COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD STARTS CONSIDERATION OF INITIAL REPORT OF CAPE VERDE

CRC
28th session
10 octobre 2001
Matin




Nearly 80 Per Cent of Children Are Born Out of Wedlock, Report States


The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning started its consideration of an initial report from Cape Verde on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The report was introduced by Cristina Fontes Lima, Minister of Justice and Internal Administration of Cape Verde. She said that since 1988, the Government has been implementing a number of measures to improve the conditions of children in the country. Several institutions were created to promote and protect the rights of children in line with the provisions of the Convention, including the Capeverdian Institute for Minors which won a prize from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), she added.

Ms. Fontes Lima also said that access to education had been facilitated to both girls and boys on an equal basis; legislative and institutional structures had been put in place to protect children, although much remained to be done to close the gap between real protection and legislative provisions; and also much should be done to allow children to participate in child parliaments and school activities.

According to the report, 80 per cent of children are born out of wedlock. Cape Verde's family structure is characterized by a large number of single parents and de facto unions; and 40 per cent of women with more than one child had at least two different "fathers of their children". That was the context in which the population lived.

Committee Experts raised a number of questions under the main topics of general measures of implementation of the Convention; the definition of the child; general principles; civil rights and freedoms; and family environment and alternative care.

The delegation of Cape Verde is also made up of Antonio Pedro Alves Lopes, Charge d'Affaires at the Permanent Mission of Cape Verde to the United Nations Office at Geneva; and Paula Ramos, Expert at the Capeverdian Institute for Minors.

Cape Verde is among the 191 States parties to the Convention and as such it is obligated to send periodic reports to the Committee summarizing the efforts it has exerted in implementing the provisions of the treaty.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will conclude its consideration of the initial report of Cape Verde.


Summary of Report

The initial report of Cape Verde is contained in CRC/C/11/Add.23. It says that the country is a small island country in the Atlantic Ocean off the West African coast of Senegal and Mauritania. It was a Portuguese colony until 1975 and it has a population of about 389,000 inhabitants. The living conditions of much of the population are precarious; only 2.9 per cent of the population in the rural areas has access to running water while in the urban areas the rate increased to 14.8 per cent.

The report also says that the country's overall socio-economic problems are reflected in the nutritional situation, as shown by the large calorie and protein deficit in 16.2 per cent of children under five years. Diseases resulting from such living conditions carry considerable weight in cases of ill health. Infectious and parasitical diseases are thus the main causes of general mortality and infant mortality -- 17.5 per thousand in 1993.

Family structure is complex and is characterized by a large number of single parents and de facto unions, the report notes. Approximately 40 per cent of women with more than one child have at least two different "fathers of their children" and nearly 80 per cent of children are born out of wedlock. Women, who often support their families, have fewer skills and lower wages than men in identical situations. This is the context in which the population lives.

The report notes that although a great deal of work on the well-being of children has been done by various departments, it is still necessary to improve specific coordination and monitoring mechanisms with a view to the proper implementation of the Convention. The Government is aware of these shortcomings and is making every effort to find more appropriate and effective solutions. It was also impossible to establish a coordinating committee for the policy on children and adolescents.

According to the report, Cape Verde has made significant progress in the promotion and protection of children's rights, despite the material, technical, human and financial difficulties which it has always faced and which are aggravated by natural adversity and permanent drought. In fact, there have been positive developments throughout Cape Verde's history since independence, with appreciable results in terms of the promotion and protection of children's rights and the right to development, as a result of the formulation and implementation of relatively consistent government policies.


Presentation of Cape Verde's Report

CRISTINA FONTES LIMA, Minister of Justice and Internal Administration of Cape Verde, said that since 1988, the Government has been implementing a number of measures to improve the conditions of children in the country. Several institutions were created to promote and protect the rights of children in line with the provisions of the Convention.

Ms. Fontes Lima also said that access to education had been facilitated to both girls and boys on an equal basis; legislative and institutional structures have been put in place to protect children, although much remained to be done to close the gap between real protection and legislative provisions; and also much should be done to allow children to participate in child parliaments and school activities.

