Reply to List of Issues
:
Guatemala
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15/04/96
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. (
Reply to List of Issues
)
REPLIES OF THE STATE OF GUATEMALA TO THE QUESTIONS ASKED IN CONNECTION WITH THE CONSIDERATION OF THE INITIAL REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
April 1996
1. With reference to para. 3 of the State party report please explain the meaning of the following statement: "The legal structure regulating the situation of children in Guatemala is based on the doctrine of the irregular situation, whereas the Convention on the Rights of the Child is based on the United Nations doctrine of comprehensive protection; this creates a conflict of law".
The State of Guatemala acknowledges that the expression "conflict of law" used in the initial report overstated the case; it asks that this expression should be disregarded. It t be admitted, however, that there is a Minors' Code at present in force which places a number of restrictions on the recognition of children and adolescents as subjects of law.
In view of this situation, extensive efforts have been in progress in Guatemala since 1991 to effect reform by replacing that Code in its entirety. This process has been continued by the determined effort involved in preparing a draft Code on Childhood and Adolescence which now awaits
"The aim is to replace the doctrine of the irregular situation, on which the Minors' Code in force is based, ... by the new doctrine of comprehensive protection, which holds that the child is a subject of law capable of being a principal and deserving of sustained development.
"The Minors' Code in force is regarded by those who take a new view of childhood u an almost exclusive manual for workers in the law 'which confers broad discretionary powers on the courts, limits the scope for challenging the decisions taken and supports institutional care as an effective option for protection or re-education."
"... it is becoming necessary to reform Guatemalan legislation on this subject, and even more urgent to change our outlook and attitude so u to regard children and adolescents as principal actors in our story."
2. Zn light of the information contained in para. 509 of HRZ/CORE/l/Add.47 and para 10 of the State party report please provide clarification as to whether the Convention may be invoked before the courts and the status of the Convention in the event of conflict with national legislation.
The Convention may indeed be invoked before the courts of justice in Guatemala. The Convention on the Rights of the Child falls within the scope of article 46 of the Political Constitution of the Republic, which states verbatim:
"Article 46. Primacy of international law. It is hereby established as a general principle that, with regard to human rights, the treaties and conventions accepted and ratified by Guatemala take precedence over domestic law."
This constitutional rule is worth mentioning because it creates the possibility of absorbing this international instrument into the Guatemalan legal system and granting it hierarchical superiority to ordinary or derived laws. The result of this is that under the legal order of Guatemala an ordinary law may be challenged, in the event of conflict with a treaty or convention on human rights, through the exercise of one of the established constitutional safeguards, in an action for unconstitutionality.
3. What is the present status of the Draft code on childhood and adolescence mentioned in para. 10 of the report?
The present situation is that the new Code on Childhood and Adolescence s awaiting approval on third reading before the plenary Congress of the Republic.
4. Please comment on the progress made in adopting the new legal codes or amendments to previous laws referred to in paras. 12, 13, 16, 17 and 19 of the report.
The new adoption act has not been approved by the Congress of the Republic.
Law Convention No. 169 was ratified by the Congress of the Republic in Decree No. 11-96 of 6 March 1996.
The domestic service protection bill has not yet, unfortunately, been examined by the Congress of the Republic.
The changes in the Criminal Code described in the State report were approved by Decree No. 48-95 of the Congress of the Republic. Decree No. 59-95 introduced a further reform of the Criminal Code to define the offence of torture in conformity with the provisions of international legislation on the subject.
The new Code of Criminal Procedure has been in force since 1 July 1994. The purpose of this body of law is to modernize criminal procedure by introducing oral proceedings and giving the proceedings an accusatory character. The Congress of the Republic has before it, however, some draft amendments to this Code which are designed to ease and overcome the obstacles met with in applying it.
5. In view of the statement contained in para. 29 of the report, please provide further information on the measures taken to ensure the implementation of "PLADES" and "PLANOT" (para. 31), including through the allocation of the necessary financial resources. (See also paras. 64-65).
