COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONSIDERS REPORT OF ECUADOR

MORNING
HR/CRC/98/40
22 September 1998




Ecuador this morning presented its initial report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child stating that Ecuadorian society attached great importance to the promotion and protection of children.

Luis Gallegos-Chiriboga, Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations Office at Geneva, introduced his country's report, saying that the recent constitutional reform had reinforced Ecuador's unrestricted respect for the human rights of children.

The Ecuadorian delegation included José Valencia and Juan Carlos Castrillon from the Permanent Mission of Ecuador.

Committee experts raised questions on such issues as the status of the Convention in domestic law; the situation of indigenous people; and measures to alleviate poverty.

Ecuador, as one of 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is obliged to present periodic reports to the Committee on how it is implementing the international instrument.

The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. to continue its consideration of the report of Ecuador.

Report of Ecuador

The initial report of Ecuador (document CRC/C/3/Add.44) reviews efforts to implement the Convention on an article-by-article basis. It says that Ecuador was the first country in Latin America and the third in the world to ratify the Convention. However, sufficient consideration was not given to the implications of the commitment. The report further says that 52 per cent of the population is poor, that infant mortality rate is approximately 45 per 1,000 and that maternal mortality is around 170 per 100,000 births.

The report says that despite major progress in access to basic education, repetition and drop-out rates remain very high. The illiteracy rate is around 12 per cent, and functional illiteracy is a growing concern. Despite the magnitude of the problems faced by children and young persons, they have not, in practice, been given the priority needed for the exercise of their rights, the report states.

Introduction of Report of Ecuador

LUIS GALLEGOS-CHIRIBOGA, Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations Office at Geneva, introduced his country's report, saying that Ecuadorian society attached great importance to the promotion and protection of children. Ecuador was the first country in Latin America to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child and that step demonstrated its unrestricted respect for human rights.

Mr. Gallegos-Chirigoba said the Ecuadorian Constitution provided all rights reflected in the Convention regarding children and that it could be sited as an example in the region. The promotion of the rights of the child remained the principle objective of the Government. In addition, family values were given high priority and programmes of action were undertaken to translate the values by placing the child at the centre of focus. International organizations such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had contributed to the Government's efforts in promoting the rights of the child.

Mr. Gallegos-Chirigoba further said that Ecuador had a population of 12 million inhabitants and it was the smallest among the Andean countries. Nearly 48 per cent of the population was under the age of 18 years. Despite the problems of poverty faced by the country, the society was ready to accept the Convention and had so far adopted corresponding measures in further promoting and protecting the rights of children.

Discussion of Report

Committee experts said that the report was frank and was prepared in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee. It gave a general view of the situation in the field of promoting and protecting children's rights in the country. Nevertheless, the report did not contain the latest information on events that took place after 1996.

Experts further said that the movement of "mothers who defend children's rights" was limited to the capital, according to the report, and asked if the movement was extended to the rural areas of the country. Members also raised questions on such issues as the in-depth discussion of the report; the status of the Convention within domestic law; the demographic breakdown of the population; and the number of indigenous people, among others.

The delegation said that the most important breakthrough in harmonizing domestic legislation with the principles and provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child had been the constitutional reform that entered into force in August 1998. The Constitution had reinforced the human rights of children.

On the question regarding the situation of vulnerable children, the delegation said that available data on special or difficult situations came from estimates stemming from specific focalized studies on issues such as sexual abuse or child labour. The delegation said that the lack of economic resources was a critical factor that hindered the country from having a suitable information base.

The delegation further said that poverty still prevailed despite the efforts made by successive Governments of Ecuador. In recent years, although globalization brought profit to the country, the situation of poverty remained unaltered. The oil exports fetched less revenue following the economic crisis in Asia. The price of oil plummeted from $15 to $5 per barrel. The income from the second export commodity, bananas, had also been reduced because of the banana import restriction by the European Union.

With regard to the external debt, the delegation said that 40 per cent of the country's national budget had been allocated to interest payments. Ecuador's foreign debt was estimated at about $ 13 billion.

The delegation said that among the goals involving child survival, those that were most important in terms of results were the child mortality indicators. Nevertheless, for the majority of the indicators of the process, such as immunization, disease control, pregnancy checkups, and institutional care for delivery and birth, there were distressing signs of decline. In addition, infrastructure indicators pointed to signs of stagnation. However, the goals involving enforcement of the rights of the child in the country's legal framework had been partially attained, added the delegation.

The delegation also said that the definition of the child as provided by the Convention had been partially adopted in national legislation.

Some experts regretted that statistical data was not available regarding indigenous people. However, the delegation said that Ecuadorian society was a mixed one and there was a general belief that all Ecuadorians were considered to be part and parcel of the population. The principle of the "melting pot" was used in Ecuador, as it was used in the United States. With regard to education, the Government had adopted a bi-lingual education system for indigenous children.

In follow-up questions, experts asked if Ecuador was considering ratifying International Labour Office Convention No. 138 concerning the minimum age for employment.