Bulletin IINfancia N° 8 - December 2019

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Luis Almagro OAS Secretary General Néstor Méndez OAS Assistant Secretary General Berenice Cordero IIN Directing Council President Lolis Salas Montes IIN Directing Council Vice President Víctor Giorgi IIN Director General Daniel Claverie IIN Contents Coordinator Ingrid Quevedo IIN Technical Assistant of Communication ​​ Sara Cardoso IIN Design Edition December 2019

The IIN is as Specialized Organization of the Organization of American States (OAS) in childhood and adolescence, which assists the States in the development of public policies to be taken for the benefit of children and adolescents, contributing in the field of their design and implementation in the perspective of the promotion, protection and full respect of the rights of children and adolescents in the region. Special assistance is aimed at the needs of the Member States of the Inter-American System and at the particularities of the regional groups.

The concepts expressed in this publication are the responsibility of each author.

The IIN is pleased to enable this space for exchange and reflection with the region.

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INDEX Prologue............................................................................................................................................9 Keeping the promise: ending violence against children by 2030. Opening remarks by Najat Maalla M’jid, pecial Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children at the 22nd Pan American Congress on Children and Adolescents..........................................................................................................................13 Have we really made any progress? The dilemma between progressiveness and regressiveness in Children’s Rights 30 Years Later Otto Rivera.....................................................................................................................................22 Adultcentric societies and child rights KlaudioDuarte Quapper...........................................................................................................31 Sexual and affective diversity and childhood: schools as opportunities for inclusion BegoñaSánchez Torrejón.......................................................................................................40 “I have a curator ad litem” An approach to the perspective of children and adolescents regarding their lawyers in protection cases heard in family courts Katherine Llanos Soto..............................................................................................................48 Early childhood care and services in Uruguay: Developments and challenges Carolina Taborda y Nora Uturbey.......................................................................................60 Public investment in girls, a pending issue in the development of equitable societies. A case study in Brazil, Guatemala and Peru.

Dillyane Ribeiro, Renam Magalhães and Erica Marcos...........................................72 Faith and Children’s Rights: A look at the Convention on the Rights of the Child from the perspective of Faith-Based Communities Silvia Mazzarelli, Ornella Barros, Arigatou International.........................................85

To return to the index, click on this imageat the beginning of each article.

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Prologue VĂ­ctor Giorgi

Director General - IIN

In the year of the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, we are pleased to make available to our readers the eighth issue of the IINfancia Newsletter, the official publication of the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN OAS).

As we have said on a number of occasions, commemorative dates give rise to retrospective looks, engaging in stocktaking with regard to achievements and pending issues in each process; but they are also opportunities to reflect on present circumstances and environments.

On 20 November 1989, three decades ago now, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Soon it would become the Human Rights treaty with the highest number of ratifications in the world, and would deeply and irreversibly transform ways of thinking about children and working with and for them.

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Among the most innovative aspects of the Convention are: the questioning of the adultcentric rationale that operated from the beginning of history as the organizing principle of interpersonal relations, both in the family and in institutional, community and other spheres where daily life unfolds; the establishment of the right of children and adolescents to receive information, form opinions, meet, express their opinions and be heard by adults in their different roles and places, a process referred to as the Right to Participation. This was a far-reaching step in the deconstruction of the myths that tend to reaffirm the superiority of adults, as opposed to the minorization of children and the denial of their ability to exercise a full social life.

The recognition of this right transformed intergenerational relations; now children must be recognized as valid interlocutors by adults and their institutions.

In the three decades that separate us from that historic moment, we have come a long way in recognizing the rights of children and adolescents. This is reflected both in legal frameworks and in public policies and institutional reengineering processes based on a cross-sectoral approach and joint responsibility in the promotion and protection of rights.

However, a look at the reality of the region, a review of the evolution of indicators over these three decades results in the realization that the quality of life of children and adolescents in America, and therefore the level of realization or violation of their rights, is based more on the cycles of the economy and the alternation of socio-economic models attempted by the different governments, than on legal and institutional developments.

Children and adolescents are not isolated from their environments, they are a part of their respective societies,

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and the extent to which their rights are realized, the levels of violence to which they are exposed and the forms of protection and care to which they can gain access, are related to what takes place in those environments.

On the 30th anniversary of the Convention, we find ourselves in an America that is pervaded by a diversity of inequities and violations of human rights, often invisible, silenced, but which periodically explode, burst onto the public arena in ways that seem inexplicable unless we take into account the accumulation of suffering and unease of everyday life marked by different manifestations of violence and exclusion.

We cannot fail to acknowledge this situation when interpreting, recreating and implementing the mandates of the Convention.

Its universal perspective must be synchronized with the requirements of children and adolescents living in a continent with realities that imply unique violations and potential in terms of their history, their culture and the structure of their societies.

It is this conviction that causes the IIN to place a high value on the theoretical and methodological contributions arising from diverse practices contextualized in the region, which give meaning to the periodicity of this publication.

In this eighth issue of the IINfancia Newsletter, we have assembled a collection of writings by different authors, with diverse perspectives on various topics, all on the agenda of rights of the children and adolescents in the region.

It includes topics such as: adultcentrism and children’s rights; progress and challenges in overcoming violence; the process of implementing systems for the promotion and protection of rights; early childhood experiences; the exercise of the role of curator as an expression of intergenerational dialogue;

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the relationship between faith and rights; affective and sexual diversity and childhood; and the ever-present issue of investment in children.

This diversity is synchronized with the focal point of the child rights perspective and we hope that it will constitute a modest contribution to continue working for an America where the rights of children and adolescents are a tangible reality.

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Keeping the promise: ending violence against children by 2030 Najat Maalla M’jid

Opening remarks 22nd Pan American Congress on Children and Adolescents

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen Dear colleagues, Dear children and adolescents, I would like to thank the Government of Colombia and the Inter-American Children’s Institute for inviting me to the 22nd Pan American Congress on Children and Adolescents.

I am delighted to join this important meeting that brings together Governments, civil society organizations and children from the Americas to strengthen the protection of children’s rights, in particular their freedom from all forms of violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect.

This is the first time for me to address a meeting of the Organization of American States since I was appointed Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General this July.

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My role is to be a global independent advocate for the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against children and to be a bridge builder between all those who work on this issue. That is why I am so pleased to be at this Congress to learn about the progress being made in this region and to spread the lessons learnt across the world.

2019 is a milestone year in moving towards realizing the ambitious vision of the 2030 Agenda. In particular target 16.2 on the elimination of all forms of violence against children and other key targets within SDG4, SDG5, SDG8, SDG 10 that deal with specific aspects of violence.

At the United Nations High-level Political Forum three months ago, Governments, civil society and the United Nations system gathered together to assess progress and shortfalls in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

And a month ago, in New York, Head of States and Governments gathered at the SDG Summit, where States identified the urgent need to accelerate action towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals.

2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention enshrines the right of all children to reach their full potential, free from violence, neglect, exploitation and abuse. Effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda will help keep that promise. As violence has a high negative impact on every aspect of development, the 2030 Agenda treats it as a crosscutting concern.

30 years after Convention on the Rights of Children was adopted, 10 years after the UN mandate on ending violence against children was created and 4 years after the SDGs were adopted, where are we now?

To help answer this question, earlier this year my office launched a new report, Keeping the Promise – Ending Violence 14

against Children by 2030. This report is based on a wide range of contributions from organizations and individuals in the UN system, regional organizations – including partners in this region such the Inter-American Institute Children’s Institute, MERCOSUR, SICA and the MMI LAC-, as well as civil society, experts and high-level advocates and children themselves.

The report highlights that there is progress on stronger legal and policy frameworks, more and better-quality data and solid evidence on what works to end violence. There is also a greater coherence and coordination amongst different stakeholders working for the wellbeing of children, growing partnerships and coalitions, including with the most important allies of all: children themselves.

In this region, progress has been achieved in the last 10 years -in terms of legislation, policies and at slow pace also on data collection.

We know there are 10 countries with a legislation prohibiting all forms of violence against children – and others like Colombia have ongoing law reform processes-, many countries have approved or are in the process of developing a national strategy to end violence against children aligned with the SDGs (Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay are some examples), countries like El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti and now Colombia have collected data on violence against children.

However, the report also illustrates that progress is slow, too slow for us to be able to keep our promise to the world’s children to live free from violence by 2030. We need a greater sense of urgency for action!

Violence against children remains hidden and pervasive and undermines the achievement of the SDGS and full implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Violence against children is a global phenomenon, however this region shows particularly high statistics: 15

• 67 adolescents are victims of homicide daily; • 240 000 children in the region live in institutional care centres and 10% of these are under three years of age. The majority of these children are there as a result of violence and poverty; • 1.1 million adolescent girls 15 to 19 years of age have experienced sexual violence; • 1 out of 10 adults believe that the use of violent discipline is necessary to educate a child.

We also see increasing numbers of children on the move due to inequality, political crisis, natural disasters, climate change and the prevalence of armed violence in communities and societies. Children who are separated or unaccompanied are particularly vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse at every stage of their journey: at their point of origin, during their journey and at their destination.

Armed violence in the community is often linked to drug trafficking, the availability and accessibility to small arms and high rates of inequality and exclusion combined with appalling rates of corruption. Last week, my Office joined a regional seminar on small arms in schools in Latin America and the Caribbean organized by UNLIREC. One key conclusion from this event was the need to integrate a child rights approach into discussions related to small arms.

Of increasing concern is children’s safety when they are online.

Children can be exposed to harmful information or abusive material, groomed by potential predators, and subjected to exploitation and abuse, including through the production and distribution of child abuse images or live web streaming.

We know that children deprived of liberty have an increased risk of violence. Even though international standards are clear that juvenile offenders should be dealt with, without resorting 16

to judicial proceedings to greatest degree as possible, there are still too many juvenile justice systems that resort to deprivation of liberty as the main response to juvenile offenders. Moreover, a large proportion of children is detained for minor offenses and are first-time offenders who should not, according to international standards, be placed in justice institutions to start with.

In our recent Report on Children speak about the impact of deprivation of liberty: the case of Latin America, children identified the linkages between the cycle of violence and the cycle of deprivation of liberty in context of poverty, inequality and exclusion.

Violence at home, poverty, structural violence and risky survival activities, propel children into the juvenile justice system.

In fact, detention in the justice system is often used as a substitute for referral to child care and protection services.

There is a worrying trend for children to be placed in institutions, rather than minimizing the risk of violence against children by ensuring effective prevention.

In the report children describe how physical, mental and sexual violence are prevalent to a degree that violence has been normalized as a way of survival.

Violence amongst peers and between adults and children is accepted and tolerated as a form of discipline, as a form of self-defense and as form of survival. Children live with a sense of being defenseless and become indifferent to violence. In some cases, conditions are so deplorable that it can only be characterized as a process of dehumanization for children.

Violence leaves long-lasting scars on children’s lives. It often has irreversible consequences on their development and wellbeing and limits their opportunities to thrive later in life.

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Najat Maalla M’jid Dr. M’jid, a medical doctor in paediatrics, has over the last three decades devoted her life to the promotion and protection of children’s rights. She was Head of the Paediatric Department and Director of the Hay Hassani Mother-Child hospital in Casablanca. Dr. M’jid is a member of the Moroccan National Council on Human Rights and founder of the non-governmental organisation Bayti, the first programme addressing the situation of children living and working in the streets of Morocco. From 2008 to 2014, she served as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.

Dr. M’jid also works as an Expert-Consultant for national and international projects, strategies and policies relating to child rights’ promotion and protection. She has participated in the development of national policies on the protection of the child, and has worked with several governments, non-governmental and intergovernmental organisations.

Source: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/personnelappointments/2019-05-30/ms-najat-maalla-m%E2%80%99jid-ofmorocco-special-representative-of-the-secretary-generalviolence-against-children

It also weakens the very foundation of social progress, generating huge costs for society, according to some estimates up to 7 trillion USD1 per year, slowing economic development and eroding States’ human and social capital.

Our key question must be: if the costs of inaction on violence against children, are so high and the solutions are known, why 1

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https://www.odi.org/projects/2778-costs-inaction-against-child-violence

does it continue? What must we do to move better, faster and further in bringing it to an end?

To move better, faster and further in bringing it to an end, it is crucial that specific child rights obligations in these areas are respected and fulfilled by all States in their national planning and implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

This calls for adequate financing and investment in children, clear political leadership on the area of children’s rights, strengthening national child protection systems, prioritizing those in situations of greatest vulnerability and marginalization; and a human rights approach to data and monitoring, including through transparency and quality disaggregated data to reflect the situation of all children, particularly those who are too often uncounted, yet also at greatest risk of being left behind.

This calls also for wide participation throughout the implementation and follow‐ up and review processes, with effective measures to bring about accountability.

It requires promoting the meaningful participation of children in decisions that greatly affect them, engaging children and incorporating their opinions and voices in policies and actions in their own communities.

Listening to children’s voices and treating children as active participants with full rights and being accountable to children will be crucial if we are to make real progress in creating a world for children that is free from violence.

I urge you to ensure you create the appropriate mechanisms to ensure that children and young people actively participate in the implementation process of the SDGs in every country.

Still few countries in this region have taken action to inform their VNRS or to include children’s voices in SDGs related actions.

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Next year, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago2 will present their VNRs and have the opportunity to make visible the interlinkages of violence against children with the other SDGS and to inform their VNRs with the voices of children and young people.