The implementation of PLADES and PLANUT was rendered impossible in principle by the constitutional crisis of May 1993, which caused changes to be made in the three powers of the State (between 1993 and 1994) and led to the installation of a transitional Government to complete the term ending in January 1996.
As a result of the international situation, institutional changes have been made in response to the urge for presidential summit meetings. At such meetings, subjects closely bound up with social policy have been taken up, culminating in such presidential declarations as the Alliance for Sustainable Development of Central America (signed by the Central American Presidents at Masaya, Nicaragua, on 13 October 1994) and the Treaty of Social Integration. The purpose of these instruments is to strengthen the institutional structure of the region for dealing with social matters.
Furthermore there have also been favorable developments such as the peace negotiations, which form an essential buttress for the successful execution of a comprehensive plan linked to social policy, and the establishment of a new, democratically elected Government which took office on 14 January 1996.
These changes, taken one with another, made it necessary to redefine programmes and activities which warrant the setting of new objectives and goals and the adoption of a different kind of priorities in the field of social policy.
6. Please provide further information on the effectiveness of the work of the Children' s Ombudsman and the Office of the Human Rights Procurator for the promotion and protection of the rights of the child.
An to the effectiveness of the work of the Children' s Ombudsman in promoting and protecting the rights of the child, we consider that this unit is performing fairly extensive work in the area of disseminating and publicizing the rights of the child and in connection with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The departmental branches of the Procurator' S Office collaborate with the Ombudsman in these efforts. In this field we consider that they have adequately covered all the departments into which the country is divided for administrative purposes.
7. In view of the variety of mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of the Convention, as mentioned in the report, how is the Government ensuring, in reality, effective cooperation and coordination within the present institutional framework for the fullest realization of programmes and policies designed to ensure respect for the rights of the child? (Paras. 36-71 of the report).
One of the main problems faced by the State of Guatemala in general and the public administration in particular is, of course, the lack of coordination between its constituent entities. Some efforts at coordination are being made between a few institutions, but they are not as productive u could be wished.
The Government of the Republic of Guatemala has, specifically in COPREDIR, an institution which aims to provide coordination in the field of human rights In the particular cue of the rights of the child, it encourages the operations of the Standing Panel on Children, which is likewise a coordinating body.
In addition the Commission for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (PRODEN) is in operation within the Office of the Human Rights Procurator. Its work is proving to be the most significant effort in developing an area of coordination between non - governmental, governmental and private institutions in order to frame a national policy on children. Its best efforts have gone into compiling a draft Code on Childhood and Adolescence, the purpose of which is to lay the foundations for a national structure to provide Guatemalan children with comprehensive care.
Nevertheless the State itself has no national policy on children and adolescents and no governmental structure to coordinate the various efforts being made to that end.
8. With reference to information contained in para. 82 of the report, what is the present status of the plans for the establishment of offices for the protection and promotion on the rights of the child in the country■s eight regions ?
Unhappily the Ministry of Education has been unable to establish the offices referred to in para. 82 of the initial report. It may be stated, however, that since 29 March 1995 the Office of Human Rights Procurator has brought into operation 21 Departmental Committees for the convention on the Rights of the child. These Committees are working to promote those rights in the capitals of all departments with the aim of providing space for thought in order to involve organized groups of the community in practical activities to promote the rights in question. The task of defending and protecting children■s rights in every department in the interior of the country is incumbent to the Departmental Assistant to the Human Rights Procurator.
The following are some of the activities performed by the Departmental Committees:
(A) Training workshops on the Convention addressed to the mayors of all the municipalities that form the departments of the Republic;
(B) Training workshops for social communicators from departmental radio stations;
(C) Workshops on child maltreatment and sexual abuse;
(D) Workshop seminars on the Convention addressed to the staff of the national hospitals;
(E) Preparation of departmental and regional diagnostic studies on the situation of children in each department. In the case of regional studies, five regions in which socio-linguistic pattern is followed have been designated for the purpose;
(F) A National Campaign for the Rights of the Child, which is being carried on for 21 months as from November 1995;
(G) Coordination of Neighborhood Committees in the municipalities in order to promote knowledge of the Convention.
