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COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONCLUDES DISCUSSION OF VENEZUELAN REPORT
21 September 1999
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HR/CRC/99/40
21 September 1999
The Committee on the Rights of the Child concluded this afternoon its consideration of an initial report of Venezuela. It asked a Government delegation to provide additional written information before 1 October.
During the afternoon meeting, the delegation answered questions raised by Committee members on child health, education, asylum-seekers, unaccompanied refugee children, and conflicts in border areas, among other things.
Because of an absence of experts from Caracas, the capital city, the Venezuelan delegation said that it was not in a position to answer all questions raised by the Committee and preferred to submit the additional responses in writing.
The Committee will issue its conclusions and recommendations on the report of Venezuela towards the end of its current three-week session, which concludes on 8 October.
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 22 September, in public session to discuss cooperation with other bodies. It will hold a private meeting in the morning.
Discussion
Answering follow-up questions to the initial report, the delegation of Venezuela said that specific measures had been taken by the Government, particularly in rural and marginal urban areas as well as among indigenous communities, to ensure access to basic services such as clean drinking water and sanitation and to reduce infant, child and maternal mortality. The rural and frontier areas which covered 58 per cent of the national territory were the focus of the Government's activities in social fields. However, in the border regions, the Government also had to combat illegal mining, drug trafficking, guerrilla activities from neighbouring States, smuggling and prostitution.
The delegation said it had little information on health matters. However, it was known that in 1997, children and adolescents comprised 21.5 per cent of the Venezuelan population and that the nation had a birth rate of 2.4 children per woman. Half the births were to women below age 24; adolescents mothers between 15 and 19 accounted for 19.9 per cent of births; and among this adolescent group, one out of ten women had one child or more.
With regard to health, the delegation said that out of every 1,000 registered cases of sexually transmitted diseases, 134 involved children and adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18. In addition, maternal mortality affected mothers under the age of 20. In 1995, there were 102,445 births to mothers under 20, including 4,067 to mothers under 15.
The delegation said only 52 per cent of adolescents between 15 and 19 received formal educations; some 49 per cent of young persons between 15 and 24 whose basic needs were fulfilled continued their educations, while 35 per cent of those whose basic needs were not satisfied received regular education. Among adolescent mothers, 64 per cent did not complete basic education, said the delegation.
In the course of the discussion, the Venezuelan delegation stressed that family fragmentation and the existence of one-parent families had a serious impact on children. In addition, the poverty conditions of families had affected the sexual and reproductive health of mothers, including children. Women's lower incomes also added to family poverty in Venezuela, the delegation said.
On the protection of asylum-seeking and unaccompanied refugee children, the delegation said the Government had created a technical committee to establish a mechanism to examine requests from persons seeking asylum. Although Venezuela was State party to the Refugee Convention of 1951, it had no refugees in the restricted sense, the delegation said.
Concerning the border region between Venezuela and Colombia, which was currently referred as a "conflict area", the delegation said that the situation had affected the security of persons from both countries and people living in the frontier regions had been vulnerable to the consequences of the Colombian conflict. Venezuela had no anti-insurgency units since it had no problem of its own within its territory, the delegation said.
21 September 1999
The Committee on the Rights of the Child concluded this afternoon its consideration of an initial report of Venezuela. It asked a Government delegation to provide additional written information before 1 October.
During the afternoon meeting, the delegation answered questions raised by Committee members on child health, education, asylum-seekers, unaccompanied refugee children, and conflicts in border areas, among other things.
Because of an absence of experts from Caracas, the capital city, the Venezuelan delegation said that it was not in a position to answer all questions raised by the Committee and preferred to submit the additional responses in writing.
The Committee will issue its conclusions and recommendations on the report of Venezuela towards the end of its current three-week session, which concludes on 8 October.
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 22 September, in public session to discuss cooperation with other bodies. It will hold a private meeting in the morning.
Discussion
Answering follow-up questions to the initial report, the delegation of Venezuela said that specific measures had been taken by the Government, particularly in rural and marginal urban areas as well as among indigenous communities, to ensure access to basic services such as clean drinking water and sanitation and to reduce infant, child and maternal mortality. The rural and frontier areas which covered 58 per cent of the national territory were the focus of the Government's activities in social fields. However, in the border regions, the Government also had to combat illegal mining, drug trafficking, guerrilla activities from neighbouring States, smuggling and prostitution.
The delegation said it had little information on health matters. However, it was known that in 1997, children and adolescents comprised 21.5 per cent of the Venezuelan population and that the nation had a birth rate of 2.4 children per woman. Half the births were to women below age 24; adolescents mothers between 15 and 19 accounted for 19.9 per cent of births; and among this adolescent group, one out of ten women had one child or more.
With regard to health, the delegation said that out of every 1,000 registered cases of sexually transmitted diseases, 134 involved children and adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18. In addition, maternal mortality affected mothers under the age of 20. In 1995, there were 102,445 births to mothers under 20, including 4,067 to mothers under 15.
The delegation said only 52 per cent of adolescents between 15 and 19 received formal educations; some 49 per cent of young persons between 15 and 24 whose basic needs were fulfilled continued their educations, while 35 per cent of those whose basic needs were not satisfied received regular education. Among adolescent mothers, 64 per cent did not complete basic education, said the delegation.
In the course of the discussion, the Venezuelan delegation stressed that family fragmentation and the existence of one-parent families had a serious impact on children. In addition, the poverty conditions of families had affected the sexual and reproductive health of mothers, including children. Women's lower incomes also added to family poverty in Venezuela, the delegation said.
On the protection of asylum-seeking and unaccompanied refugee children, the delegation said the Government had created a technical committee to establish a mechanism to examine requests from persons seeking asylum. Although Venezuela was State party to the Refugee Convention of 1951, it had no refugees in the restricted sense, the delegation said.
Concerning the border region between Venezuela and Colombia, which was currently referred as a "conflict area", the delegation said that the situation had affected the security of persons from both countries and people living in the frontier regions had been vulnerable to the consequences of the Colombian conflict. Venezuela had no anti-insurgency units since it had no problem of its own within its territory, the delegation said.
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