30 years after adoption of the CRC, 10 years after the establishment of the mandate on VAC and 4 years after adoption of SDGs and yet still more needs to be done, better and faster, to protect children worldwide from all forms of violence ensure that no child is behind, and to put children at the heart of the 2030 agenda.

The 30th anniversary of the CRC is an historic occasion and cannot simply be a symbolic celebration. There is no better time to strengthen the momentum and to act, not only on behalf of those who are children today, but for the 1 billion individuals who will be born between now and 2030: the children who will inherit a post-SDG world.

Working closely together we can create a global repository of best practices, learn from each other and help ensure that we achieve the goal of eliminating violence against children by 2030.

After all, the best way to ensure that no child is left behind is to put them first!

To end violence against children by 2030 and to ensure NO CHILD IS LEFT BEHIND, we must ACT Now! I would to conclude with 2 sentences from the 2006 Global study on VAC: ÂŤNo violence against children is justifiable; all violence against children is preventable.Âť 2

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https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/memberstates web site accessed on Oct 25.

ÂŤEvery society, no matter its cultural, economic or social background, can and must stop violence against children.Âť I look forward to actively collaborating with all of you and learning more about the progress and challenges in ending violence against children in the Americas.

Thank you.

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Have we really made any progress?

T he dilemma between progressiveness and regressiveness in Children’s Rights 30 Years Later

by Otto Rivera

Introduction Over the course of three decades, most countries in the world have tried to make their societies move away from the irregular doctrine when addressing the reality that affects their children and adolescents, towards the comprehensive protection doctrine, which recognizes them as holders of rights.

With this aim in view, their regulatory frameworks have been adapted and reoriented in such a way that they respond to this new paradigm, in order to ensure the best interests of children.

In an attempt to take stock of progress and outstanding challenges, we have incurred in a biased practice. We have come to believe that having international and domestic standards in place is equivalent to moving forward slowly, but steadily, in building better social areas for the respect, promotion and protection of the Rights of Children and Adolescents.

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As a result, we have been reading, speaking and listening to those among us who believe in the viability of this struggle and its importance.

However, we have stopped listening to and considering the other, the others, those who do not think or believe as we do; we have disregarded them and failed to consider their true importance. The manifestations of an ideological, political, social and religious movement, which continues to proclaim that the adult world must have and exercise its authority over children, have been growing throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

In the same way, the problems affecting children and adolescents in every country are similar from one context to another. As contradictory as it may seem, the structural causes that gave rise to the emergence of global discussions on the need for instruments to protect children’s rights, far from being overcome, have been deepening and homogenizing in the entire region.

Hunger, chronic malnutrition, poverty and extreme poverty, lack of opportunities for quality education, multiple expressions of violence, and forced human mobility are some of the problems still claiming fatal victims in the world of children and adolescents.

To what extent have we actually progressed? Without fear of contradiction, we can assert that as a society we have unilaterally developed discourse in favour of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, but in neither public institutions nor the social imaginary, have we been able to move from discourse to action, so that these rights can come fully into effect.

We call children “rights holders�, but we are still viewing them and treating them as if they lacked their own criteria; talking about them, but without them.

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We in the adult world feel comfortable, too comfortable, making decisions on behalf of those whose rights we claim to defend, promote and protect.

When and how far will we be able to understand that our role is to accompany the collective development of societal spheres for the full exercise of such rights, of which active protagonist participation is one of the first?

Evidence shows that the current conditions of children’s lives continue to show high vulnerability and risk. That the principal right being violated is the right to life.

It is girls and female teenagers who suffer the most, from physical as well as sexual, attitudinal and psychological violence; they remain invisible in the programmatic actions of government institutions, including national public revenue and expenditure budgets.

Every year, child and teenage pregnancy statistics increase, because there is still no real national system to protect and safeguard the rights of children and adolescents.

Faced with such a scenario, what can we do to turn this reality around?

Commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, with a prospective view that evokes a promising future for present and future children and adolescents implies our renewed commitment towards them, making this and other international and domestic instruments, our best tools for building the society that they all deserve.

It implies a change of heart, a change of paradigm that will shake us up, compel us to leave our comfort zone, to work shoulder to shoulder in transforming the society we have, into the world we want.

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Children and adolescents must be removed from the discourse of the political classes in order to place them at the heart of deliberate public policy action, which should be reflected in a public budget with a human rights approach, to reduce vulnerabilities and risk.

Public intervention on behalf of children and adolescents must be a constant that comes alive in national, regional, departmental, municipal and local spheres, and then return to the same multi-level rationale, carrying children’s voices and opinions, with their proposals, their dreams and aspirations.

Acting consciously and collectively on an agenda for children’s rights involves something permanent; not losing sight ever again of either the path travelled or the pain undergone, so that the suffering, tears and broken dreams prove to be sufficient grounds for this tale never to be repeated again.

We reaffirm our commitment to continue working on the promotion, protection and defence of children’s rights, convinced that only to the extent that more players are added to a united front, will it be possible to reverse the systematic violation of such rights.

We must be clear that as long as there is one child or teenager who is undergoing the violation of any of his or her rights, we cannot and must not rest until those rights have been restored.

Let children and adolescents, therefore, mark our best course so that we can keep walking along the path of building Latin America and the Caribbean in peace and social justice, in the midst of which children and adolescents can develop comprehensively.

Changing the paradigm: children protected and their rights safeguarded

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Otto Rivera He is a Guatemalan sociologist with a postgraduate degree in Social Anthropology from CIESAS, Mexico; and a doctoral degree in Continuing Education from CIPAE, Puebla, Mexico. He is a member of the Grupo de Gestión por la Primera Infancia en América Latina (Steering Group for Latin American Early Childhood); of the Latin American Network to Combat Child Labour; of the Latin American and Caribbean Network for the Defence of the Rights of Children and Adolescents (REDLAMYC); of the Red Niña Niño Guatemala (Children’s Network) and Executive Secretary of the Coordinadora Institucional de Promoción por los Derechos de la Niñez (Institutional Coordination for Child Rights Promotion - CIPRODENI), Guatemala.

A true national system to comprehensively protect and guarantee child rights (SIPINNA for its acronym in Spanish) involves transformation from its roots, on the basis of a holistic and therefore inclusive perspective, which involves the joint responsibility of the State, families and society as a whole, moving in favour of the respect and promotion as well as the recognition of children and adolescents as social holders of rights.

Protection that is adapted and reinforced, which recognizes the international right to human rights afforded to children, building on their status as human beings who are growing and differentiated from adults, with regard to their possibilities and the challenges facing the effective enjoyment, the full exercise and defence of their rights, as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, IACHR, has established.

This new SIPINNA requires that the States should design comprehensive interventions, considering the interconnection 26

and complementarity of all rights, considering their promotion, dissemination and awareness in their regard, as well as providing for any violations, protection against risks or unlawful interference, the restoration of rights, reparation and rehabilitation and justice achieved through investigation, prosecution, trial and punishment of those responsible for violations of rights.

New institutions, new working methods, improved mechanisms for collaboration and coordination. No more institutions working in isolation with few or no viable outcomes.

Towards a “new treatment� for children and adolescents The paradigm shift consists in moving from this society we have, towards the one we really want. Because today we have a system that reproduces violence, injustice and exclusion, as expressed by Professor Pierre Bourdieu.

This is a society that watches over its children and adolescents only to determine at what point they make a mistake and to punish them accordingly, which reminds us of Michel Foucault; when the evidence is clear, there are only two ways to permeate the life of a boy or a girl for the rest of his or her life, and these alternatives are punishment or affection.

This is referred to by Professor Eduardo Bustelo when he says, citing Foucault, that biopolitics and biopower are applied directly to children, where a vision predominates that is based on charity towards children, but when children claim their rights, then they cause the system discomfort and it is necessary to reprimand them because they no longer obey the rules established by the adult world.

It is, therefore, necessary to establish a new covenant or social contract, as Professors Norberto Liwski teachers and Alejandro CussiĂĄnovich refer to it.

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If treating well is necessary, it is because maltreatment exists, therefore, as Cussiánovich emphasizes, we know that there is no human development without social and emotional development.

This explains why in our societies, where violence and disrespect for human rights prevail, where force is used to resolve any differences, all we do every day is damage the human dimension in our relations.

This social reproduction of violence to which Bourdieu refers, is only undermining what little of humanity is left to us.

This gives rise to Professor Humberto Maturana’s exhortation when he tells us that if something is evident in Latin America, it is that we have become indifferent to the pain of others, that our level of selfishness is such that we only care about ourselves; as long as an issue does not affect our individual self, nothing else matters, to the point that the collective “we” is disappearing from the social imaginary.

What we have before us is the portrayal of violence in public and private spheres, but the violence experienced inside institutions is what permeates the imaginary of children and is reproduced through the generations.

Good treatment, as proposed, is a trend expressed by the pedagogy of tenderness. It implies a new political culture, where it is feasible to live within a horizon of dignity, of the human condition, as if it were concocted in love, says Professor Cussiánovich.

An outcome of this should be the development of new social subjects, Girl, Boy and Adolescent individuals fully enjoying their rights, the exercise of a new citizenship, in the midst of a social imaginary that respects, listens, and interacts with her or him.

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While it is true that there is no single model for a system of protection and comprehensive safeguarding of rights, it is also true that what we have in our countries is very far from being such a system.

This new construction should be progressive, so that children become empowered in the full exercise of their rights, where protection and guarantees are seen as a continuum in the interrelatedness of all rights, based on the course of life, promoting the psycho-bio-social and cultural development of each and every one with equality, equity and inclusion.

Bibliography Bourdieu, Pierre. El Campo Político. Plural Editores. Bolivia, 2001.

Bourdieu, Pierre. Razones prácticas. Sobre la teoría de la acción.

Anagrama. Colección Argumentos. Barcelona, 2003.

Bustelo, Eduardo S. El Recreo de la Infancia. Siglo XXI Editores. Argentina, 2007.

CRC. Convention on the Rights of the Child, Committee on the Rights of the Child. United Nations, New York. 1989.

CRC. General Comment No. 5 “General measures of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child”. CRC/GC/2003/5, 27 November 2003.

CIPRODENI. 30 años de la Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño.

Boletín de análisis del Observatorio de los Derechos de la Niñez. Edición Especial. Guatemala, November 2019.

CIPRODENI. La situación de la Niñez y Adolescencia 2004 – 2014.

Guatemala, April 2015.

Cussiánovich, Alejandro. Infancia, Buen trato y Nuevo pacto social.

In: IINfancia Newsletter 2. Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN-OAS).

Second Period - December 2016, Montevideo.

Foucault, Michel. Los Anormales. Fondo de Cultura Económica. Mexico, 2002.

IACHR. Towards the Effective Fulfilment of Children’s Rights: National Protection Systems. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

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Organization of American States. OEA/ser.L/V/II. 166 Doc. 206/17. 30 November 2017.

Liwski, Norberto. Apuntes para la Educación en clave de Derechos Humanos. March 2016.

Liwski, Norberto. La Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño. El camino del nuevo contrato social. In: IINfancia Newsletter 2. Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN-OAS). Second Period - December 2016, Montevideo.

Maturana, Humberto. El Sentido de lo Humano. Océano. Dolmen Ediciones. Santiago, Chile, 2002.

Morlachetti, Alejandro. Sistemas nacionales de protección integral de la infancia. Fundamentos jurídicos y estado de aplicación en América Latina y el Caribe. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean ECLAC. United Nations Children’s Fund - UNICEF. Santiago, Chile, 2013.

SCI. Haciendo lo correcto por las niñas y los niños. Una guía sobre la programación del niño para profesionales. Save the Children International.

Peru, 2008.

Sennett, Richard. Carne y Piedra. El cuerpo y la ciudad en la civilización occidental. Alianza Editorial. Seventh reprint 2018. Spain.

Touraine, Alain.La fin des sociétés. Éditions du Seuil. 2013, Paris, France.

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Adultcentric societies and child rights

by Klaudio Duarte Quapper

Adultcentrism as a context.

Adultcentrism is a contemporary control system imposed by adulthood in order to exercise unilateral control over children and youth. It is mainly exercised by persons in roles which are determined socially as pertaining to adult persons, in families, schools, the media, neighbourhoods, social organizations, public policy: expressions of this system may be observed in different types of social venues and institutions.

Adultcentrism is materialized through at least three types of actions, which also constitute its structural dimensions. On the one hand, it produces a set of social imaginaries that, on the basis of the reification of the life cycle as an ascending process from childhood to adulthood, when the fullness of being is achieved, and then descending towards older adulthood, establishes life cycles as built in successive stages over time, which evolve mechanically one after another and have specific and homogeneous tasks for their development.

Thus, it represents a way of understanding the life cycle where adulthood is imposed as the principal moment of life: in capitalist contexts, it entails the time of greatest productivity, greater access to consumption, of heteronormative

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reproduction and the careful reproduction of norms (Duarte, 2018). It should be considered that elderly adulthood loses all value in these social imaginaries, as it is not able to perform at least the first three of these tasks.

Thus, children and youth are perceived to be preparing for that crucial moment of life which is adulthood and, therefore, from that perspective, the possibility of giving opinions, deciding, executing and committing to issues that are influencing their stories and biographies is removed from them (Bourdieu, 1990).

From the perspective of these imaginaries, this adultcentrism constructs a notion of maturity to which those who exercise adult roles resort, in order to delegitimize children and youth as immature whenever they need to exercise unilateral control and domination.