9. With reference to the information contained in para. 82 of the report, what is the present status of the plans for the establishment of offices for the protection and promotion of the rights of the child in the country's eight regions?
Unhappily the Ministry of Education has been unable to establish the offices referred to in paragraph 82 of the initial report. It may be stated, however, that since 29 March 1995 the Office of the Human Rights Procurator has brought into operation 21 Departmental Committees for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. These Committees are working to promote those rights in the capitals of all departments with the aim of providing space for thought in order to involve organized groups of the community in practical activities to promote the rights in question. The task of defending and protecting children's rights in every department in the interior of the country is incumbent on the Departmental Assistant to the Human Rights Procurator.
The following are some of the activities performed by the Departmental Committees:
(a) Training workshops on the Convention addressed to the mayors of all the municipalities that form the departments of the Republic;
(b) Training workshops for social communicators from departmental radio stations;
(C) Workshops on child maltreatment and sexual abuse;
(d) Workshop seminars on the Convention addressed to the staff of the national hospitals;
(e) Preparation of departmental and regional diagnostic studies on the situation of children in each department. In the case of regional studies five regions in which a socio-linguistic pattern is followed have been designated for the purpose;
(f) A National Campaign for the Rights of the Child, which is being carried on for 21 months U from November 1995;
(g) Coordination of Neighborhood Committees in the municipalities in order to promote knowledge of the Convention.
It should be mentioned that, as a result of the Departmental Committee' activities, some municipal mayors have already included the rights of the child U a subject of their work plans.
The Government of the Republic, through COPREDEK, has collaborated with these Committees, supplying them with educational materials for some of the activities described above.
9. Please provide further information on the effectiveness of present mechanisms for the collection of statistical data. What efforts are being made to collect desegregated data for groups of children on aspects relating to the Convention? In addition, please indicate the progress made in implementing the project on a social indicators system mentioned in para. 94 (e) as well as the proposed "National system for monitoring compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child" project mentioned in para. 94 (g) of the report. Has a framework for cooperation and coordination for the development of these different projects between the various institutions been established, and if so, has any assessment been made as to its effective functioning?
The National Statistical Institute (INE) has completed the process of tabulating the raw data from the Tenth National Population and Housing Census, 1994; from this source, data desegregated by age, sex, occupation and education can be obtained for the Guatemalan population. Similarly the Institute already has preliminary information from the Maternal and Child Health Survey held in December 1995.
The National System of Social Indicators (SIS) has been brought into operation with the collaboration of the various institutions forming the National Statistical System (SEN), to which all the institutions of government and autonomous and semi-autonomous organizations belong. We are thus beginning for the system is not yet complete to obtain reliable, timely, periodical, centralized information on social indicators.
INE publishes the
Boletin Infomativo del Sisteina Nacional de Indicsdores
(Information Bulletin of the National System of indicators) for the purpose of periodically disseminating a set of indicators to enable development agencies to prepare and carry out plans of action and to monitor and evaluate the results of social investment projects. This Bulletin also provides information on the national statistical activities to be undertaken to collect data for the computation of the proposed indicators.
The project entitled "National system for monitoring compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child has not unfortunately, been brought into operation owing to lack of funds and the scant collaboration extended by the institutions which had committed themselves to its execution.
10. Please provide information on present and future possibilities for international cooperation. Zn what areas, in particular, does the Government consider that technical cooperation for the implementation of the Convention would be useful?
The Government undoubtedly needs extensive and dedicated technical Assistance. It must be acknowledged that, unhappily much of what was proposed in the initial report could not be put into practice for lack of the necessary human, material and financial resources. Hence cooperation is highly necessary and desirable.
Generally speaking, the Government of the Republic considers that technical cooperation would be appropriate in the following areas:
- Restructuring the State;
- Formation of public policy on children and young people;
- Preparation of technical cooperation projects;
- Administration of human resources;
- Problems of administration in the justice sector;
- New Criminal Code;
- Administration of libraries and documentation centers.
