COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD STARTS CONSIDERATION OF SECOND PERIODIC REPORT OF GUATEMALA

CRC
27th session
29 May 2001
Morning






Malnutrition Among Main Causes of Child Death, Delegation Says


The Committee on the Rights of the Child this morning started its consideration of a second periodic report of Guatemala with a Government delegation saying that malnutrition was among the principal causes of child death in the country.

Introducing the report, Christian Lorena Munduate Garcia, Secretary of Social Welfare in the Office of the President of the Republic of Guatemala, said there had been significant social and political changes during the last decade in Guatemala. After 36 years of internal armed conflict, and four years since the signing of the peace agreement, Guatemala was still in a process of learning to establish consensus among the population.

Mrs. Munduate Garcia said that malnutrition was among the principal causes of death among children which had a negative impact against the development of children in the country.
At present, infant mortality had been reduced from 73 to 45 per 1,000 live births and mortality rate for children under 5 years of age had been decreased from 110 to 59 per 1,000 live births, Mrs. Munduate Garcia said. The reduction of the maternal and infant mortality rates was among the priorities and social policies of the Government.

Over the course of the Committee's consideration of the report, several Experts were of the view that legislation aimed at promoting and protecting the rights of children was not implemented and sometimes it was not known to the general public. Although an office of the Ombudsman was established, its functions and competencies were unknown to children. Many Experts asked how the code for children and adolescents was drawn up, and who had participated in drafting it.

Also included in the Guatemalan delegation were Antonio Arenales Forno, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Carla Rodriguez Mancia, Minister Counsellor; and Stephanie Hochstetter Skinner-Klee, Second Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Guatemala at Geneva.

Guatemala is among the 191 States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and as such it must provide periodic reports to the Committee on its performance to implement the provisions of the Commission.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will conclude its discussion with the Guatemalan delegation. An Expert will also offer preliminary remarks on the report.


Report of Guatemala

The second periodic report of Guatemala (CRC/C/65/Add.10) describes the efforts of the Government to give effect to the provisions of the Convention through administrative, legislative and juridical measures. In its introduction, it says that Guatemala was the sixth State to accept obligations under the Convention when it ratified it in 1990. The Government had harmonized its legislative provisions following the recommendations of the Committee on its initial report. The recently adopted "children and adolescents code" represents a valuable tool that will help bring about historical change in the way in which children's basic needs are addressed.

The report says that the serious problem in the education sector which affects children is a subject of concern to Guatemala and will be given special attention through the Commission on Education Reform set up pursuant to the peace agreements. Serious deficiencies in children's standard of living unfortunately persist; there are high rates of child morbidity and mortality and limited access to education as reflected in low coverage and high drop-out and absenteeism rates, resulting in a high percentage of illiteracy in the country.

Further, the report notes that another alarming factor is the number of children obligated to join the labour force temporarily owing to the high levels of poverty and extreme poverty which the vast majority of Guatemalan families suffer from. Children, especially indigenous children in rural areas, bear the brunt of this problem which prevents them from developing their full potential. The Government and civil society still face a series of constraints in meeting the needs of Guatemalan children, including the low level of participation and awareness in some sectors.

The report notes that the most significant feature of Guatemala society today is the ending of the internal armed conflict which lasted 36 years and had a devastating impact on the Guatemalan population, especially children in the rural areas. The Government's Plan of Action for Social Development and Peace-Building, 1996-2000, establishes a strategic social development framework aimed at improving the precarious living conditions of the children indicated by the high illiteracy and child morbidity and mortality rates.


Introduction of Report

CHRISTIAN LORENA MUNDUATE GARCIA, Secretary of Social Welfare at the Office of the President of the Republic of Guatemala, recalled that there had been significant social and political changes during the last decade. After 36 years of internal armed conflict, and four years since the signing of the peace agreement, Guatemala was still in a process of learning to establish consensus among the population.


