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14 November 2000
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CESCR
24th session
14 November 2000
Afternoon
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this afternoon continued its consideration of a third periodic report of Portugal by querying a Government delegation on, among other things, the social security system and pension scheme, minimum wage, domestic violence, child labour, and trafficking in women.
The delegation, responding to questions raised by Committee experts this morning, said that the Government of Portugal had no reason to ratify International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 169 on indigenous and tribal peoples because of the non-existence of such a category of people under its jurisdiction.
Some experts asked the delegation to explain the root causes of domestic violence in Portugal and its extent in the society, and wondered if children were victims of violence as were women. A question was raised about the response of the Portuguese society and Government to paedophilia, which an expert said was a phenomenon prompted by the developed societies.
As one of the 143 States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Portugal must provide the Committee with periodic reports on how it was implementing the provisions of the treaty.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 15 November, it will conclude its consideration of Portugal's report.
Discussion
In response to oral questions raised by Committee members in the morning, the members of the Portuguese delegation said that ILO Conventions 104 and 107 had been ratified by Portugal. Since Portugal had no colonial territories or indigenous peoples of its own, there was no necessity to ratify ILO Convention 169 on indigenous and tribal peoples.
At the international level, Portugal had extended its cooperation in the fields of capacity building and development of democratic institutions in many countries, the Portuguese delegation said. It had also made available funds for national and international non-governmental organizations for purposes varying from economic development to environmental protection.
The Portuguese economy was on equal terms with the rest of the European counties, the delegation said. In the past when the economy was weak, the Government had had to negotiate for credit with international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. However, at present, the need for external funds had diminished due to the growth of the Portuguese economy.
Among Portugal's total population of 10 million, 4 million lived regularly outside the country, the delegation said. However, no data was available on the number of Portuguese citizens working in other countries.
The delegation said that since 1997 the rate of unemployment had been steadily falling. It had declined from 7.3 per cent in 1996 to 4.8 per cent in the first quarter of 1999. The decline was due primarily to the economic expansion which Portugal had enjoyed since 1995.
In order to combat poverty and social exclusion by integration into working life, the Government of Portugal had promoted "integration enterprises" within the framework of the social employment market, the delegation said. It had also promoted the acquisition and development of personal, social and occupation skills.
On the issue of child labour, which was alluded to by Committee experts, the delegation said that the minimum age limit to take employment had been raised to 16. The Government advocated that children had to complete their studies before accepting any sort of employment. However, the problem of child labour had persisted in the country. In collaboration with non-governmental organizations, the Government had attempted to reduce the number of cases involving child labour. Labour inspectors were also active in supervising illegal employment of children under 16. The country's Constitution formally prohibited the employment of minors in any form of work. Since measures were adopted in that field, the number of 12 to 14 year-olds working in hotels, shoe factories and other areas had drastically decreased while the number of children staying in schools had gone up.
Concerning elderly people, since the legal retirement age was not mandatory, pre-retirement programmes had been put in place to sustain pension schemes. According to European statistics, about 25 per cent of the workers were under the category of elderly persons. Under the age of 65, any person could opt for retirement, but the calculation of the pension period could penalize the person. However, at the age of 65, all the years of service and contribution to the pension scheme were taken into consideration.
An expert asked about the policy of minimum wage of Portugal which was fixed by the Government as a privilege and was not the result of a tri-partite bargain between workers unions, employers and the Government. Only 9.2 per cent of the working population was concerned by the minimum wage policy.
In response, the delegation said that the Government had taken measures to increase wages beyond the level of inflation in order to implement the directives of the European Union. Portugal had been endeavouring to adopt the various economic criteria of the Union, which needed a structuring and expansion of its economy. The issue of minimum wage was seen as an indication and it had a social function; and in the past, a series of separate bargains had taken place and collective agreements were reached on the issue.
An expert asked about the root causes of domestic violence in Portugal. In some States the cause was related to alcohol. The expert also asked about the extent of violence in the society and if children were also victims in addition to women.
Another expert wanted to know how the Portuguese society and Government were responding to paedophilia, a phenomenon prompted by accumulation of wealth. The expert also wondered how the society was reacting to violence perpetrated against women. The issue of trafficking in women was also alluded to by the expert.
The delegation said that a "white paper commission" had been set up to study the reform of the social security system and submit to the Government proposals for making the system more efficient while preserving the principles of fairness and solidarity. So far, the social security system operated in a manner that devoted 90 per cent of its spending budget to social security benefits and 10 per cent to social welfare and management costs. The study would deal with the current state of the system from the demographic, economic and financial viewpoints, and from the standpoints of fairness and prevention of social exclusion. It was predicted that there would be financial difficulties in social security payments during the coming 15 years, at least.
Awareness-raising programmes had been launched by the Government against domestic violence which had also put in place preventive and protective measures, the delegation said. Periodical brochures were published and distributed on the causes of domestic violence. A telephone hotline was created to assist victims of violence; and eventually victims were placed in rehabilitation centres with assistance in post-trauma therapy. According to established statistics, about 60 per cent of domestic violence was attributed to alcoholism. In 1998 alone, 2,889 cases of family violence had been reported by police.
The issue of trafficking in women was new to Portugal, the delegation said. With the dismantling of the Soviet Union, a certain "Russian mafia" had become established in Portugal, making trafficking in women its means of subsistence. The judicial police was considering the situation and serious measures were envisaged to combat that phenomenon.
The use of child pornography and other obscene activities involving children was severely punished in Portugal, the delegation said. The penalty was aggravated if the child was abused by one or more of its custodians. In a recent reform of the penal code the act of child prostitution and exploitation of children for commercial purposes, including the practice of paedophilia, had been made severe crimes. The provision was also extended to acts committed by citizens outside Portugal.