On the other hand, adultcentrism shapes its material dimensions on a set of institutional actions that facilitate or restrict access for children and young people to various goods necessary for their deployment as individuals (Duarte, 2018). For example, public policy is recurrently designed as an exercise that adults must carry out in order to improve, heal, save, correct, reinsert young people. We have almost no policies in our societies developed from a perspective in which children and youth play a protagonist role; rather, rooted in adultcentrism, we develop local and national policies without considering the voice and perspectives of children and youth (Cussianovich, 2010).

Similarly, through this adultcentric materiality we deny access to material goods to these individuals, as a result of the idea that they are dependent on their families or dependent on the State and that it is others who have to meet their needs. Thus, adults and adult organizations that are meeting those needs – or believe that they are – can manipulate or blackmail children and adolescents into behaving only in ways that unilaterally 32

seem to them to be appropriate, and fail to consider children’s own wishes and interests regarding what they need, require, dream about, etc., because if they do, they (adults) might lose access to those assets.

The third dimension is related to physicality and sexuality, inasmuch as adultcentrism regulates the bodies and sexualities of children and adolescents, appropriating this physicality and making decisions about what is good or what is bad, what is healthy and what is not, what it is sinful and what is virtuous, what is a crime and what is appropriate for a good citizen.

These individuals are, therefore, refused the opportunity to connect with and take charge of their own sexuality and physicality from childhood (Duarte, 2018).

So it is, then, that this regulation of the physicality of persons considered to be of a younger age in our society has led to, for example, determining that teenage pregnancy is a social pandemic to be attacked. However, seventy years ago, our mothers and grandmothers became pregnant while they were still under the age of eighteen and that was not a problem for society. Today, this is viewed as a problem and children and young people, especially adolescent girls, are burdened with the liability of pregnancy before the age of eighteen.

I should make it clear that I am not advocating for teenage pregnancy, but I am, rather, attempting to show how this adultcentrism operates, over and above the very historicity of children and adolescents. Until the sixties in Latin America, a woman becoming pregnant and giving birth before the age of eighteen was not a cause of conflict in society; it is the adult, the adultcentric world that has determined that this is an issue and burdened these children and young people with the blame when they find themselves in such a situation. In addition, the policies devised to curb these situations are designed and implemented among girls without much considering their own suggestions on the subject.

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These are some of the ways that adultcentrism, as a system for control, justifies the exercise of control over children and adolescents. In addition, adultcentrism is a paradigm that, through the social, educational and medical sciences, among others, attempts to endow with scientific features a set of devices that allows the naturalized reproduction of the system (Duarte, 2018).

In particular, the social sciences have taken charge of building a discourse that calls itself scientific, and reinforces the ideas raised by the rationale of the system of dominion: that children and adolescents, by their natural condition which is explained by their biological age or by their psychological immaturity, are unable to take charge of or make important decisions related to their lives. Thus, a strong tension occurs in society: on the one hand, we tell these children that they have to take

Klaudio Duarte Quapper He is married, with four daughters, one son and a grandson. He is a sociologist and popular educator. He holds a master’s degree in Youth and Society from the University of Girona and a PhD in Sociology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is Academic Coordinator of the Youth Research and Action Centre, and of the Sensing/Thinking Centre for Participatory Methodologies, and a member of the Julieta Kirkwood Research Centre for Gender and Society, all within the Department of Sociology at the University of Chile.

Lines of work: youth and generations; masculinities and gender; participatory methodologies and popular education. claudioduarte@uchile.cl +56 9 42503567

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responsibility, but they cannot take on these responsibilities until they become adults in the future, and are sufficiently mature.

These social sciences have been developed by adults who, assigning a priority to the age difference condition, build inequality and impose on children and adolescents a subordinate place in society, making it appear to be part of a set of tasks for development that are given and impossible to change. This naturalization of and creation of hierarchies for the condition of children and adolescents also carries with it a certain way of building adulthood, as the stage which is always right, and which, as we have said, has matured and grown up and, therefore, can determine the fate of these people considered minors.

By naturalizing these social processes. the possibility is refused for these individuals in society, through joint action, to transform these processes, reshape them and consider, as we shall discuss below, their own specificity in order to define what, as a society and culture, we hope that both children and adolescents, and adults and senior adults will develop as regards their daily relations (Cussianovich, 2010).

I have explained, very succinctly, how adultcentrism manifests itself as a system of dominion and as a paradigm that calls itself scientific, as well as the synchronized forms in which it reproduces itself. On the basis of this critical review, I shall propose some questions regarding the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in order to situate challenges and opportunities in this adultcentric context.

The Convention and its challenges in this adultcentric context.

With the CRC in mind, it is necessary to recognize that it is a wellintentioned production of governments, States and persons, on behalf of the rights of children and youth. However, in light of what we are proposing with regard to adultcentrism, its actual implementation over these thirty years leads to raising 35

a set of questions that might help establish the proposal I wish to make in this paper.

The first question concerns how adultcentrism is addressed on the basis of producing and carrying out Conventionrelated direct action. I say this, because certain elements in the Convention are based on the perception of childhood and adolescence as the future which, through a number of legal and political instruments, the Convention will safeguard.

Therefore, it is not surprising then that when the Convention’s ideas are deposited in public policies, for example, or educational strategies, or strategies for community action, children and adolescents continue to be conceived as and assumed to be individuals who receive the effects of actions that other people will carry out on and for them.

Thus, children and adolescents are deprived of the opportunity to participate and be empowered in the present, to carry out actions that can be to their advantage. Of course, this leads to a discussion: from what stage of life can a person start to take responsibility for some of these issues? If current pedagogical theories state that children in preschool may be part of the educational process, not as empty vessels to be filled, but as subjects involved in such processes, then why not also think of them in this perspective with regard to the way society is organized and in forms of relationship that we engage in with them in society and culture.

A second question regarding the Convention is, in its implementation, how do we deconstruct these paradigmatic notions to which we referred above? How does concrete action contribute to the deconstruction of these categories and concepts that naturalize children and teens, and deny their potential in the present time? In this area, it seems to me that the challenge lies in that if those working in the field of children do not participate in systematic, rigorous and critical training processes regarding these notions we are proposing,

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it will be difficult to consolidate a Convention that puts the focus on issues that are important to children and adolescents.

Another challenge is that the CRC needs to be updated, and this requires ensuring that children and adolescents can actively participate in drafting and putting it into action. It is clearly understood that in the context that was developed decades ago, this participation was not possible to generate or trigger, but the very effects that it has provoked in the area of children and adolescents in different countries and in different communities, now require consistency with its own approaches. Therefore, the conditions must be created in order to call upon these individuals in some way, so that they can become part of the process of re-elaboration of the Convention, so that they take ownership of it and can take full advantage of its use, along with adult people who work with adolescents and children.

A challenge that is linked to those above is that, in its conception, the CRC must ensure that it is able to address the living conditions of these children and adolescents in their situations regarding class, gender, race, territory and generation, assuming that we are in a pluri-domain society where these systems work in coordination and constitute what is called a social complexity. In fact, complex situations require complex solutions. In view then, of the intersectional complexity that exists when we observe the realities of children and adolescents, and the proposals to be drawn up, this complexity must be intensely present. This will allow us to take the specific nature of the realities of these individuals highly into consideration, not only regarding the age distinctions that may occur within the group, but above all, the more opaque distinctions mentioned above. Thus, we can deal with the kind of universalization in which we sometimes fall when the Convention is resorted to and applied without considering in depth the specific realities of these children and adolescents, leading to addressing them homogeneously.

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The ability to assess the differences in these realities, in these individuals, will enable us to build a society where diversity is a value, a constitutive element of respect among all those who are different. Therefore, in my opinion, the perspective of intersectionality can be very useful if we open it up beyond its original proposals, which only focused on gender, class and race.

The final challenge is to modify the image of the Convention as an instrument which implies a final state, an end point in the process of promoting child rights. In this matter, linked to the above challenges, I consider that we need to enhance the notion of the CRC as a floor on which those working with children and adolescents, and those individuals themselves, can stand, assert themselves, and move forward on their actions for transformation. It should not be a ceiling, or restrict how far organizational, collective, institutional action, or individual action, can go. I propose thinking about it as a floor from which to start working, without a ceiling, without limits, rather as a horizon allowing for movement, and that horizon should be, I believe, the dignity of children and adolescents.

This set of challenges aims to provide clues so that in the fight against adultcentrism and for rights of children and youth, the Convention, the existing one and any others that may arise, may constitute a platform for action.

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Bibliography Bourdieu, P. (1990). La juventud no es más que una palabra. In Sociología y Cultura. Mexico: Grijalbo.

Cussianovich, A. (2010). Paradigma del Protagonismo. Lima: Instituto de formación de Adolescentes y Niños Trabajadores “Nagayama Norio” INFANT. Duarte, Klaudio (2018). Genealogía del adultocentrismo. La constitución del patriarcado adultocéntrico. In: Duarte, Claudio. Álvarez, Carolina (editors) “Juventudes en Chile. Miradas de jóvenes que investigan”. Social Ediciones. University of Chile. Santiago, Chile. Second edition.

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Sexual and affective diversity and childhood: schools as opportunities for inclusion

by Dr. Begoña Sánchez Torrejón

The prevailing education system is heterosexist, as it considers only heterosexuality to be its model its reference point. Thus, it intentionally conceals affective-sexual diversity, rendering it invisible and excluding all students who do not play the roles tailored to the prevailing heteronormativity. Authors such as Díaz-Aguado (2005) and Smith (2003) point out that the chances of being bullied at school increase when students belong to “vulnerable” groups, such as homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals. In order to promote a change in this reality in educational institutions, there is an urgent need for educational policies that foster a climate in which the sexual orientations and gender identities of students are respected.

This paper arises from the need for the States to promote educational policies that foster inclusive schools where all children are present; inclusive education that focuses on the incorporation of non-heteronormative students. Society demands inclusive educational spheres where respect and recognition of differences based on gender identity and sexual orientation provide a wonderful opportunity for growth and learning for the entire educational community and society.

The main challenge is thus to combat the systematic assaults 40

suffered by LGBT people and promote respect for sexual and gender diversity so that from the earliest stages, children can develop their own sexuality and gender identity in a welcoming and respectful environment.

A research study, Estudio 2013 sobre discriminación por orientación sexual y/o identidad de género en España (a study on sexual orientation and/or gender identity discrimination in Spain) was conducted by the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals (FELGTB for its acronym in Spanish) and the LGBT collective of Madrid, COGAM. The study compiles the experiences of 762 LGBT residents in Spain and their self-perception of discrimination suffered in different areas of daily life.

Of the participating population, 44.6% had felt discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity in a private establishment open to the public, 30% in the field of hospitality. However, only 1 in 3 took action, mainly by complaining on the premises.

Even more worrying is that 31.2% of those surveyed had undergone discrimination in the workplace. In 73% of the cases, discrimination had consisted of mockery, but to that is added that nearly half (47.5%) suffered discriminatory treatment at the hands of their peers, 24% suffered harassment at work, 20% faced barriers in career advancement and for nearly 20%, their gender identity or sexual orientation had represented an obstacle in finding employment. In this case, two-thirds has taken steps, primarily before the company itself (30.9%), the unions (9.2%) or the LGBT association (8.8%).

However, once again, it appears that the main area of discrimination against the LGBT population is in education: 76% experienced homophobia, biphobia or transphobia mainly in their schools, colleges or institutes, and from their peers (92.8%). Another 26.9% also mentioned that their teachers were their victimizers.

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The victims, mostly underage, are vulnerable, and only 16% find a solution by making a complaint to the school itself (86%). Only 5% have appealed to the judicial system after having undergone LGBT-phobia, although 40.6% believe they should have done so. This gap shows the great helplessness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual persons in the face of the discrimination they suffer. While 55% failed to make such an appeal out of a lack of trust in the system, 29% did not do so for reasons of visibility.

It is fear of coming out of the closet, therefore, that holds back more than a quarter of possible complaints related to discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Many people still perceive that disclosing their orientation is a risk to them and, therefore, coming out of the closet is not a free option.

Dr. Begoña Sánchez Torrejón She holds a licentiate degree in Pedagogy, a master’s degree in gender, identity and citizenship studies and a PhD in Humanities. She is a professor at the Didactics Department, Faculty of Educational Sciences of the University of Cádiz (Spain) and a member of RED LIESS: Ibero-American Network for the socio-historical study of sexualities. She acts as advisor to the Independent Child Protection Council (Spain) and is a member of the Ibero-American Social Sciences Network with a gender-based approach (RED HILA). She is also a member of the research group for the media and education HUM818.

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As a result of their research, several authors, such as Clark (2010) and GutiĂŠrrez (2015), have reported that in all of the countries in the world, training teachers to educate on the basis of sexual and affective diversity is still pending. This situation demands solutions that initial teacher training centres should tackle (Penna and Casado, 2014).

Gender identity is a right, the right to gender identity refers to the basic right of every human being to decide whether they feel male or female, regardless of how they have been catalogued at birth. From the standpoint of inclusion, from education and the different media, we need to advocate for the full rights of transsexual persons in democratic societies.

It is necessary, therefore, to establish an educational vision that includes, on equal terms, the different types of human sexuality, and in particular, the different sexual orientations and gender identities, showing a reality where there are multiple masculinities and femininities and making them visible, contributing to the inclusion of sexual and affective diversity in schools and society.

In the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (proclaimed by the General Assembly of the UN in its resolution 1386 [XIV] of 20 November 1959), we also find references to the protection of the rights of the child in terms of avoiding discrimination, for whatever reason, and to enable children to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner, in conditions of freedom and dignity (principle 1, 2, 10).