11. Is the Government in need of technical assistance with respect to the development of the proposed training programmes to educate professionals about the Convention on the Rights of the Child? With respect to the implementation of these programmes, is the Government initially targeting the trainers of professional groups? (Paras. 74 and SO 68, 74, 76-77, 90, 84, 86-87 and 91). In addition, please provide further information on the measures taken to train professionals about the Convention, in particular, personnel in detention centers, security personnel, government officials, judges and lawyers about the Convention. (Reference to, inter alia, paras. 69 and 76-77)
The great challenge to the State of Guatemala lies in the approval and subsequent enforcement of a new Code on Childhood and Adolescence. To achieve this high purpose there is no denying the requirements of international cooperation, especially in the following matters:
(a) Training personnel who are to work in the new areas within the administration of justice, with especial reference to the principle of the doctrine of comprehensive protection;
(b) Developing the administrative structure for implementation of the new Code;
(c) Financial support for that implementation.
With regard to child maltreatment, there is a broad consensus of opinion in Guatemala U to the need for a Referral Centre dealing comprehensively with maltreated children, their families and their surroundings, in order to coordinate preventive, detective and treatment activities at the national level. It is clearly realized that this objective cannot be attained without adequate and continuing international cooperation.
12. Please provide clarification U to whether the Convention and the State party report have been translated into the main Mayan languages? In addition, please provide information on the appropriate and active means used to widely disseminate the principles and provisions of the Convention, particularly in the various Mayan languages.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the initial report of the State of Guatemala have not been translated into the Mayan languages. The reason is that the original aim was to translate them for reproduction as written texts, whereas in reality the indigenous population is Mayan-speaking but not Mayan-reading. It should be noted that until recently the unified Mayan alphabet was in process of preparation by the Academy of Mayan Languages; efforts to develop the ability to read those languages in this alphabet have barely begun. Efforts to disseminate the international instrument have accordingly been confined to programmes broadcast by the Office of the Human Rights Procurator from local radio stations in the Mayan-speaking regions.
The Human Rights Procurator is disseminating the Convention in two ways:
(a) Materials on the rights of the child - leaflets, posters, coloring books and the like - are distributed through the Department of Education and Promotion;
(b) The Departmental Committees for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, coordinated by the Commission for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (PRODEN), carry on training programmes based on the content of the Convention between local authorities, social communicators and neighborhood committees in all the municipal capitals in which they operate, as described in detail above. Since September 1995 these Committees have been conducting a NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR DISSEMINATION AND PROMOTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD (see annex No.1).
Through the Directorate of Education of the Presidential Commission on Human Rights (COPREDEK), the Convention on the Rights of the Child is disseminated through talks and puppet shows at institutions providing services for children and at children' 5 study centers. Between March 1995 and February 1996 a total of 90,136 children and 3,868 fathers of families were reached in this way. COPREDER had 10,000 copies of a coloring book entitled [ in translation] ■Children' s rights■ - do you know them?1 and 104,090 copies of a reduced version of it printed for distribution in the course of the activities already described.
13. Does the Government intend to review its legislation concerning the different minimum ages for marriage for boys and girls, in light of the provisions of the Convention in particular those of its article 2? (Para. 98 of the report).
There is no intention to change the national Act in force on the subject. This legislation is applied to all inhabitants of the country without discrimination.
14. Please provide clarification U to whether a minimum age for the completion of compulsory education exists. (Para. 99).
Although the constitutional rule provides that matters concerning age limits shall be governed by a specific Act, the National Education Act Legislative Decree No. 12 - 91, does not fix any limits in view of the profound need to raise the levels of education prevailing in the country.
15. Please indicate to what extent the provisions of article 2 are covered in present or proposed national legislation with regard to all possible grounds for discrimination spelled out in that article. (Paras. 10-il and 106 of the report).
Although the Political Constitution of the Republic and the law clearly prescribe non-discrimination, it must be admitted that situations involving discrimination of various kinds exist de facto. However, with the ratification of ILO Convention No. 169 in March 1996 - for a country like Guatemala, a Convention calculated to inspire new laws - and the signature of the Agreement on the Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples in March 1995 in the process of negotiating peace, it is to be expected that these two normative instruments and the laws they generate will help to reduce situations of de facto discrimination.