Mrs. Munduate Garcia recalled that in 1996, a code on children and adolescents had been approved but it was not yet implemented. Within the legislative agenda, a programme was designed to harmonize the national legislation with that of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

At present, infant mortality had been reduced from 73 to 45 per 1,000 live births and mortality rate for children under 5 years of age had been decreased from 110 to 59 per 1,000 live births, Mrs. Munduate Garcia said. The reduction of the maternal and infant mortality was among the priorities and social policies of the Government. With regard to immunization programmes, the activities had been increased from 40 per cent in 1990 to 85 per cent in 2000; polio had been eradicated and no deficiencies were reported concerning children under 5 years of age.

Malnutrition was among the principal causes of deaths among children in Guatemala, Mrs. Munduate Garcia said. After revising its policies on health and food security, the Government had been implementing measures through the Ministries of Education and Health to reduce this threat. Guatemala had been one of the pioneering countries in providing sugar enriched with Vitamin A. Also, 92 per cent of salt consumed contained iodine.

In matters of education, enrolment in primary education had increased from 35 per cent in 1990 to 81 per cent in 2000, she said. The lack of education was the main factor which limited the development of the country, and it had now been placed first on the social agenda with a 20 per cent reduction of illiteracy by 2004. In order to reduce child labour, the Government had been supporting families by providing breakfast and lunch to two million students in the country. In addition, 288,507 indigenous children were attending schools; and textbooks were supplied in 16 different languages.

Until recently, Mrs. Munduate Garcia said, child abuse was not recognized as a problem in the society. However, the National Commission against Child Abuse had designed a national strategy in which public awareness was increased on this issue. In addition, a plan of action had been implemented against sexual exploitation of children and legislation was proposed to penalize adults who involved children into sexual exploitation and incited them to consume drugs and to participate in drug-trafficking.


Discussion

At the beginning of their consideration of the report, Committee members raised a number of questions. An Expert recalled that last year, the Committee against Torture had expressed concern about what it called a deterioration of the human rights situation in Guatemala, including torture; many violations were committed by police, and impunity persisted. In addition, in its eleventh report covering December 1990 to June 2000, the United Nations Mission to Guatemala (MINUGUA) had indicated disturbing signs of human rights deterioration; an alarming increase of involvement of members of the national civil police in extra-judicial killings had been reported; and many complaints were received about violations of human rights by police.


Several Experts were of the view that legislation aimed at promoting and protecting the rights of children was not implemented and sometimes it was not known to the general public. Although an office of the Ombudsman was established, its functions and competencies were unknown to children. Many Experts asked how the code for children and adolescents was drawn up, and who had participated in drafting it.

Some Experts held the opinion that the Guatemalan society was authoritarian and the Government had to take measures to change such attitudes concerning children.

Legislation concerning children only appeared in papers and was not implemented in practice, an Expert said. In addition, the Committee had received information alleging that non-governmental organizations who were working in favour of the promotion and protection of child rights were threatened and hampered from pursuing their activities.

In response to a series of question raised by Committee Experts, the members of the Guatemalan delegation said that although the code on children and adolescents was suspended, the provisions of the Convention were implemented in all spheres involving children's rights.

Primary education was compulsory and it included all children, the delegation said.

A consensus version of the code on children and adolescents would be introduced to parliament in replacement of the 1996 code, the delegation said. In the process of the proposal, the civil society, the Church and non-governmental organizations were involved. The delay in the realization of the code was to achieve consensus among the different actors concerned with children's rights. The involvement of the Church was also essential in that matter because of its influence in the society.

With regard to the dissemination of the provisions of the Convention, the delegation said that the mass media was mainly used in that regard. In addition, schools and churches were instrumental in disseminating the spirit of the Convention. The Government was also working with non-governmental organizations in dealing with children's rights.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) was helping regional and departmental efforts to implement the rights of the child, the delegation said. Although municipal mayors were elected with universal suffrage, some of them needed training because of their low level of education in order to raise the level of services rendered to the local population.

Street gangs had increased alarmingly prompting the Government to take action in collaboration with international organizations, the delegation said. Although not all gangs were harmful, there was a need to reduce such activities; and the Government lacked resources to support some projects aimed at integrating street children into the society.

In a second set of questions, Committee members raised questions on issues such as high rate of abortion; the status of children not recognized by their fathers and the attitude of the population towards that category of children; weak enrolment of children in schools; minimum age to take employment; registration of births; the right to freedom of religion; the right to freedom of movement; and the increase in cases of child torture, among other things.


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