But the fullest and most specific document on the rights of LGBT people internationally is the one containing the Yogyakarta Principles1, which were commissioned by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and establish a set of principles on how to apply international law on human rights to issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Yogyakarta Principles: Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity, 2007

1

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The right to life, to work, to freedom of opinion and expression, to founding a family or the right to education are some of the 29 principles compiled in the text and which constitute a response to serious violations of human rights that gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and intersex people are suffering in numerous countries. One of the most widespread conclusions is that schools are heteronormative institutions that silence the experiences of LGBT people and reproduce gender norms, a fact which forces LGBT students to conceal their sexual orientation or gender identity.

We cannot continue to think of the world in terms of dualities; we need to rethink it in terms of a multiplicity of identities and heterogeneous groups, as a dazzling display of individual complexities. It is necessary, therefore, to establish an educational vision, supported by government public policies, which includes, on equal terms, the different types of human sexuality, and in particular, the different sexual orientations, showing a reality and making them visible, contributing to the social normalization of sexual and affective diversity in schools.

As noted by Stimpson (1999), we must break away from binary heteronormative assumptions and shed light on the multiple affective and sexual diversities.

The habit of silencing education in affective-sexual diversity in our classrooms is discriminatory strategy, and consequently gives rise to increased rejection and exclusion, as we cannot address what we fail to perceive. If the invisibility of sexuality in general is widespread, the invisibility of non-normative sexualities is almost absolute in schools. In addition, affective and sexual education which is taught today, based on normalizing policies, on a heteronormative curriculum where heterosexuality still appears to be the only legitimate and possible sexuality, precludes any opportunity of glimpsing the wide range of affective and sexual diversity in schools.

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In his studies, Pichardo (2009) supports the idea of intervening from the earliest stages of education, as he considers it essential to discuss family diversity and sexual diversities, as it is necessary from the earliest stages to break away from binary gender assumptions that are so restrictive for people, as well as eliminating insult as a form of relating to persons, as it can lead to other types of harassment later on.

In order to stop such attacks, it is crucial that the entire educational community be involved actively, because feelings of isolation, humiliation and embarrassment suffered by victims can make it difficult to report them. These issues can be addressed in discussions and workshops organized by LGBT associations or experts and may be aimed at pupils, teachers and/or parents.

It is therefore imperative to promote a school project to cover this gap and address this reality. In this way, it should be possible to break the law of silence that governs our education system with regard to sexual and affective diversity, leading to schools where students receive an education in which diversity is perceived without fear or prejudice as an asset; in which respect for differences is a core value, and where the dignity of each student is a priority that can never be impaired.

Regardless of how many social and institutional actions may be implemented, there can be no changes in the educational sphere, until there is a transformation of the symbolic field and this transformation must take place in the field of awareness and among the teaching staff.

Countries must face the challenge of developing mechanisms and tools that support States to establish efficient and comprehensive strategies and actions for the promotion and protection of children’s rights in the field of affective and sexual diversity in education. It is also necessary to support the States in their tasks with regard to following up, advocating for and monitoring the fulfilment of children’s rights in that area. We

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consider that to continue advancing in solidarity as a priority, there is an urgent need to promote the sharing of experiences and learning among States in order to continue protecting children.

Bibliography Clark, C. T. (2010). Preparing LGBTQ-Allies and Combating Homophobia in a U. S. Teacher Education Program. 26, 704-713.

COGAM. Estudio 2013 sobre discriminación por orientación sexual y/o identidad de género en España research study conducted by the Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gais, Transexuales y Bisexuales (FELGTB), and the LGBT collective of Madrid, COGAM. Díaz-Aguado, María José. (2005). La violencia entre iguales en la adolescencia y su prevención desde la escuela. Psicothema, 17 (4), 549558.

Gutiérrez, E. J. D. (2015). Códigos de masculinidad hegemónica en educación. Revista Ibero-americana de Educação, 68, 79-98.

Penna Tosso, M., & Mateos Casado, C. (2014). Los niveles de homofobia de los futuros docentes: una cuestión de derechos, salud mental y educación. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación, 1(66), 123-142.

Pichardo, J. I. (2009). Adolescentes ante la diversidad sexual. Homofobia en los Centros Educativos. Madrid: Catarata.

Smith, P. (2003). Violence in schools: the response in Europe. London (UK): Routledge.

Stimpson, C R. and Navarro M. (1999). Sexualidad, género y roles sexuales. Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica.

United Nations (UN) (1959). Declaration of the Rights of the Child. Doc. A/4354.

Yogyakarta Principles (2007). Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity.

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““I HAV E A CURATOR AD LIT EM�

An approach to the perspective of children and adolescents regarding their lawyers in protection cases heard in family courts

by Katherine Llanos Soto This study is an invitation to reflect on the good practices of the legal representation of children and adolescents before the courts in Chile and it is my hope that these reflections be extended to the entire region. Special importance is given to the need to listen to children and adolescents who are assisted by lawyers in family courts, who are called in Chile curators ad litem, and learn their views in relation to both current practice and what they expect in the future.

The paper begins by establishing a theoretical basis for the subject matter, then it provides a synthesis of the international regulatory framework involving the right of children and adolescents to be legally represented, as well as of the concept of curator, or guardian, ad litem, in national terms.

Finally, the results of case studies conducted by interviewing children and adolescents who are under the protection of the State, regarding their relationship with the persons who represent them. In the latter stage, the technical support of the Observatory for Trust and the collaboration of the ECAM Foundation SENAME Graduates for our field work were fundamental. Devising and implementing a specialized

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interview methodology was a great challenge, but thanks to this multidisciplinary team, it was possible to implement a protocol that safeguarded the consent, autonomy, security and privacy of interviewees.

I hope this article will promote further research on policies towards children, WITH children, enabling them to participate actively in the implementation of their rights. I believe that knowledge can be generated in this way that is useful and practical for all stakeholders involved in protecting the rights of children and adolescents.

THEORETICAL JUSTIFICATION In order to obtain the recommended technical requirements for the provision of technical assistance of children by lawyers, an international and national legislative synthesis was conducted in relation to legal aid and the concept of the curator ad litem. However, as the compilation of regulations was being performed, it was clear that there were gaps with respect to the actual exercise of these guarantees. It was necessary to provide practices with a framework, but this could not simply be limited to observing and learning what took place in family courts from an adultcentric viewpoint.

Curators ad litem, magistrates, officials and other operators in these judicial proceedings had a great many opinions and reflections to contribute, but this involved displacing the true protagonists of this process: the children and teenagers themselves.

With this concern, I was faced with the reality that the country lacks in-depth studies on the relationship or bond that develops between lawyers and children, from the latter’s point of view. It could not, therefore, be maintained that knowledge about children and adolescents was being produced, if their right to participate, one of the most important principles 48

of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, was not being respected.

With this outlook, it was imperative to generate more comprehensive research, which not only delved into aspects such as access to and availability of legal assistance, but also into their relevance and, specifically, their quality.

This underscores the importance of how interactions and relationships between children and the lawyers carrying out their legal representation develop.

With this in mind, we sought to incorporate the voices of children and adolescents on the basis of individual interviews and to allow their insights to lead to developing technical standards for the practice of legal representation under the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

REGULATORY FRAMEWORK The right to legal counsel in international standards The right to legal assistance has the status of a fundamental human right, which must be safeguarded, in accordance with the following laws, which are binding for the State of Chile under article 5, subsection 2 of the political Constitution of the Republic.

First, the American Convention on Human Rights states, in its section on the right to a fair trial, that all human beings have “the right to a hearing” (Article 8.1) and “the inalienable right to be assisted by counsel” (Article 8.2).

For its part, the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that “States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the

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child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child” (Article 12.1). “For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body” (Article 12.2).

In this regard, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its General Comment No. 12 , has indicated that article 12 “imposes no age limit on the right of the child to express her or his views, and discourages States parties from introducing age limits either in law or in practice which would restrict the child’s right to be heard in all matters affecting her or him” (Paragraph 21). Likewise, it promotes the principles of loyalty and exclusivity in legal representation, stating that “The representative must be aware that she or he represents exclusively the interests of the child and not the interests of other persons (parent(s)), institutions or bodies (e.g.

Residential home, administration or society)” (Paragraph 37).

Finally, the Brasilia Regulations Regarding Access to Justice for Vulnerable People state that “In judicial proceedings where minors must take part, it is important to take into account their age and general development, as well as observing the following: The acts shall be celebrated in an appropriate court or room. The language used must be simple, making it easier to understand. Any unnecessary formalities must be avoided, such as the use of robes, the physical distance with the tribunal and other similar formalities” (Paragraph 78).

Thus, we can maintain with certainty that it is an obligation of the State towards children and adolescents to ensure their right to legal assistance in court proceedings through mechanisms that allow their participation, and to ensure that their views are duly considered in these proceedings. The right to participate without discrimination is mentioned (Article 2 of the Convention), so that for certain groups experiencing

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Katherine Llanos Soto Ms Llanos is a lawyer who graduated from Diego Portales University, with broad experience in human rights and family, childhood and adolescence law. For over 5 years she has conducted research in the field of specific issues relating to childhood and the right to family life, the alternative care system, legal representation and the right to be heard, addressing aspects of other disciplines in which she has specialized, such as secondary victimization and parenthood, attachment and child development. She has served in various national and international agencies dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights and has also collaborated with civil society on different training initiatives and the analysis of public policies for children.

greater difficulties in participating, such as early childhood, migrants, children with disabilities, ethnic minorities, etc., it is essential to provide adequate support throughout the proceedings of the judicial system.

Chile seeks to enshrine this mandate through the provision of a curator or guardian ad litem, who is a lawyer who has previously been sworn in before the Supreme Court. Keeping to the subject under discussion, I shall only address the courts’ special protection procedures, but it should be noted that curator ad litem may act as a party in regular contentious family proceedings.

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The curator ad litem in Chilean family courts In 2004, Chile incorporated the concept of the curator ad litem for children and adolescents with the enactment of the Family Courts Act (Law Nº 19,968).

His or her intervention is part of the special protection procedures established by the Family Courts Act when there is independence or conflict of interests between the claims of the parents and caregivers, and the children and adolescents themselves (Article 19 subsection 2 Law Nº 19,968).

In this regard, some of the steps that a judge can take, in keeping with the necessary protection of rights could be: “admission to a foster family programme or a diagnostic centre or a residence for the time which is strictly necessary” (Article 71c) or “suspend the right of one or more specific persons to hold direct or regular contact with the child or adolescent, whether it has been established by court order or not” (Article 71e).

Accordingly, the severing of the family bond would be one of the most obvious ways to proceed in this conflict of interests, so it is mandatory that children and adolescents should have representation independent of the requested party, since in most cases, it is the parents or caregivers who are the perpetrators of the violations in question.

The appointment of a curator is performed randomly by the presiding magistrate in the protection case. Curators are chosen among lawyers who are members of the Judicial Assistance Corporation or any public or private institution dedicated to the defence, promotion or protection of their rights (Article 19 subsection 2 Law Nº 19,968). Examples of these are the Leon Bloy Foundation, the Comprehensive Family Foundation and the Chilean United Nations Association.

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However, the incorporation of the concept of curator is relatively new, so there are still some shortcomings that the judicial system has not been able to resolve. Neither is there agreement on ruling on the minimum requirements for the appointment of curators or on drafting protocols to regulate their activities according to general rules that would prevent improvisation in their work.

That children and adolescents should be legally represented by curator ad litem is a unilateral decision of the courts, invoking the incompetence of minors under Chilean law,1 and not as a measure to ensure their fundamental right to legal assistance, to participation and to be heard as the holders of those rights. The law even determines that the category of child or adolescent is equal to that of incompetence (Article 19, subsection 3 Law Nº 19,968).

Although this development seems to be a breakthrough in terms of rights, it still shows the vestiges of the “doctrine of the irregular situation”.2 The vindication of the rights of children and adolescents is based on the claim that they are vulnerable subjects in this category of alleged incompetence and not because they have, in historical terms, been a group whose rights have been violated. From this viewpoint, it is difficult to imagine that the lawyer/adult (client) relationship will be the same as the lawyer/child relationship, with equal rights and equal quality of action. Added to this, minors cannot, on their own behalf, ask the judge to replace their curator ad litem if they consider that their interventions have not been appropriate, nor can they require their curators to act in accordance with the terms of an agreed contract. A host of obstacles can arise, given the circumstances of their relationship, as this “minor client” has contracted no reciprocal obligations with the lawyer and does not pay his or her fees directly.

Articles 26 and 1446 of the Chilean Civil Code. (Absolute and relative incompetence) García Méndez, E., Derecho de la infancia-Adolescencia en América Latina: de la Situación Irregular a la Protección Integral, Santa Fe de Bogotá, Ediciones Forum Pacis, 1994, p.2.

1 2

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STANDARDS FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF CHILDREN According to the international treaties mentioned above, the States are required to promote a judicial system that safeguards, through legal representation, an effective defence and access to justice for children and adolescents. However, these rules are not merely declaratory acts, it is necessary that they should be put into practice effectively.

Bearing this in mind, we shall analyse the current scenario from the perspective of the children and adolescents who have been represented by curators in special protection procedures. As protagonists, they are the most appropriate persons to understand the development of the practice of curator ad litem, as it was established in order to provide them with assistance.