16. What procedures have been established to monitor tendencies of discrimination against girl children, children belonging to indigenous groups and children working or living on the streets. Are they effective? In addition, what further measures, including through affirmative action, are considered necessary to prevent and combat discrimination against girls and indigenous children based on traditional attitudes, practices and prejudices? (Paras. 107 and 109).
There is no system for monitoring discrimination in Guatemala, with the exception of the Human Rights Procurator.
It would certainly be desirable to widen the field of activity of the Human Rights Procurator, but that would entail interfering with that institution; this is considered untimely, imprudent and incompatible with the autonomy of the institution and the spirit in which the Procurator be established as a Commissioner of the legislature.
It is important to note, however, that ILO Convention No. 169, the Agreement on the Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples signed between the Government of the Republic and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit (RN) in March 1995, the advice given by Dr. M6nica Pinto and the very presence in the country of the United Nations Mission for the Verification of Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA) should mark an improvement in the discriminatory situation experienced de facto.
17. With reference to para. 69 of the report please provide information on the reasons why the creation of a specific department for children' s affairs is still awaiting legal approval, especially in view of the statement that it is '.through this Minors Department that the best interests of the child must be taken into account and prevail in police and court procedures".
The National Police has opted to strengthen its Human Rights Office and, within it, has assigned specialized personnel to deal with cases relating to children.
18. Please indicate the measures taken to sensitize and mobilize public opinion concerning the need to register births and to provide and train adequate registry personnel.
Births, whether attended by a physician, a midwife or a health technician, are registered at the Civil Registries concerned and the staff of these municipal public offices are fully aware of the vital necessity of such registration.
19. With respect to the implementation of article S of the Convention, please indicate the steps taken to protect the identity of a child, to prevent cases of the illegal deprivation of elements of a child's identity U well as to provide appropriate assistance and protection in such cases with a view to, inter alia, ensuring the re-establishment of a child' s identity.
Legislative Decree No. 73-95 was issued for these purposes on 15 October 1995. It contains the Act on Personal Documentation of the Uprooted Population, which endeavors to solve the problems referred to in the question (see annex No.2).
20. Please provide more information on the channels available, including membership of associations, through which children may make their views known and have them taken into account. (Para. 137 of the State report). In addition, please indicate how the issue of "the reluctance of enterprises to admit discussion sessions planned by the Unit for the Protection of Child Workers" is being addressed. (para. 138 of the report)
With regard to the channels through which children may make their views knoWn, it is pointed out that, under the Commission for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (PRODEN) coordinated by the Office of the Human Rights Procurator, there is in operation a Children' s Subcommission composed of children delegated by all the private institutions which have programmes addressed to the child population. In 1995 this Subcommission pursued the following activities:
(a) Visits to institutions in order to invite them to join in this process in order to increse the number of children and institutions participating;
(b) Ten meetings of the adult team to coordinate activities addressed to children, more specifically on restructuring the work plan and some features of the project;
(C) Two training workshops on organization, addressed to the General Assembly of the Subcommission;
(d) A workshop on leadership;
(e) A workshop on group communication;
(f) Visits to the Congress of the Republic for the introduction of the draft Code on Childhood and Adolescence and during its first and second readings before the plenary Congress;
(9) Election of the Steering Committee of the Subcommission;
(h) A workshop on the development of logical reasoning, addressed to children covered by the following programmes: Case Alianza; Society for the Integral Development of the Guatemalan Family (SODIThG); Society of the Guatemalan Youth of Tomorrow (SOJUOM;); Latin American Child- to- Child Programme (PLANAN); Inter- Institutional Coordination Unit to Promote the Rights of the Child (CIPRODENI); National Action Committee for Children (CONANI); la Voz de los Nines; Alliance for Community Juvenile Development (ADEJUC); the Girls' Education Programme; and the Child Workers' Protection Unit of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security;
(I) Swearing-in the Steering Committee of the working commissions;
(j) Children's participation in an activity entitled "Deputy for a Day";
(k) Participation in the event entitled "Children and Elections 1995". Under this heading, children of the Subcommission took part in a forum in which they expressed their opinions concerning the 1995 elections and children's rights.