PAULA RAMOS, Expert at the Capeverdian Institute for Minors, said that the Government had had difficulties in compiling statistical data concerning the activities designed to implement the rights of the child. However, according to available reports, the child mortality rate was 14 per cent; the problem of underweight children had persisted in the country; and an institution did not exist to take care of children with disabilities because of the fact that they were rehabilitated within the family.

Ms. Ramos said that since orphans lived in families, their situation did not raise special concern as to the creation of a specialized institution intended to host them. With regard to abandoned children, at least 400 children had been living in a situation of abandonment, and the Government had established a strategy to work with those children, particularly street children. No data was available on the number of children adopted within or outside the country, however, adoption was a last-ditch solution within the extended family structure of Cape Verde. She said that 29 per cent of the country's national budget was allocated to programmes involving children.


Consideration of Report

The Committee Experts started their consideration of the report of Cape Verde by raising questions under the main topics of general measures of implementation of the Convention; and the definition of the child. They asked, among other things, how the various committees and institutions intended to protect and promote the rights of the child were functioning; the amount of financial resources allocated to run their activities; how the Convention was implemented and how priorities were drawn up by the different regional departments; how the Institute of Cape Verde for Minors was tackling its financial shortages; what was the major achievement of that institution that enabled it to receive the UNICEF prize on child rights promotion; and if the Government had drawn up a programme on poverty alleviation.

Responding to the questions, the members of the delegation said that poverty was acute in Cape Verde and its impact had negatively affected children. The international assistance Cape Verde received had been used to alleviate some of the difficulties encountered by the Government. It also received revenue from immigrants who were scattered in other countries as migrant workers. They were the ones who supported their families who stayed in the country. Without such remittences from compatriots those who stayed behind might have suffered.


In July 1995, following the meeting on social policy for children and adolescents, a national plan of action was announced, but it had not been fully implemented, the delegation said; however, the new Government, which had taken office in January 2001, was committed to implementing plans drawn in connection with child rights. It was also drawing up new programmes to boost the implementation of the rights of the child. In addition, new impetus would being injected in order to accelerate the process of coordination among the various mechanisms dealing with the implementation of the Convention.

The delegation said that the country had to overhaul the whole criminal system which had been obsolete because of its designation by the former colonial power. A new criminal law had been enacted reflecting the actual situation.

In order to increase awareness among the population of ill-treatment of children, the mass media, particularly the television, had been used in a manner that the publicity spot on this issue provoked reflection among the viewers, the delegation said. Sexual and physical abuse of children persisted against children between 12 and 16 years old. Any complaints brought to the attention of the judicial authorities had been investigated and the perpetrators had been repressed severely. However, many children were unable to come forward to lodge complaints for fear of reprisals. According to the legal provisions, the use of corporal punishment was prohibited.

Sixty per cent of theft in the country was committed by children under 16 years; and since juveniles were not imprisoned because of their criminal acts, adults used them to act on their behalf, the delegation said.

Compulsory education was provided for six years, the delegation said. However, the quality of education had been questioned by some educational authorities. In order to improve the quality of teaching, further efforts had been made to train teachers and to reduce the number of students in a class room.

The delegation said that the Government had been following the directives and assistance of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in its efforts to implement the provisions of the Convention. To that effort, it had been using all the resources available to it. However, with the evolution of the present situation, development assistance might be reduced in favour of terrorism prevention.

Although there was no institution handling disabled children, it was estimated that there were at least 3,157 disabled children in the country, the delegation said. Many of those children were integrated in schools.

The Committee members continued to query the Capeverdian delegation on issues pertaining to the main topics of the general principles; civil rights and freedoms; and family environment and alternative care. Several Experts, alluding to the high number of children born out of wedlock, asked the delegation if the society did not uphold family values. Questions were also raised concerning birth registration; the reproductive patterns of women; the situation of abortion; consideration of the views of children in matters of adoption; freedom of association for children; bullying and violence by children; privacy in families and schools; and whether polygamy was a legal regime.



* *** *