Interview methodology By using a multidisciplinary approach and with the technical support of professional practitioners in the field of psychology, we offered opportunities for reflection so that children and teens could express their opinions regarding their interactions and relationships with their lawyers.

First, an operating protocol was drawn up, which defined the guidelines for the presentation, development and closure of the interviews. Then an open question model was designed, with the purpose of discovering their expectations regarding the representation of their curator ad litem and, finally, contact was established individually through their responsible adults, by delivering a document (“consent�) to be signed by both them and myself, through which I was mandated to protect the confidentiality of any personal information and the responses that interviewees did not wish to include.

After an extensive search, we were able to compile four case studies involving teenagers aged 12, 13, 15 and 16, two 54

girls and two boys. Interviews were conducted in familiar areas, frequently visited by the adolescents. A therapist accompanied one of the teenagers, while the others decided to be interviewed alone, without the intervention or mediation of other adults.

Summary of Results On the whole, the adolescents’ assessment of the practices currently carried out by their curators ad litem was positive.

There were specific examples highlighting certain positive aspects and behaviours that curators displayed in their interpersonal relationships with the teenagers they were representing. For the teenagers being interviewed, it seemed important to describe what their curators ad litem were like, which could be summarized in the following characteristics: “My curator ad litem should be...”

Empathetic: “My lawyer needs to be aware of how I feel, should talk to me, listen to me...”

Trustworthy: “Someone I can tell things to, who won’t divulge things to others” Conscientious: “My curator comes to see me every month, she even came last week... She made a commitment and so far, she has kept it...”

Impartial in the face of other parties: “I felt that my first lawyer was very much on the side of my mother... she didn’t care about what I wanted but spoke of women in general... she was always taking my mum’s side... it was really weird because she used to attack my dad and treat him as if there were only one party, but there were two parties, she only asked me about him, and her questions were very... very, like, aggressive... instead, the other lawyer I have now hardly asked me any questions at all about the other two parties... I really liked him a lot” 55

Lively: “Someone who knows how to listen, give advice, lift your spirits... not be boring” Available: “What I like most is that he [she] cares about me, that he [she] says how am I... tells me how my brother, my sister are... because he [she] talks to them and then comes to see me and tells me how my sister is, asks if I want to go and see my brother... He [she] gave me his [her] card in case I don’t feel well, or just in case” Their opinions led to developing standards regarding how they should be heard, supported and cared for by those adults who were presented to them as “their lawyer”. This is proof that the technical work being performed was being evaluated from an emotional and social point of view, not on the basis of the formal and legal obligations of a lawyer or the skills that he or she might deploy during their hearings.

Consequently, ethical conduct in legal representation is not only based on the ability to provide high quality technical advice, but also on the capacity to foster respectful relations regarding the rights of children and adolescents, together with the ability to form bonds of trust between the actors.

CONCLUSIONS From the information gathered in the previous sections and the standards we were able to develop in regulatory terms and from the participation of children and adolescents, we can draw three general ideas in conclusion, which could be replicated locally.

Firstly, this particular research is innovative in its methodology, since the approach was to listen to the perspectives of children and adolescents with respect to public policy that directly involves their rights to legal assistance, participation and non-

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discrimination. However, I am convinced that in all studies and proposals that relate to the material enjoyment of children’s human rights, listening to their voices should be the rule rather than the exception.

Secondly, according to the “rights-based approach”3 established by the Convention, the fundamental principle of pertinent and quality legal representation of children and adolescents is that interventions should be ethical and consider their best interests. Such interventions do not only apply to the lawyers appointed to represent their interests and claims (in Chile, referred to as curators ad litem), but also to all those who make up the judicial system. In response to the above, I propose some practices in support of such an approach: a) train and sensitize judicial operators so that they treat children in a dignified and respectful manner; b) provide the necessary information clearly and simply so that children and adolescents can understand both the procedures and the judgements to which they are subjected; c) adapt the physical venues of the courts to make them more friendly and allow for intimate and confidential dialogue between representative and represented.

Finally, with a view to establishing good practices in legal representation, it is important for curators ad litem to be technically competent, with an extensive background in national and international standards relating to children.

However, according to the opinions of the children and adolescents themselves, it is equally important that these lawyers should enhance their psycho-social skills (also known as “soft skills”), which they must develop beyond the learning they acquire in university courses. In this sense, despite the good intentions they may have, it is not just any lawyer who has the capacity to become curator ad litem. Lawyers who devote themselves to this task should work on aspects of Inter-American Children’s Institute, Violencia y Derechos de Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes… construyendo entornos de paz, Montevideo, IIN, 2019, p.16

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themselves such as empathy, reliability, consistency, etc. They should be people with a special sensitivity that combines a human rights-based approach and a vision of victimology. It is essential to understand that children are undergoing these proceedings because there is a threat and/or a violation of rights in some area of their lives, so that representation that does not comply with good practice would equally be engaging in revictimization.

Bibliography García Méndez, E. (1994): Derecho de la infancia-Adolescencia en América Latina: de la Situación Irregular a la Protección Integral. Santa Fe de Bogotá: Ediciones Forum Pacis.

Inter-American Children’s Institute (2019): Violencia y Derechos de Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes…construyendo entornos de paz. Montevideo: IIN. UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (2009), General Comment No. 12: The right of the child to be heard. Geneva: United Nations.

INTERNATIONAL LAW American Convention on Human Rights, adopted at the Inter-American Specialized Conference on Human Rights, held in the city of San José in 1969.

Brasilia Regulations Regarding Access to Justice for Vulnerable People, signed by the Republic of Chile at the XIV Ibero-American Judicial Summit, held in March 2008.

Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 44/25, on 20 November 1989.

NATIONAL REGULATIONS Law Nº 19,968 of 2004, Ministry of Justice. The Family Courts Act. Official Journal, published on 30 August 2004.

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Early childhood care and services in Uruguay: Developments and challenges

by Carolina Taborda y Nora Uturbey Introduction Uruguay is a pioneer in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) with regard to developing a social protection network for all of its citizens, based on the perspective of human rights, gender and generations. With an ageing population, the challenge of building a more sustainable and equitable society has meant that in recent years, the dynamics of caring for the whole population are valued and acted upon, especially in the way that care is accessed and provided (ECLAC, 2019).

The purpose of this article is to analyse attention and care public policy aimed at early childhood in Uruguay, reflect on the progress made on this issue and shed light on some of the outstanding challenges in the current political scenario.

Care policies.

The issue of care in public policies has gained visibility owing to the so-called “care crisis� (ECLAC, 2019), which refers to the increase of the population depending on care in terms of demand and needs, while the pool of unpaid caregivers decreases and female employment is on the rise (ECLAC, 2019). In this context, the design and implementation of crosscutting care policies within the social protection network 59

(which includes both people who require care1 and caregivers) involves a modification of the cultural concept of care and a major challenge regarding coordination between sectors and areas of society. In other words, positioning care as a public (or common) issue implies a shifting of institutional and symbolic foundations where, traditionally, care has been conceived as the primary responsibility of families, particularly women, towards joint social responsibility for the tasks and costs of care.

What consequences does the role of public policy have in this transformation? We can point to at least 3 consequences: 1) the joint responsibility of actors, including families, the market, civil society and the State, which takes on the role of guarantor of care; 2) decisions made and measures taken for the benefit of those who need and provide care from a quality-based perspective; and 3) the interrelationships established between policies. This includes policies aimed at early childhood and children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities, as well as those related to employment, health, education, social security and protection linked to gender equality.

The multidimensional nature of care policies involves installing different levels of dialogue in a cross-sectoral and inter-agency manner. This point is crucial. However, ECLAC’s publication on “Institutional frameworks for social policy in Latin America and the Caribbean� (2019), states that in the matter of care policy, the interventions implemented are generally multiple, heterogeneous, overlapping and poorly coordinated, resulting in a variety of bodies responsible for their management and focusing on specific populations.

In the case of Uruguay, the country has a legal framework with a comprehensive and integrated approach, which defines target populations and caregivers.2 While the country is one of This refers to children under the age of 12 and adults over 65 who lack autonomy for the activities of daily life, and people with disabilities.

Law No. 19,353, the Creation of the National Integrated Care System Act (SNIC for its

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Nora Uturbey Licenciada en Psicomotricidad, Escuela de Tecnología Médica (EUTM), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República (UDELAR) en 2004.

Maestreando en Políticas Públicas y Derechos de Infancia y Adolescencia, en proceso de tesis. Formación continua en desarrollo infantil y su evaluación.

Consultor en el equipo de desarrollo programático del Programa de Primera Infancia del Instituto del Niño y Adolescente del Uruguay (INAU).

Experta en aplicación de escalas de calidad para centros de primera infancia: Infant and Toddler Enviroment Rating Scale, Edited Revision (ITERS-R), Universidad de Rio Grande do Sul y Universidad Católica.

Docente universitaria de la Licenciatura en Psicomotricidad de la Escuela de Tecnología Médica de la Facultad de Medicina de la UDELAR, así como en el área docente asistencial en la Clínica de Lactantes, Servicio de Neuropediatria del Hospital Pereira Rossell, y programa SERENAR de Centro de Salud UNION (ASSE-MSP).

Carolina Taborda Buschiazzo Licenciada en Psicología y en Psicomotricidad por la Universidad de la República de Uruguay (UDELAR).

Especialista y consultora en temas de Derechos de Infancia y Adolescencia y Políticas Públicas (UDELAR) y actualmente maestrando en la misma temática.

Experiencia profesional en proyectos comunitarios de trabajo con niños y familias en Primera Infancia y consultora de programas y políticas de Primera Infancia en Uruguay (Plan CAIF y Uruguay Crece Contigo).

Docente en Formación Básica de Educadores en Primera Infancia (CENFORES -INAU), en la carrera de Maestro de Educación Primaria y en la licenciatura en Psicomotricidad de la Universidad Católica del Uruguay en el área de Estimulación Psicomotriz Terapéutica.

Docente en la Universidad Provincial de Córdoba (Argentina) en las áreas de Desarrollo Psicomotor y Diagnóstico y Clínica Psicomotriz.

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the most advanced in LAC in its efforts to build and strengthen its institutions, it only has a few performance and quality of services indicators3 and still faces difficulties in its crosssectoral, inter-agency and intra-agency coordination.

Care policies targeting early childhood.

Currently, the National Plan for Early Childhood, Childhood and Adolescence 2016-2020, is the inter-agency document that guides policy actions for this five-year period. It falls within the National Strategy for Children and Adolescents (ENIA) 20102030, the main social consensus paper that guides public policy design in the medium to long term.

On the basis of a situational analysis of early childhood, childhood and adolescence, the National Plan 201620204 seeks to generate synchronized and comprehensive responses to identified needs, designing management plans and quinquennial action for each sector. Six strategic lines have been outlined on its agenda: 1) ensure comprehensive development through promotion, prevention, treatment and health rehabilitation; 2) ensure continuous educational paths for development and social inclusion; 3) prevent, detect and address the different types of violence; 4) reduce especially vulnerable situations, homeless children, child labour, conflict with criminal law, institutionalization for lack of family protection; 5) promote participation, social movement and access to our cultural and artistic heritage, and 6) ensure access to justice. acronym in Spanish), and its regulations under Decree 428 of l27/12/2016. The SNIC is coordinated by the National Care Secretariat under the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES).

It operates through a Board of Care, which has a strategic role and is chaired by MIDES. Other members are the Ministry of the Economy and Finance (MEF), the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC), the Ministry of Health (MS), the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MTSS), the Planning and Budget Office (OPP), the Social Security Bank (BPS), the National Public Education Administration (ANEP), the Children’s Institute of Uruguay (INAU), a member from the Council of Mayors and from the National Women’s Institute.

3 The indicators focus more on outcomes (number of centres, coverage ratio, attendance, number and level of training of human resources, provision of material resources, etc.) than on processes (methodology, adult-child interaction; interaction between children, quality of supervision, etc.).

4 National Early Childhood Plan 2016-2020, 2016:15

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In the case of early childhood there are some basic conceptual agreements mainstreamed into the design of the document; namely: a) the perception of early childhood as a social construct, whose evolutionary characteristics are typical of the species and are shaped by the context of everyday life, the historical moment and culture; b) a gender and generationfocused approach; c) common national and international frameworks such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), the Children’s Code (CNA, 2004), the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), the Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act, Law Nº 18651 (2010), the General Education Act, Law Nº 18437 (2008), the Curriculum Framework for the care and education of Uruguayan children (2014), among others.

Since the five-year investment focuses its priority on early childhood, SNIC – as part of the National Plan 2016-2020 – aims to address the fragmentation of the supply of services, as well as the gender inequities occurring in the care economy, on the basis of the inclusion of a set of goods, benefits and services.5 This includes: • Extending parental leave, and socio-educational inclusion grants (BIS) to assist private education centres.

• Extending the coverage of care centres to early childhood in existing modalities: 62 new Care Centres for Children and Families (CAIF); 98 extended INAU centres and the increase of quotas in public and private schools and kindergartens (coverage increased by 7% between 2015 and 2018).6 • Creating new care devices – regulated, designed, implemented, monitored and supervised by INAU – Historically, Uruguay’s priority in public spending has been the protection of the elderly at the expense of the younger population. Since 2005, investment in early childhood, childhood and adolescence gradually increased in order to counteract a growing “child poverty”. Public spending on children increased from 4% in 2005, to 6% in 2015, while child poverty fell from 54.5% to 17.4% over the same period.