In connection with the general elections towards the end of 1995, a parallel electoral exercise was held for children with the collaboration of the Supreme Electoral Board and the support of the Inter-American Center for Electoral Training and Promotion (CAPEL), the inter-American Institute of Human Rights, and private initiative; a great many children participated. A Children's Supreme Electoral Board was established for the purpose.
The National Action Committee for Children, jointly with a private institution called the Novena Integral Development Unit (UDINOV), is carrying out in some marginal areas of the capital a programme entitled Community Juvenile Promoters (PJC), the fundamental purpose of which is to involve adolescents in solving their own problems, drawing on their opinions and activities in the areas where they live.
Communication media affording children and adolescents the opportunity to express their views include
Barriletes
, a radio and television magazine sponsored by the private institution SODIFAG with the support of international organizations. The weekly As 2000 is distributed together with the daily Prensa Libre, which is one of the biggest-circulation newspapers in Guatemala. The programme "Playing With Letters", sponsored by the Child Workers' Protection it (UMT) of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, is broadcast on Television Channel Five during the holiday months of November and December.
In response to the second part of the question put by the Committee, it should be explained that the information sessions scheduled by UMT are being carried on perfectly normally. The Unit's relations with employers have been directed towards the summit organization of Guatemalan entrepreneurs, who are organized around the Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial Associations (CACIF). "Get-together" meetings have been held with the entrepreneurs to inform them of the results of the research carried out by UMT into child and juvenile labor and education and to acquaint them with the doctrine of comprehensive protection and the content of the draft Code of the Child and the Adolescent.
In this last connection, further coordination meetings are to be held this year in order to discuss how CACIF would be able to assist in improving working conditions for this segment of the population.
It is stated in the initial report that "One problem was that enterprises were reluctant to admit these organizations". It should be added in connection with this assertion that the reluctance in question is neither complete nor absolute, since article 212 of the Labor Code in force provides that adolescent workers may belong to a trade union but may not be members of the union executive committee or advisory council. At all events, if any restriction on the right of association should arise, it derives more than anything else from the application of article 34 of the Political Constitution of the Republic which, in guaranteeing the right of association, provides that no one may be forced to associate.
The foregoing obviously makes for difficulty in forming organizations specifically of child workers.
The draft Code on Childhood and Adolescence, which is awaiting the third reading for its approval in the Congress of the Republic, lays down a rule that will legalize the establishment of an Adolescent Workers' Secretariat in the trade unions in operation in the national territory.
On the same subject, the Child Workers' Protection Unit has held three workshops with trade unionists in order to make it clear to them that they too are responsible for ensuring that working adolescents are properly protected, and that they should assist in monitoring compliance with the rules of law already laid down.
21. With reference to para. 146 of the report please provide clarification as to the meaning of "anti-social acts".
We consider that the expression "antisocial acts" refers to the irregular conduct of a minor against society and against property legally protected in that society.
22. Please provide clarification as to the age at which children may seek redress in the courts if their rights have been infringed? Please provide further information on the outcome of the criminal proceedings "initiated in 159 cases involving a total of 282 accused persons" mentioned in para. 153 of the report). What further measures are considered necessary to prevent and combat the ill-treatment of children, especially in the case of violations allegedly committed by the National Police? Please provide further information on the role of the Office of the Human Eights Procurator in this respect. (See also paras. 147, 150-152 and 154-155 of the report).
The legal rule on the subject does not fix any age. That is to say, the law does not contemplate this possibility, although it does not preclude it either. In the State of Guatemala, however, at least three non-governmental organizations working in the area of childhood and adolescence provide legal advice to children who live in the street and working children.
