Children and Adolescents Code

The Committee on the Rights of the Child this afternoon concluded its discussion with a delegation from Guatemala on how that country was implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In preliminary remarks, a Committee Expert said that Guatemala had embarked on an encouraging phase in its social development following the peace agreement; the Government was in need of financial resources in order to address the problems it encountered in its democratization process; to strengthen its institutions, the country needed financial support; the situation of poverty had also be addressed by the authorities; and they should deal with the growing human rights violations in the country.

The Expert also urged the Government to adopt the Children and Adolescents Code within a reasonable period, adding that adequate financial resources needed to be allocated for the implementation of the provisions of the Code.

In a brief concluding comment, the delegation said that the President of Guatemala was determined to adopt a Children and Adolescents Code based on the provisions of the Convention. The United Nations Children's Fund had been providing needed assistance for the implementation of child rights in the country. The Government was faced with the problem of allocating funds from its limited budget to deal with various problems. The international community should continue to help the Government of Guatemala in its efforts to implement the rights of children.

Formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the second periodic report of Guatemala will be issued towards the end of its three-week session which will conclude on 8 June.

Guatemala is among the 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and as such it must prepare periodic reports to be considered by the Committee. A four-member Guatemalan delegation was on hand throughout the day to present the report and to answer questions raised by Experts.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 30 May, it will discuss in private its draft concluding observations on country reports which it had already considered during its current session; and on Thursday, it will devote the whole day to review the initial report of Cote d'Ivoire in public.

Discussion

In response to a number of queries put by Committee Experts during the morning meeting, the members of the Guatemalan delegation said that the country's Constitution granted the absolute right to freedom of religion. The fact that the Catholic religion was the dominant one did not mean that other religions were suppressed. With regard to the Maya religion of the indigenous people, it was considered to be a spiritual rite rather than a formal religion.

There were many indigenous groups in Guatemala which made it difficult to implement an all-inclusive and uniform programme for all, the delegation said. The approach in educating people was not to teach them Spanish but to make them literate in their own vernaculars. In addition, bi-lingual teaching systems were encouraged and the languages of the indigenous people were brought to the front so that their children continued to speak them.

The institutions in the country were so weak that impunity at times remained unchallenged, the delegation said. The lack of trial chambers, police forces and other institutions to enforce the law had been past problems but the Government was endeavouring to make these groups function normally.

The transition to democracy had not been easy for the Government, the delegation said. However, efforts were under way and the achievements so far obtained were significant. Within the context of the peace agreement, the United Nations and other international organizations had been assisting the Government to achieve its goals.

Although abortion was illegal in Guatemala, those who practised it despite its prohibition were not prosecuted, the delegation said.

Family disintegration had been a problem because of the exodus from rural to urban areas, the delegation said. The city environment incited people to alcohol and tobacco consumption which was detrimental to the family. The rural environment was considered to play a role in conserving family integration.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had been assisting the Government of Guatemala in implementing projects which upheld the best interests of the child. The best interests of the child were a priority in all measures regarding the implementation of children’s rights. Whether it was judicial adoption or custody, preference was given to the best interests of the child. In addition, juvenile offenders were always provided with legal counselling.
Children who committed legal offences were not discriminated against on any grounds.

Among the 5,000 street children estimated to be in the country in 1999, about half of them had received encouraging assistance, the delegation said. The children were given the choice to return to their parents or to remain in institutions designed for such a category of children. The institutions where street children stayed were equipped with clinical services in order to treat them from drug intoxication. The Government was facilitating the work run mainly by non-governmental organizations who helped street children.

The United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) had been training police in matters of investigation concerning abuse of children, the delegation said.

Traditional home delivery among indigenous people was a common practice in Guatemala, the delegation said. However, the Government had been implementing programmes to train traditional midwives to arm them with modern practices of birth attendance.

The World Health Organization (WHO) had estimated that there were about a million children with disabilities in Guatemala, the delegation said. With the present economic situation in the country, the shortage of medicine and other essential materials had not allowed the Government to fully take care of all the disabled persons. In addition, no specific budget appropriations were made for children with disabilities.

With regard to displaced children due to the armed conflict, the delegation said that because of the land provision act, more land had been made available to those displaced families in the rural areas while others returned to their original places.

Primary education was compulsory to all children and further studies were also encouraged, the delegation said.

Responding to the issue of abortion, the delegation said that legislation prohibited its practice except for reasons which might jeopardize the life of the mother. It was not expected that the practice of abortion would be legalized in the near future.

A child could be adopted after a couple lodged a request before a family court, the delegation said. Because of the situation in the country, some mothers thought that they might get money by giving away their children for adoption. The entire discussion on the law of adoption hoped to avoid all abuses related to it. Some argued that if the mother was able to get some money and if the child was adopted by foreign parents it would be a good deal; but others argued against this.

A great deal of awareness was being waged among the Guatemalan society that new forms of taxation would be introduced to improve the mechanism of tax collection, the delegation said. The present system of tax collection was unable to match the needs of the Government and it was focused on very limited resources.

Breast-feeding was a common practice among Guatemalan mothers, the delegation said. However, in the urban areas, there was a decreasing trend of this practise.


There had been progress made in education, the delegation said; there were programmes to broaden kindergarten and pre-primary schools with more children involved in them. The issue of drop-outs was another problem which the Government was endeavouring to reduce through school incentives.

The poverty eradication programme was being implemented, the delegation said. The main purpose of the programme was to "eradicate" and not to "alleviate" poverty in the long run. The Government had put in place every preparation for that purpose.

Sex education for adolescents had been provided in schools in connection to the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, the delegation said. With regard to child abuse, the Government had been launching educational programmes which involved parents. A legal framework was also envisaged to allow victims or mothers of victims to lodge complaints. In addition, persons working with juveniles were being given training in the management of evidence. There were also programmes run by non-governmental organizations for child victims of abuse. In the institutions where the victims were accommodated, extra-curricular activities and educational training were provided.

Child law offenders were not held in adult prisons, the delegation said; children under 18 years could not be detained for more than three years in juvenile prisons; educational programmes were provided during the period the child offender remained under detention.

In conclusion, the delegation said that the President of Guatemala was determined to adopt a Children and Adolescents Code based on the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The United Nations Children's Fund had been providing needed assistance for the implementation of child rights in the country. The Government was faced with the problem of allocating funds from its limited budget to deal with various problems. The international community should continue to help the Government of Guatemala in its efforts to implement the rights of children.

Preliminary Remarks

A Committee Expert offered preliminary remarks. Formal, written conclusions and recommendations will be issued by the Committee by the end of next week.

The Expert said that Guatemala had embarked on an encouraging phase in its social development following the peace agreement. The delegation had provided information on the situation of street children, and how the street gangs were operating; the Committee had been worried about the conditions of child adoptions; the growing rate of human rights violations; the violence in schools and in the homes; the Government needed financial resources in order to address the problems it encountered in the process of its democratization process; to strengthen its institutions, it also needed financial support; the situation of poverty also had to be addressed by the Government.

The Expert also urged the Government to adopt the Children and Adolescents Code within a reasonable period, adding that adequate financial resources needed to be allocated for the implementation of the provisions of the Code.


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