6 As a result of increased coverage, by July 2019, there were 60,000 children served by INAU and 14,434 children served by ANEP (no data for MEC coverage).

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diversifying the services offered and the target population: • Community homes providing home and territorial care (CCD, CCT): 12 houses.

• Venues for the attention and care of children under the age of 5, children of mothers and fathers attending secondary education, in agreement with INAU-ANEPMIDES: 6 slots.

• Attention and care venues in partnership with businesses and unions (SIEMPRE): 11 centres.7 • There is also a call for tender to provide 100 centres for the period 2020 to 2022 (44 ANEP kindergartens and 56 CAIF centres).8 Cultural and technical challenges in working with early childhood. From what and how much to how we carry out attention and care actions.

Increasing care coverage is directly linked to the quality of services offered and the conceptualization of what is meant by quality care for children in early childhood. Concern about this issue predates the creation of the SNIC and most of the discussions have focused on the framework of the Coordinating Council for Early Childhood Education (CCEPI), established as a result of the General Education Act. In recent years, in addition to concerns about increased coverage, and institutional and sectoral coordination, there has been a focus on the quality of child care, services and education, considering not only the structural and infrastructural dimensions, but also, the human While the devices are diverse, the largest number of slots for the care of the 0 to 2-year population is still to be found mainly in CAIF centres, which have always typically catered to families in poverty and social vulnerability.

8 According to SNIC’s management report, by July 2019, increased five-year coverage for early childhood totalled 15,857 children aged 0 to 3 years cared for by public education services and early childhood care services. If the data is disaggregated by level, coverage for age 3 expanded by 85%, for age 2 by 58%, and for children under the age of 2, by 39%. (Data do not include the population attending private schools regulated by the Ministry of Education and Culture).

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dimension in everyday relations between adults and children.

Never before had interest been so apparent in relation to knowing and recognizing how interactions between adults and children (and between children themselves) work, and how they can hinder or facilitate the development and learning processes. If before, for example, we evaluated the results of an intervention by children’s level of development (or the presence/absence of social and family development risk factors), now, in addition, we begin to observe and evaluate the quality of the interactions between teachers/technicians and the population they serve, together with the quality of the structure. This interest is materialized in concrete actions such as: the cross-sectoral development of the Curriculum Framework (2014) aimed at all children between birth and 6 years of age (regardless of the care model they attend); building a quality assessment tool that is “common” to all (2019), that considers both structural and procedural aspects (and also the work performed with families); training for human resources (caregivers, educators, technicians, supervisors) with some common conceptual matrices, etc.9 However, progress regarding the “common” factors does not sidestep at least two major problems in Uruguay. The first refers to the historical weight of a sectoral vision of policy against which all coordination efforts struggle constantly, At present, the provision of early childhood training is diversified in: 1) basic (non-tertiary) training course for caregivers (90 hours); 2) basic (non-tertiary) training course for early childhood educators working in INAU centres (504 hours); 3) tertiary training for early childhood educators (2 years), which requires secondary education (INAU); 4) tertiary teacher training course for early childhood teachers through ANEP’s Education Training Council (CFE) (4 years); and 5) an intermediate degree for early childhood assistants (2 years). While these training courses have elements in common (established by the regulatory frameworks and the caregiving/educational frameworks), there are still differences of approach in the curricula networks of the various training possibilities, as well as differences in the content of programmes aimed at children. School-oriented biases in early childhood education and difficulties in observing the activities of children (to foster proposals that are more closely tailored to their needs and interests) are two aspects that require constant review of the practices and beliefs of educators and teachers. Likewise, work carried out with families also displays weaknesses, because there are significant differences between the approaches and methodologies of the institutions. While in INAU, particularly in the CAIF centres, families and young children are the focus of intervention (with specific targets for them), in traditional forms of care (“kindergartens”) it is the children, almost exclusively, who have been the main protagonists of the intervention.

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and which, in the absence of an overall governing body such as there is in other countries, gives each sector and its institutions various margins of policy decision, which in fact are expressed in different practices, with different views (where old instruments coexist with new) and possibly also variable quality levels.10 It is still paradoxical that while on the one hand, powerful new cross-sectoral agreements come into being, on the other, old “agreements”, equally valuable, are eroded and implementation is left to individual efforts or possibilities, such as, for example, the Salas de Encuentro (“Meeting Rooms”) situation, areas for pregnant women and their families, which need to be designed and implemented cross-sectorally.11 The second problem concerns the persistence of violent relationship patterns in Uruguayan society, a problem that the National Plan includes among its strategic lines.

Although severe punitive practices in parenting are declining worldwide, physical and psychological punishment (shouting, insults, confinement, slapping, etc.), permeate Uruguayan society and constitutes one of the most significant barriers to children’s positive development and learning. Uruguayans are violent with children, particularly with younger children, and it is impossible to believe that such violence takes place exclusively within the family. However, at present, we only have data on levels of violence in the household, not in institutions where children spend much of their time (UNICEF, 2017).12 According to data arising from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), conducted by UNICEF and MIDES, 2013, 54.6% of children and adolescents aged 2 to 14 years old were subjected to some violent method of discipline in the 10 Discussions on cross-sectoral coordination in early childhood are taking place in Parliament with the introduction of the Bill on Early Childhood (September 2018), and subsequent debates within the Special Commission on Population and Development of the House of Representatives.

11 Moreover, cross-sectoral coordination issues include sectors that have traditionally discussed early childhood (Health, Education, Social Welfare, etc.), as well as those that have been absent from such discussions (Housing and Environment).

12 It is a contradiction to think that children will be more highly respected in a day care centre, if we are unaware of the specific beliefs and practices of the institutions themselves.

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month prior to the survey. Moreover, among children 2 to 4 years of age, the percentage increases to 60.6%, with violence used more frequently on boys than on girls. These data were confirmed by the Nutrition, Child Development and Health Survey (ENDIS) in its second wave (2018), which showed that 53% of parents used violent parenting practices.

For its part, the World Values Survey (round 2011) revealed some equally disturbing data. In addition to our violent practices regarding children, we Uruguayans value children who are “obedient” towards adults, a value that has increased significantly since the 1996 round (even among the youngest in the sample), increasing from 29% to 52%. As well as obedience, a “sense of responsibility” displays high values in the various rounds (about 80%). In contrast, “imagination” and “free speech” are not very significant attributes when raising young children (20% and 39% respectively in the 2011 round).

That is, we Uruguayans believe in the authority of adults and consequently, in the docility and obedience of the youngest of us. This value is not surprising. According to the work of Doepke and Zilibotti, “Love, Money and Parenting” (2014) produced on the basis of a study of several OECD countries (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) the rise of economic inequality in countries has an impact on the parenting styles of families. The authors explain that in unequal environments, parents, especially the more educated, concerned about the future of their children (occupation, income, independence and social mobility), develop a controlling style of parenting, through which they have an early impact on the life paths of children, making them take part in all kinds of activities that will prepare them to compete better in the future. In this style, parents can either “mould” (suggesting, guiding) the decisions of their children (authoritative style) or they can “impose” their own decisions (authoritarian style). By contrast, in countries where less unequal environments prevail, parents – who are also very vigilant regarding their children – adopt a permissive style and allow them to make their own decisions

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according to their tastes, preferences and possibilities. The authors further argue that, in the absence of policies that provide opportunities for all children (and thus their families), the increase of the controlling style can, in turn, produce an increase of inequality, thus restricting even further the real possibilities for the poorest children.

In the case of Uruguay, we can say that, today, it is a less unequal country than fifteen years ago, but we should bear in mind that, historically, a less egalitarian position has predominated in the protection of children and adolescents, a position that entails the construction of a series of social representations about protection and social justice, and the creation of opportunities for development and the production of poverty, among other ideas. The same World Values Survey shows that Uruguayans increasingly think that poverty is caused by purely individual reasons, ignoring the inequality of people’s starting points, especially in the case of children.

In short, the increase in values such as obedience and sense of responsibility in children, associated with representations about how inequality occurs, may hinder the development of skills related to creation, freedom of opinion, and thus, the construction of children as rights holders, whose opinions must be heard. This situation (violent patterns, authoritarian parenting styles, bids for the distribution of spending) implies that the country should review and re-design work policies with all families (not only those in vulnerable situations), because it is there where it is most urgently needed to intervene. In that sense, we believe that the biggest challenge is to analyse the scope and limitations of working models based on the exclusive transfer of knowledge and modelling methodologies, moving towards interventions focusing on building areas of trust that recognize the “ecology of knowledge” (De Sousa Santos, 2010), which enable the production and collective transformation of knowledge and allow for a review of children’s biographies by their parents (Schlemenson, 2011), without which it will not

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be possible for them to re-position their parenting. Caring for, looking after and educating children imply not only increasing coverage and joint responsibility, but the creation of an ethical stance on the treatment of children and their families.

Bibliography Amarante V. and Labat J.P. (coord.), Las políticas públicas dirigidas a la infancia: aportes desde el Uruguay (LC/TS.2018/68-LC/MVD/TS.2018/3), Santiago, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2018.

ANEP, CODICEN, CEIP (2019) Monitor Educativo de CEIP. Estado de Situación 2018. Montevideo: DIEE. Consejo Nacional de Políticas Sociales (2016) Plan Nacional de Primera Infancia, Infancia y Adolescencia 2016-2020. Montevideo.

De Sousa Santos B. (2010) Descolonizar el saber, reinventar el poder.

Montevideo: Trilce y Extensión Universitaria UDELAR. Doepke M., Zilibotti F. (2014). Parenting with style: altruism and paternalism in intergenerational preference transmission. Available at http://www.nber.org/papers/w20214 Doepke M., Zilibotti F. (2014) Love, Money, and Parenting. How Economics Explains the Way We Raise Our Kids. Introduction available at https://press.princeton.edu/titles/13326.html INE, INAU, MEC, MIDES. MSP (2018). Encuesta de Nutrición, Desarrollo Infantil y Salud. ENDIS Informe de la Segunda ronda.

Ley Nº 19.353 (2015) de Creación del Sistema Nacional Integrado de Cuidados.

Martínez R. (ed.). Institucionalidad social en América Latina y el Caribe, Libros de la CEPAL, N° 146 (LC/PUB.2017/14-P/Rev.1), Santiago, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2019.

Presidencia de la República, DUCSA, Equipos Mori (2015). Los valores en Uruguay: entre la persistencia y el cambio. Estudio Mundial de Valores.

Available at http://200.40.96.180/images/Estudio_Mundial_Valores_ 69

Informe_final1.pdf Schlemenson S (coord.) (2011). El placer de criar, la riqueza de pensar.

Buenos Aires: Noveduc.

Sistema Nacional de Cuidados (2015): Plan Nacional de Cuidados 20162020. Available at http://www.sistemadecuida-dos.gub.uy/innovaportal/ file/61181/1/plan-nacional-de-cuida-dos-2016-020.pdf UNICEF Uruguay (2017) Panorama de la violencia hacia la infancia en Uruguay 2017. Montevideo.

World Values Survey 6 (2011). Results Uruguay. Available at http:// www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentationWV6.jsp

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Public investment in girls,

a pending issue in the development of equitable societies.

A case study in Brazil, Guatemala and Peru.

by Dillyane Ribeiro, Renam MagalhĂŁes y Erica Marcos 1. Introduction The reality of girls in Latin America and the Caribbean is shaped not only by generational inequalities, but also by inequalities of gender, sex, race, ethnicity, class and other structural focal points of societies in the region. However, the barriers that girls face in accessing their human rights tend to often lose their specificity, and become invisible among the set of demands affecting the reality of adult women or of childhood.

In this regard, the Inter-American Human Rights System1 and the United Nations Organization2 have analysed the specific issues that have a disproportionate impact on girls.

These human rights protection systems have highlighted the consequences of poverty on the lives of girls; sexual violence, child marriage, gender barriers in gaining access to education, the worst forms of child labour, the consequences of teenage pregnancy, the disproportionate impacts of climate change It should be noted that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, on the occasion of the International Day of the Girl Child, held on 11 October, published press releases and conducted follow-up on the reality of girls in the region through thematic hearings.

2 In accordance with the Beijing Declaration and other human rights treaties, the General Assembly of United Nations has published periodically, since 1995, resolutions urging Member States to attend to the needs and priorities of girls.

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and environmental injustices, the difficulties facing the participation of girls, or the lack of gender-disaggregated data, among other topics.

In addition, regional and global human rights protection systems have urged States to allocate increased financial resources to meet the specific needs of girls and fulfil their human rights.

In this context, the importance has been underscored of mainstreaming a gender perspective throughout the budget cycle of public policies for children and adolescents; that is, during the phases of: 1. design, 2. discussion and adoption, 3. execution, and 4. control and accountability (ACIJ, 2019).

In keeping with this appeal, this study aims to conduct an analysis of public investment in children and adolescents with a gender perspective in Brazil, Guatemala and Peru, on the basis of certain emblematic situations.3 It was decided to analyse issues that have an impact on the lives of girls and female teenagers in Brazil, Guatemala and Peru, three countries which, despite their different political, macroeconomic and administrative features, have similarities regarding inequality, exclusion and violation of the rights of girls and female teenagers. The aim of the study is to determine how public resources are allocated and executed for the benefit of girls and women nationwide. Thus, it sheds light on the contradiction between rights violations and the absence or insufficiency of resources to combat them.