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24th session
14 November 2000
Afternoon
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this afternoon continued its consideration of a third periodic report of Portugal by querying a Government delegation on, among other things, the social security system and pension scheme, minimum wage, domestic violence, child labour, and trafficking in women.
The delegation, responding to questions raised by Committee experts this morning, said that the Government of Portugal had no reason to ratify International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 169 on indigenous and tribal peoples because of the non-existence of such a category of people under its jurisdiction.
Some experts asked the delegation to explain the root causes of domestic violence in Portugal and its extent in the society, and wondered if children were victims of violence as were women. A question was raised about the response of the Portuguese society and Government to paedophilia, which an expert said was a phenomenon prompted by the developed societies.
As one of the 143 States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Portugal must provide the Committee with periodic reports on how it was implementing the provisions of the treaty.
When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 15 November, it will conclude its consideration of Portugal's report.
Discussion
In response to oral questions raised by Committee members in the morning, the members of the Portuguese delegation said that ILO Conventions 104 and 107 had been ratified by Portugal. Since Portugal had no colonial territories or indigenous peoples of its own, there was no necessity to ratify ILO Convention 169 on indigenous and tribal peoples.
At the international level, Portugal had extended its cooperation in the fields of capacity building and development of democratic institutions in many countries, the Portuguese delegation said. It had also made available funds for national and international non-governmental organizations for purposes varying from economic development to environmental protection.
The Portuguese economy was on equal terms with the rest of the European counties, the delegation said. In the past when the economy was weak, the Government had had to negotiate for credit with international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. However, at present, the need for external funds had diminished due to the growth of the Portuguese economy.
Among Portugal's total population of 10 million, 4 million lived regularly outside the country, the delegation said. However, no data was available on the number of Portuguese citizens working in other countries.
The delegation said that since 1997 the rate of unemployment had been steadily falling. It had declined from 7.3 per cent in 1996 to 4.8 per cent in the first quarter of 1999. The decline was due primarily to the economic expansion which Portugal had enjoyed since 1995.
In order to combat poverty and social exclusion by integration into working life, the Government of Portugal had promoted "integration enterprises" within the framework of the social employment market, the delegation said. It had also promoted the acquisition and development of personal, social and occupation skills.
On the issue of child labour, which was alluded to by Committee experts, the delegation said that the minimum age limit to take employment had been raised to 16. The Government advocated that children had to complete their studies before accepting any sort of employment. However, the problem of child labour had persisted in the country. In collaboration with non-governmental organizations, the Government had attempted to reduce the number of cases involving child labour. Labour inspectors were also active in supervising illegal employment of children under 16. The country's Constitution formally prohibited the employment of minors in any form of work. Since measures were adopted in that field, the number of 12 to 14 year-olds working in hotels, shoe factories and other areas had drastically decreased while the number of children staying in schools had gone up.
Concerning elderly people, since the legal retirement age was not mandatory, pre-retirement programmes had been put in place to sustain pension schemes. According to European statistics, about 25 per cent of the workers were under the category of elderly persons. Under the age of 65, any person could opt for retirement, but the calculation of the pension period could penalize the person. However, at the age of 65, all the years of service and contribution to the pension scheme were taken into consideration.
An expert asked about the policy of minimum wage of Portugal which was fixed by the Government as a privilege and was not the result of a tri-partite bargain between workers unions, employers and the Government. Only 9.2 per cent of the working population was concerned by the minimum wage policy.
In response, the delegation said that the Government had taken measures to increase wages beyond the level of inflation in order to implement the directives of the European Union. Portugal had been endeavouring to adopt the various economic criteria of the Union, which needed a structuring and expansion of its economy. The issue of minimum wage was seen as an indication and it had a social function; and in the past, a series of separate bargains had taken place and collective agreements were reached on the issue.
An expert asked about the root causes of domestic violence in Portugal. In some States the cause was related to alcohol. The expert also asked about the extent of violence in the society and if children were also victims in addition to women.
Another expert wanted to know how the Portuguese society and Government were responding to paedophilia, a phenomenon prompted by accumulation of wealth. The expert also wondered how the society was reacting to violence perpetrated against women. The issue of trafficking in women was also alluded to by the expert.
The delegation said that a "white paper commission" had been set up to study the reform of the social security system and submit to the Government proposals for making the system more efficient while preserving the principles of fairness and solidarity. So far, the social security system operated in a manner that devoted 90 per cent of its spending budget to social security benefits and 10 per cent to social welfare and management costs. The study would deal with the current state of the system from the demographic, economic and financial viewpoints, and from the standpoints of fairness and prevention of social exclusion. It was predicted that there would be financial difficulties in social security payments during the coming 15 years, at least.
Awareness-raising programmes had been launched by the Government against domestic violence which had also put in place preventive and protective measures, the delegation said. Periodical brochures were published and distributed on the causes of domestic violence. A telephone hotline was created to assist victims of violence; and eventually victims were placed in rehabilitation centres with assistance in post-trauma therapy. According to established statistics, about 60 per cent of domestic violence was attributed to alcoholism. In 1998 alone, 2,889 cases of family violence had been reported by police.
The issue of trafficking in women was new to Portugal, the delegation said. With the dismantling of the Soviet Union, a certain "Russian mafia" had become established in Portugal, making trafficking in women its means of subsistence. The judicial police was considering the situation and serious measures were envisaged to combat that phenomenon.
The use of child pornography and other obscene activities involving children was severely punished in Portugal, the delegation said. The penalty was aggravated if the child was abused by one or more of its custodians. In a recent reform of the penal code the act of child prostitution and exploitation of children for commercial purposes, including the practice of paedophilia, had been made severe crimes. The provision was also extended to acts committed by citizens outside Portugal.
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