COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD REVIEWS SECOND PERIODIC REPORT OF PARAGUAY

CRC
28th session
8 October 2001
Morning





The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning briefly reviewed a second periodic report from Paraguay on how that country was implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Committee members regretted that the Government did not send a delegation from the capital city to present the report and to answer questions. Paraguay's representative in Geneva told the Experts that the Government had not been able to send a delegation due to the financial difficulties that it was encountering.

Luis M. Ramirez Boettner, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Paraguay to the United Nations Office at Geneva, briefly introducing the report, said that the new code for children and adolescents had already been adopted by the country's parliament and it would be a great opportunity for children and for those who worked to ensure the promotion and protection of the rights of the child. The code was one of the greatest achievements of the nation in the field of child-rights protection, he added.

Mr. Boettner also said that the country, despite its economic difficulties, was endeavouring to implement the provisions of the Convention. The new code would strengthen the protection regime and would give impetus to the Government's efforts in the promotion of the rights of children through the expansion of education and health care. The code could be considered as a great leap towards a new era in the protection of child rights in the country, he added.

Paraguay's delegation also included Francisco Barreiro and Lorena Patino, First and Second Secretaries, respectively, at the Permanent Mission of Paraguay at Geneva.

Paraguay is among the 191 States parties to the Convention and as such it is obligated to submit periodic reports to the Committee on the various activities undertaken by the State to implement the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will meet in a private session to consider how it will further handle the report of Paraguay. When it next meets in public at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 9 October, it will take up the initial report of Uzbekistan


Summary of Paraguay's Report

The second periodic report is contained in document CRC/C/65/Add.12 and it enumerates the administrative, legislative and judicial measures undertaken by the Government in order to implement the provisions of the Convention. The 247-page report says, among other things, that the country exhibits major shortcomings in tackling poverty and providing social services, as well as in the other areas of social integration. Traditional social policy has no vision of economic and social development and entails an incapacity to generate incomes and satisfy the basic needs of society's most neglected groups.

The report notes that there is no ombudsman for children, but there are juvenile attorneys attached to the Public Prosecutor's Office who perform ombudsman functions with respect to reporting on abuses, maintenance orders, custody, return of children, precautionary measures, correctional measures, child abuse, reporting of sexual exploitation, and emergency measures. In addition, the National Centre for the Protection of the Rights of the Child was created to protect and advocate the rights of the child in coordination with governmental and non-governmental organizations.

The report says that compulsory education ends at the age of 12. However, rural children have a high drop-out rate before that age owing to economic problems. Since the initiation of the Education Reform in 1993, basic education has been for a period of nine years, from age six to 15. However, according to a 1997 report, the statistics of the Government still do not reflect this situation. Compulsory schooling is provided for in the Juvenile Code, but school attendance is seriously affected in Paraguay by the high drop-out rate. One of the factors working against attendance is that 29 per cent of the population of school age stays away for economic reasons; 21 per cent work to support the family budget; and this situation is encouraged by the labour legislation, which allows children to work from the age of 12.

Paraguay's national legislation does not specify a minimum age for consent or validation of consent to sexual relations, the report says. It also makes no distinction between the sexes with respect to marriage and sexual consent. However, persons between the ages of 16 and 20 years require the consent of their parents for contracting marriage.

The report further says that very little attention is given to the best interests of the child in budgetary allocations, for priority is still not assigned to health, education, culture and social assistance, which receive very small allocations; and it is hoped that the new Government, which took office last August, will take the best interest of the child into consideration, not only in budgetary allocations but in all its actions.

It also says that although there are no statistics on the subject, there have been cases in recent years of violence among children and even deaths, both in street fights and in connection with "Satanism"; such acts of extreme violence are widely publicized in the media. The culture of youth gangs in one of the main problems affecting young people, especially in the upper middle class. Most of the incidents are connected with alcohol consumption. There are no governmental measures for tackling these problems.


According to the report, recent years have seen an improvement in the possibilities for children to express themselves freely and to be heard at home and at school, in sporting, political and trade-union activities. The number of student and youth associations has increased considerably. However, there are still some pockets of authoritarianism where vertical disciplinary systems are used, and initiative, the right to dissent, and the freedoms of expression and association are condemned. Although the right to freedom of expression is beginning to establish itself, it will not be fully effective without a new awareness and shift of attitude in society, which will require a full-scale revolution in the medium term.


Presentation of Report

LUIS M. RAMIREZ BOETTNER, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Paraguay to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that the new children's and adolescents' code had already been adopted by the country's parliament and it would be a great opportunity for children and for those who worked to ensure the promotion and protection of the rights of the child. The code was one of the greatest achievements of the nation in the field of child-rights protection.

Mr. Boettner said that the country, despite economic difficulties, was endeavouring to implement the rights of children in line with the provisions of the Convention. The new code would strengthen the protection regime and would give impetus to the Government's efforts in the promotion of the rights of children through the expansion of education and health care. The code could be considered as a great leap towards a new era in the protection of child rights in the country.

The efforts of the Government were focused on the improvement of child and adolescent well-being so that their future would be promising, Mr. Boettner said. Since Paraguay had a past history based on conflicts in which many of its citizens had perished, its present activities were based on the survival of its child and adolescent population; and much would be expected from the Government in implementing all the rights provided for in the Convention.


Consideration of Report

The Committee Chairperson Jacob Egbert Does regretted that Paraguay was not able to send an inter-ministerial delegation of professionals relating to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to present the report. He also said that the developments following the recommendations of the Committee on the initial report of Paraguay were not reflected in the second periodic report. In addition, the children's code which was adopted by the country's parliament was expected to enter into force at the end of November; however, it was reported that the implementation of the code might be postponed until 1 July 2002 because of the reorganization of the Government.

In response, the delegation said that the cost of sending a large delegation to attend the consideration by the Committee of the report was high and it could not be afforded by the Government which had financial difficulties. It was not the lack of will on the part of the Government which prevented it from sending professionals to the Committee, it was purely financial problems. In addition, Paraguay was in the process of change and everything could not be fulfilled as desired.


A Committee Expert said that the report did not indicate whether the Government had implemented the concluding observations and recommendations of the Committee. The Committee considered the initial report of Paraguay in October 1994 and additional information in May 1997. Following its consideration of the additional information, the Committee made a series of recommendations to be implemented by Paraguay.

Other Committee members also raised some questions on the definition of the child; the situation of infant and maternal mortality; the number of children among the total population; and whether the written questions were discussed among the population before the report was filed, among other things.

In response to some of the questions raised, the delegation said Paraguay was a multi-ethnic country, comprising the indigenous population and strongly influenced by Spanish culture; with the founding of Asuncion in 1537, Paraguay's population nucleus was formed by Spaniards and Guarani Indians. The current indigenous population was estimated at between 70,000 to 100,000.

With regard to economic difficulties, the delegation said that although Paraguay had the best meat and cereals, its access to international market was limited. That was why it was struggling within the World Trade Organization (WHO) and the United Nations to extend its access to international trade. In addition, the country was land-locked and its transportation system was poor.

Concerning the postponement of the code on children and adolescents, the members of the delegation said that they were not informed about such measures but the code would remain valid even if its implementation was postponed.

The appointment of the ombudsman had been delayed because of financial difficulties, the delegation said.





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