Research conducted in the three countries analysed various issues such as child labour, child marriage, teenage pregnancy, homicide and femicide against girls and female teenagers, etc. However, in this article we shall only highlight outcomes relating to sexual violence and school attendance. In the case This article presents some of the results of the “Study on the Public Budget for Girls and Female Adolescents in the cases of Brazil, Guatemala and Peru” produced by Save the Children, Equity - Centre for Public Policy and Human Rights (Peru), Centre for the Defence of Children and Adolescents - CEDECA Ceará (Brazil) and Institutional Coordinator for the Promotion of Child Rights - CIPRODENI (Guatemala).

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of sexual violence, data from Brazil and Peru are compared. As for school dropout rates, the data compared are from Brazil and Guatemala.

2. Economic and Social Context in Latin America One of the main problems in Latin America is high inequality.

The level of regional inequality measured by the Gini coefficient for 2017 was 0.466, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the highest rate in all of the continents. High poverty rates are another significant feature in the region. Still with regard to 2017, 30.2% of the total population was found to be living in poverty, while 10.2% were in extreme poverty. In absolute terms, approximately 197 and 66 million inhabitants, respectively.

With regard to macroeconomic issues, countries are characterized by having primary deficits, high public debt/gross domestic product (GDP) ratios and a growing and regressive tax burden compared to the size of the economy of these countries. Likewise, they display export patterns focusing on primary products, such as commodities, and in comparison with countries that are considered developed, they have a closed economy.

3. Rights violations affecting girls and the allocation of public budget resources in Brazil, Guatemala and Peru 3.1 Sexual Violence Against Girls Considering the data available in the Appeals Notification Information System (SINAN for its acronym in Portuguese), maintained by the Ministry of Health of Brazil, in 2017, 24,000 cases of sexual violence were reported against girls aged 0 to 19 years, and 4,000 cases of sexual violence against boys aged from 0 to 19, out of a total of 37,400 cases of sexual violence.

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Therefore, cases of sexual violence against girls represent 85% of all cases of sexual violence against persons under 18 years of age. The following chart shows data in a timeline of four years (2013-2017), during which the number of complaints has increased.

Chart-Brazil: Number of reported cases of sexual violence against persons aged 0 to 19 years.

Source: Ministry of Health/SVS - Appeals Notification Information System Sinan Net Developed by CEDECA Ceará

In Peru, the Women’s Emergency Centres (CEM) database reveals that in 2018, they served 8,139 girls and female teenagers in cases of sexual violence. In 2018, over 90% of cases of sexual violence reported to the CEM involved girls and female teenagers (out of a total of 8,957 cases of underage women and men victims of sexual violence).

To address this serious scenario in Brazil, a National Decennial Plan to Combat Sexual Violence against Children and Adolescents is in effect, with well-defined actions and objectives that should guide the Brazilian State and its public policies to address the problem. However, the national government’s budget covers only one programme, called: “Combating Sexual Violence against Children and Adolescents”. This programme 74

experienced a significant reduction in its execution, from a level of R$ 6.6 million in 2013 to R$ 900 thousand in 2016, as shown in the chart below. Moreover, in 2017 and 2018, the federal government’s public budget no longer recorded the presence of the programme; therefore, it can be said that the only action that explicitly aimed to address the issue has ceased to exist.

Chart. Brazil: Budget Execution - Confronting sexual violence against children and adolescents.

Source: SIGA Brazil. Produced by CEDECA Ceará.

In Peru, the National Action Plan for Children and Adolescents 2012-2021 establishes its Result 21 as “Reduce the number of children and adolescents who are victims of sexual violence”.

However, only 0.12% of public expenditure for children and adolescents is allocated to this item, a total of 11,879,517 USD. 3.2 School Dropout Rates Nationwide, in Brazil, the school dropout rate for adolescents aged 15 to 17 years for 2018, in the case of girls is 11.1% and 75

11.9% for boys; that is, there is a slightly higher percentage of teenage males leaving school, compared to their female peers. In the north of the country, we find that the dropout rate is 10.8% in the case of adolescent males and 12.7% among adolescent females. Meanwhile, in the Northeast, the dropout rate is 12.3% for adolescent males and 13.9% for adolescent girls,4 as shown in the following chart: Chart-Brazil: School dropout rates for adolescents aged 15 to 17 years in 2018.

Source: PNAD Continuing Education 2018/IBGE. Produced by CEDECA Cearรก.

Regarding the reasons that condition non-school attendance, particularly among adolescents, it is possible to consider the burden of housework and caregiving that young women must bear. Gender inequality implies that girls and female teenagers are assigned responsibilities for family care, especially in lowerincome families, restricting their education and experience in public spheres and hampering their healthy development.

This scenario demands public policies to democratize care and 4 In 2009, Constitutional Amendment (CA) Nยบ 59 stated that compulsory and free basic education would be extended from 4 to 17 years of age. Before this amendment, compulsory education was restricted to the 6 to 14-year age group. This provision of CA Nยบ 59, which aims to move from universal primary education to universal secondary education, was intended to be applied progressively from the year of its coming into force to 2016, in accordance with Article 6 of CA Nยบ 59 and target 3 of the National Education Plan.

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reduce the pressure that family and community care burdens bring to bear on the lives of girls and female teenagers.

Guatemala experienced a dwindling in its gross enrolment rates of girls and female teenagers as from 2010, especially at the primary and basic levels, reductions that appear to have stopped between 2017 and 2018. The following graph shows the fall witnessed in designated enrolment levels for 2018, as well as a slight improvement compared to 2010 for the diversified level for women.

Chart - Guatemala: gross enrolment rate by gender and level of education, selected years.

Source: prepared by the authors, based on statistical yearbook of the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) for 2010, 2017 and 2018.

No budgetary measures have been identified in Brazil at the national level to increase school enrolment and combat school dropout rates. Therefore, in order to address the issue, it was sought to analyse investment at sub-national levels. In the state of CearĂĄ, one of the departments in which the enrolment of female teenagers between 15 to 17 years is lower than that of adolescent males, a programme on “Developing actions to

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reduce school dropout rates and truancy�, under the Ministry of Education, was identified. In 2016, this programme had a budget of R$ 306,600 (about 76,500 USD) and in 2018, this fell to R$ 60,000 (about 15,000 USD); that is, down to less than a fifth of the amount for 2016. However, over the last three years, the execution of the programme was R$ 0.00, which shows the limited budget management capacity to improve levels of schooling for adolescents, as well as the gradual reduction of allocations for these purposes.

In Guatemala, there is a scholarship programme run by the Ministry of Education aimed at secondary school (basic) and tertiary (diversified) girls and adolescents, as well as those with some kind of disability. However, the study revealed administrative inefficiency in handling the delivery of these grants, as they were not delivered in the first months of the year. For 2018, after more than half of the school year had elapsed, only an average of one in four scholarships had been delivered.

Furthermore, for 2018, a reduction of 2.8% was identified in accrued budget, compared to 2017.

4. Final Considerations The results revealed by the study show the inadequacy of resources to combat the serious violations of human rights among girls in the region. In some cases, the problem is not even reflected in the public budget, as in the case of nationwide school dropout rates in Brazil. In other cases, there has been a reduction in resources, while at the same time, an increase in the occurrence of rights violations has been recorded, as in the case of sexual violence, also in Brazil. In the case of sexual violence in Peru, accrued resources are not sufficient to achieve the results which the State intends. Regarding the serious plight of school dropout rates in Guatemala, the inefficient management of resources allocated makes public policy designed to promote school attendance ineffectual.

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Dillyane Ribeiro A lawyer with a master’s degree in Gender Studies from the National University of Colombia.

She has worked at the Centre for the Defence of Children and Adolescents (CEDECA Ceará), in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil since 2016.

Currently, she coordinates the Centre for Monitoring Public Policy at CEDECA Ceará.

Renam Magalhães An accountant, he has worked for CEDECA Ceará since 2015. He is part of the coordination for the Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations for the Defence of the Rights of Children and Adolescents in Ceará (DCA Ceará Forum), which is dedicated, among other issues, to monitoring and advocacy regarding the public budget for children.

Erica Marcos Regional advisor on gender for the Programme in Support of Civil Society (PASC) of Save the Children’s regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Through the strengthening of civil society, the PASC Programme aims to contribute to fulfilling the rights of children and adolescents in LAC.

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Centre for the Defence of Children and Adolescents in Ceará(CEDECA Ceará) CEDECA Ceará is a civil society organization founded in 1994. Its mission is to defend the rights of children and adolescents, especially in situations where these rights are violated by action or omission of the Public Power. CEDECA Ceará endorses the comprehensive and universal enjoyment of human rights. Our actions are based on the defence of the rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Children’s Statute. Over the years, CEDECA and other partner organizations, with the participation of children and adolescents, have conducted monitoring and advocacy throughout the budget cycle, in order to make the human rights of children effective.

The study also found different scenarios that demonstrate the importance of gender mainstreaming in budgets for public policies designed for children and adolescents. It is an exercise that we hope will inspire other countries in the region to identify, with the participation of girls, the main issues that affect their lives and to consider their needs a priority in the allocation of public budget resources.

We emphasize that, as regards economic, social and cultural rights, the principle of progressivity is fairly well established in protection systems. According to the Protocol of San Salvador, States are restricted from adopting policies and measures, or enacting laws, which worsen the situation of the rights enjoyed by the population. Therefore, in revoking budget allocations to combat problems that are becoming increasingly severe, States would be acting in a manner not authorized by the Protocol of San Salvador.

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Therefore, budget programmes need to be created and public investment significantly increased, in order to address the issues that express and deepen gender inequalities in childhood, which has impacts throughout the life paths of individuals.

The States must also make progress in the transparency of public budgets, detailing investment in children by gender, age, geographic area and other categories, under the terms of General Comment Nº 19, (Comité de los Derechos del Niño, 2016) so that civil society, including children and adolescents, can have access to better tools to monitor the impact of public budgets on gender inequality and, thus, contribute to the effective realization of all children’s human rights.

Bibliography ACIJ. (2019). Análisis presupuestario con perspectiva de género. Buenos Aires.

Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ). March, 2019. Análisis presupuestario con perspectiva de género: MANUAL PARA ACTIVISTAS Y ORGANIZACIONES DE LA SOCIEDAD CIVIL, Argentina, p. 1-128, 2019.

Available at: https://acij.org.ar/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/GuiaAnalisis-Presupuestario-Con-Perspectiva-de-Genero.pdf. Acceso em: 11 nov. 2019.

Brazil. Constitutional Amendment nº 59, 11 November 2009. Brasilia, DF, Available at: <http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/ emendas/emc/emc20.htm>. Consulted: 11 Nov. 2019.

Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2016). General Comment Nº. 19 (2016) on public budgeting for the realization of children’s rights (art. 4) (Vol. 19). Geneva.

Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2016). General Comment Nº. 19 (2016) on public budgeting for the realization of children’s rights (art. 4) (Vol. 19). Geneva Gobierno Federal (Guatemala). Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE).

2018. MEMORIA DE LABORES: AÑO 2017, Guatemala de la Asunción: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, p. 1-94, 2018. Available at: https://www. ine.gob.gt/sistema/uploads/2018/08/30/20180830151622emO14nj4jr5X WfNPqRNeFnEgRtxtdjJf.pdf. Consulted: 11 Nov. 2019.

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Gobierno Federal (Peru). Ministerio de la Mujer y Poblaciones Vulnerables. Decreto Supremo Nº 001-2012-MIMP. Plan Nacional de Acción por la Infancia y la Adolescencia 2012-2021 (PNAIA 2021): Las niñas, niños y adolescentes somos primero., Peru: J&O EDITORES IMPRESORES S.A.C., p. 89-90, 2012. Available at: https://www.mimp.gob.pe/webs/mimp/ pnaia/pdf/Documento_PNAIA.pdf. Consulted: 11 Nov. 2019.

Governo do Estado do Ceará. Ceará Transparente. 2019. Available at: <https://cearatransparente.ce.gov.br/portal-da-transparencia?locale=ptBR>. Consulted: 10 Aug. 2019.

Gobierno Federal (Brazil). Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica (IBGE). 2019. Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios Contínua : Educação, 2018, Rio de Janeiro: Centro de Documentação e Disseminação de Informações, Gerência de Documentação, p. 1-12, 2019. Available at: https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/visualizacao/livros/liv101657_informativo. pdf. Consulted: 11 Nov. 2019.

Ministério da Saúde. Violência doméstica, sexual e/ou outras violências - Brasil. Available at: <http://tabnet.datasus.gov.br/cgi/deftohtm. exe?sinannet/cnv/violebr.def>. Consulted: 1 Aug. 2019.

Naciones Unidas. Committee on the Rights of the Child. 2016. General Comment Nº. 19 (2016) on public budgeting for the realization of children’s rights (art. 4) (Vol. 19). Geneva 2016. Available at: http://docstore.ohchr. org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2FPPRiCAqhKb7yhsqI kirKQZLK2M58RF%2F5F0vHXnExBBGbM8arvsXxpbQtF6dSo74NsspuR7E GhuDf8wX17%2FlxwwGeOxcmaTzOkgUAjNC%2BN6MW5UV3RxsrevK9X. Consulted: 11 Nov. 2019.

Organization of American States (Washington). Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. 1988. ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE AMERICAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE AREA OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS “PROTOCOL OF SAN SALVADOR”, El Salvador, 1988. Available at: http://www.oas.org/juridico/spanish/tratados/a-52. html. Consulted: 11 Nov. 2019.

Secretaria de Direitos Humanos. Plano Nacional de Enfrentamento da Violência Sexual Contra Crianças e Adolescentes. Brasília, 2013. 10 anos. Available at: <http://www.crianca.mppr.mp.br/arquivos/File/publi/ sedh/08_2013_pnevsca.pdf.> Consulted: 11 Nov. 2019.

United Nations (Latin America and the Caribbean). Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) (org.). Panorama Social de América Latina, 2018. Santiago: United Nations, 2019. 233 p. ISBN 97892-1-058649-8. Available at: <https://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/ handle/11362/44395/11/S1900051_es.pdf>. Consulted: 11 Nov. 2019.

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Faith and Children’s Rights:

A look at the Convention on the Rights of the Child from the perspective of Faith-Based Communities

by Silvia Mazzarelli, Ornella Barros, Arigatou International.

On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Arigatou International considers it a good opportunity to emphasize the role of religious communities in promoting the implementation of the CRC, and to reaffirm the importance of considering them as advocates and partners in promoting and protecting the rights of children and adolescents worldwide.

On 19 November at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Arigatou International officially launched the study Faith and Children’s Rights: A Multi-Religious Study on the Convention on the Rights of the Child.1 The study seeks to promote interfaith and multisectoral collaboration to promote the rights of children. For the first time, the fundamental principles of the CRC are discussed in relation to the core values of seven religious traditions: the Bahá’í Faith, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and the Sikh Faith. In total, these traditions include more than 5,500 million followers worldwide. The study was conducted in collaboration with UNICEF, the former Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on Violence Against Children and the Global Network of Religions for Faith and Children’s Rights: A Multi-Religious Study on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Arigatou International and UNICEF, New York, 2019. Available at www.arigatouinternational.org

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Children (GNRC), and was supported by KAICIID and World Vision International. In addition, consultations were held with experts, civil society organizations and religious leaders in different parts of the world as well as consultations with children and adolescents of eight religions in seven countries.

Approach and significance The thirtieth anniversary of the CRC comes with many achievements related to the rights of survival, education and development of children. However, there are still many challenges in the world. Evidence shows that millions of children experience daily violations of their fundamental human rights.

Every five minutes, a child somewhere in the world dies as a result of violence;2 and there are countless risks and challenges for children related to climate change, increasingly violent and extremist ideologies, digital environment protection, human mobility, inequality, and others.

The American region is among the most violent in the world and ranks first in homicide rates, with a much higher average rate in 2017 (17.2%) than the world average (6.1%). This violent context particularly affects children, adolescents and youth.3 Violence in the region and its impact on childhood involves public and private spheres, from individual to macro-social aspects, and is explained by a conjunction of multiple causes and interrelated effects, such as: social exclusion, inequality and limited access to and enjoyment of basic human rights for some population groups; family disintegration and family abuse and maltreatment; the presence of organized crime and the proliferation of and trade in arms and drugs; institutional weaknesses and high levels of impunity; and social and cultural normalization of violence in all areas.

Addressing this situation in order to ensure that all children can fully enjoy their rights requires multi-stakeholder and United Nations Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fund; A Familiar Face: Violence in the lives of children and adolescents; UNICEF, New York, 2017.

3 Global Study on Homicide (2019), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

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Silvia Mazzarelli Silvia Mazzarelli currently directs the work of Arigatou International in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as Coordinator of the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC). She specializes in human rights and international justice, with 13 years of international experience in development programming and advocacy on the rights of children. In the past, she worked for Plan International Regional Office for the Americas as Regional Manager for Programmes and Policies, and collaborated with several NGOs and international organizations in the region. Between 2012 and 2015 she acted as Caribbean Representative on the International NGO Council on Violence Against Children, created to follow up the recommendations of the UN Study on Violence Against Children. Silvia holds a Master’s of Law (LL.M) in International Crime and Justice from the UNICRI and the University of Torino, and degrees in International Relations and Political Science from the University of Roma Tre.

Ornella Barros Ornella Barros is from Colombia, where she joined the Global Network of Religions for Children in 2002, supporting the implementation of the programme Learning to Live Together and the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children. She has several years of international experience in children’s rights, research and advocacy with a focus on the protection of children and child participation; she is a trainer, evaluator and advocate for rights-based programmes, child participation and citizenship. Ornella is a political scientist and holds a master’s degree in Human Rights from the University of Oslo. She currently works for the office of Arigatou International New York as a programme officer and has collaborated with organizations focusing on children, such as World Vision, The European Wergeland Centre, Terre des Hommes International Federation, Save the Children, Kindernothilfe and Global Child Forum.

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Arigatou International Arigatou International is an international interfaith non-profit organization. It is governed by universal principles of common good and encourages people of diverse religions and cultural backgrounds to work together under the slogan “All for Children”, for the promotion and protection of children’s rights.

Arigatou International seeks to maximize the potential of interfaith cooperation and promotes the empowerment and active and meaningful participation of children.

multi-sectoral work involving all sectors of society, including churches and other faith-based communities. In light of the need for this urgent shared task, all interested parties should identify their unique and special contribution.

In this context, the study Faith and Children’s Rights is the outcome of a unique kind of research, which contributes to multi-sectoral efforts by means of: A celebration of the contributions of communities and religious leaders, as well as of faith-based organizations, to the fulfilment of children’s rights; An analysis of similarities between the values of the world’s principal religions, and the principles and provisions contained in the CRC, to facilitate dialogue and collaboration between faith-based communities, governments and civil society; and Specific recommendations on the action that governments, religious communities and leaders, child-rights advocates, parents and caregivers, and children can carry out in order to strengthen the impact of their efforts on behalf of the wellbeing and development of all children.

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The Role of Faith-Based Communities Religion and its institutions play a key role throughout the life cycle of a person and exert a significant influence on the development of personal, family and social values and behaviours. In Latin America, roughly 79% of the population considers itself to be “religious” and, typically, has a greater level of trust in religious institutions than in other social institutions.4 Religious communities have been at the service of childhood long before the CRC ever existed. However, many of their actions are not very well-known. Most religious traditions have a pastoral mandate for social action and service provision, which gives priority to children and adolescents, especially in the areas of education and social assistance to socially and economically marginalized populations.

In addition, faith-based communities have huge reserves of social and spiritual capital5 that they can use to prevent and eliminate violence against children, and to promote and protect their rights. While the role of religious leaders as a gateway to the community, and the social capital of faithbased communities have been widely recognized by secular child protection organizations, this has not occurred in the case of their spiritual capital, which includes people’s faith-related resources and mechanisms (prayers, sacred texts, religious rituals, and others), which they can draw upon by virtue of their participation in faith-based communities, reaching people’s most private sphere and connecting them with their inner selves. These faith mechanisms play a key role in shaping and transforming attitudes, beliefs and practices.

Religious leaders and faith-based communities contribute greatly to the overall development of children, especially in 4 Latinobarómetro Corporation, Report 2018, Santiago de Chile, 2018, available at www.latinobarometro.org.

5 Palm S. and Eyber C. (2019). Why Faith? Engaging Faith Mechanisms to End Violence Against Children. Washington DC: Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities Ending Violence Against Children Hub.

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their spiritual dimension, one of the five dimensions explicitly recognized in the CRC, in its Article 27. Studies in the region have shown that the development of spirituality is a protective factor, which helps to cope with situations of adversity, violence, or risk, including stress caused by poverty, inequality and social marginalization.6 In conclusion, faith actors are involved in multiple environments and levels of the system in which children and adolescents are immersed; they have a high degree of influence in both public and private areas, and have significant access to social and spiritual capital. Therefore, they play a key role in protecting the rights of children. Their contributions must be recognized and valued.

The study Faith and Children’s Rights also reminds us that religious communities took part in discussions on and the development of the CRC over ten years, making significant contributions to its drafting, as well as carrying out essential advocacy for its adoption, dissemination and implementation.

The International Bureau for Children’s Rights, the Bahá’í community and the Quaker community contributed to the text of the CRC and called for its adoption, as did the International Council of Jewish Women, the World Jewish Congress and the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women, among others.

Over the course of these thirty years, there have been opportunities for intra-religious, interfaith and multi-sectoral dialogue and collaboration, which increased the interest in working together for children’s rights. This factor is also little known in the field of human rights.

However, over the last thirty years, since the adoption of the CRC, concerns and interpretations have also emerged, Salas-Wright, CP, Olate, R & Vaughn, MG (2013). The Protective Effects of Religious Coping and Spirituality on Delinquency Results Among High-Risk and Gang-Involved Salvadoran Youth. Criminal justice and behaviour, 40(9):988-1008.

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regarding both religious values and the values of the CRC. All over the world, today and throughout history, harmful practices and actions have existed in religious communities, which are profoundly incompatible with the fundamental values of the religions of the world and the rights of children. Some examples of these practices, often wrongly justified on religious grounds, include gender discriminatory practices, physical punishment as a method of parenting, child marriage and female genital mutilation. Sometimes these factors have affected the impact of the work done by faith-based communities in favour of children and have diminished opportunities for collaboration with governments and secular organizations.

Nevertheless, religious texts and the CRC share a common vision of children. The key principles of universality, interrelatedness and indivisibility of human rights, non-discrimination and equality, to be found in all human rights instruments, are based on values that are common to all major religions of the world.

The CRC and the major religions of the world largely agree on:7 • A fundamental belief in the sanctity of life and dignity of children; • An emphasis on the family as the best environment for raising children; • The high priority given to children, and the idea that all members of society have rights and duties towards them; and • A holistic notion of children, and a comprehensive understanding of their physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs.

Faith and Children’s Rights: A Multi-Religious Study on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Arigatou International and UNICEF, New York, 2019, p. 19. Available at www. arigatouinternational.org

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Therefore, based on the similarities between the values of the major religions of the world and the principles of the CRC, and the multiple practices analysed in the study Faith and Children’s Rights, we can say that there is great potential for fruitful cooperation between religious and secular groups.

For this cooperation to be really possible, it is important to increase the religious literacy of secular stakeholders, in order to avoid the “instrumentalization” of religious actors and, at the same time, strengthen the capacities of faith actors regarding the CRC. In particular, more reflection and dialogue are needed within and between religious groups, to increase familiarity with the CRC and better understand the practical application of children’s rights in the context of religious teachings, especially the implications of the fundamental principles of the CRC: the best interests of the child, nondiscrimination, the right to life, survival and development, and the principle of participation. In supporting the CRC and using it as a benchmark legal framework, faith-based communities will be able to strengthen their actions, expand their impact and influence, and make an even greater difference in the lives of children.

From Dialogue to Action The study Faith and Children’s Rights includes a number of recommendations to reinforce cross-sectoral efforts made for the benefit of childhood. Some of these recommendations include: Increase support for all children’s rights, including freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of expression and children’s right to develop to their fullest potential, including physical, mental, social, spiritual and moral development.

Further efforts are needed to develop public policies that protect the right of children to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and promote interfaith cooperation for the welfare of children. These efforts should include increasing 91

budgetary allocations and strengthening programmes to protect childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights and comprehensive development, carried out in collaboration with religious communities and faith-based organizations. This may include, for example, programmes relating to education on dialogue and respect for religious diversity to promote the added value of interfaith cooperation for the protection of child rights. It is important to shed light on the importance of the spiritual dimension in childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comprehensive development, in addition to the physical, mental, social and moral dimensions. In this sense, the strategic role that faith-based communities play in nurturing spirituality and ethical values in children and adolescents needs to be recognized.

Strengthen national, regional and international platforms to increase collaboration between religious communities, governments, United Nations agencies and civil society organizations, including the involvement of children, in order to move towards the realization of the rights of children.

In the region there are many opportunities for collaboration between civil society organizations, governments and United Nations agencies, on various issues related to childhood and adolescence. However, much remains to be done to bridge the gap between secular and religious organizations.

It is therefore necessary to encourage a more systematic and holistic collaboration that emphasizes not only the access and social capital of faith-based communities, but also their spiritual capital.

Increasing collaboration and dialogue between secular and religious organizations also depends on the willingness of governments and the United Nations to establish bridges for cooperation and keep children on the political agenda.

Importantly, the ethical and effective participation of children is a fundamental element in the exercise of citizenship and rights.

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Expand collaboration and partnerships to protect children from all forms of violence, working with religious communities to strengthen national child protection systems.

Fostering strategic partnerships with religious communities provides opportunities to work together for the prevention of all types of violence affecting children today. This should be linked to efforts related to the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular: target 16.2, on ending abuse, exploitation, trafficking in persons and all forms of violence and torture against children; 5.2 and 5.3 on ending violence against women and girls; and 8.7 on eradicating the economic exploitation of children and eliminating forced child labour in all its forms.

There are interesting experiences in the region on the participation of faith actors on the boards of national systems for the comprehensive protection of child rights. These experiences should be analysed, evaluated and, if possible, replicated to ensure that all sectors of society (including the religious sector) contribute to the promotion and protection of childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights, in line with the principle of common but differentiated responsibility. States can obtain significant support from faith-based communities for the development of child protection policies that address changes in attitudes and behaviours, not only in children, but also at the community level, where faith groups have a presence, have gained confidence and acquired knowledge.

Initiate national dialogue with religious groups for the review of reservations and declarations made in relation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which can hinder its realization.

Many of reservations made by States upon the ratification of the CRC are related to Article 14, which establishes the right to freedom of conscience and religion, and some declarations include concerns about the rights of parents and caregivers in raising children. It is therefore advisable to create opportunities

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for dialogue between governments, religious groups, civil society organizations and children, in order to address these reservations and declarations, analyse their relevance in the current context, and if possible, remove them.

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