As stated in the initial report (para. 153), criminal proceedings were initiated in 199 cases. Owing to the shortcomings of the judicial process and the related investigation and lenience on the part of the National Police, however, most of these cases did not reach a judicial conclusion. Nevertheless the Presidential Commission for Coordinating Executive Policy in the Field of Human Rights (COPREDER), taking into account various complaints of acts violating the human rights of some "street children", decided to establish under its own authority a Standing Panel on Children as an inter-institutional coordinating body for the purpose of monitoring every one of these cues and promoting their follow-up in the appropriate jurisdictional organs.
Beginning in May 1995 the Panel has monitored 14 cases which have been worked on in virtue of an agreement with Casa Alianza. This work has produced some results through the inter-institutional cooperation achieved, although it must be acknowledged that the goals set have not yet been fully attained. However, the proceedings in these cases have been successfully reactivated. In one case a conviction has been pronounced and another is close to the oral hearing stage.
23. Please provide further information on the measures being taken to prevent the ill-treatment, abuse or even torture and killing of children living or working in the streets of the main cities of the country. (Para.150 of the report)
There is no doubt whatever that the various courses in human rights taught to members of the security forces have attained the objective of improving their attitude in handling situations relating to street children. So much so that, according to reports from the Casa Alianza organization, no members of the National Police or State security forces have been involved in unlawful acts within the past two years. Those involved in the acts violating such children's rights reported during this period have been private security employees. This means that the concern of the Government of the Republic at the present time should be to give priority to supervising private police forces.
In view of these facts, the Government of the Republic expresses its steadfast concern. It must be admitted, however, that its efforts to construct a comprehensive policy on this subject and achieve effective coordination of the justice sector have left those goals unattained, as the United Nations Mission for the Verification of Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA) has pointed out in its reports.
At the legislative level, the Criminal Code has been amended to define crimes of torture in order to bring the national legislation into conformity with the provisions of the international Convention in force on the subject. In addition the necessary changes have been made to define the offences of forced disappearance and extra-judicial execution.
24. Please supply information on the legal status of children born out of wedlock.
Article 50 of the Political Constitution of the Republic states on this subject, with reference to the equality of children that: "All children are equal before the law and have the same rights. Any discrimination shall incur a penalty." Article 209 of the Civil Code provides U follows:
"(Equal rights of children). Children procreated out of wedlock shall enjoy equal rights with children born in wedlock; however, the express consent of the other spouse shall be required for the to live in the conjugal home.
25. With reference to para. 148 of the report, please indicate the progress achieved in improving the treatment provided to juveniles. Please provide clarification U to the meaning of the following term: establishing the "critical path"; and "irregular behavior", mentioned in paras.. 148 and 60, respectively.
The "critical path" refers to a scheme submitted by the Standing Panel on Children, coordinated by COPREDEH; the scheme was derived from study of the procedures followed in the process of detaining children in conflict with the law (The scheme is attached in annex No.3.)
I Translator's note. Here the original speaks of "nines", or children in the sense of offspring, as distinct from "nines y ninas", or children in the sense of minors.
With regard to the concept of "irregular behavior", the Minors' Code in force provides that "minors suffering or liable to suffer from deviations or disorders of their physical, moral or mental condition and those abandoned or in danger shall be deemed to be in an irregular situation.
26. Please indicate the measures taken to prevent and punish corruption and trafficking, and to ensure the effective protection of children, in the case of adoption, especially inter-country adoption. Please indicate whether the State is planning to ratify the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. (Paras. 12 and 175-176 of the report)
The State of Guatemala, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is consulting relevant opinion in preparation for considering ratification of the Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.
Opinion is also being consulted in preparation for considering ratification of the following Conventions on the same subject:
(a) Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (The Hague, 1980);
(b) Inter-American Convention on International Traffic in Minors (Mexico, 1994);
© Inter-American Convention on Conflict of Laws concerning the Adoption of Minors (Bolivia, 1994);
(d) Inter-American Convention on the International Return of Children.
27. What facts have been obtained about the abuse of children within the family? Has research been undertaken into the problem of ill-treatment and sexual abuse, including rape, of children, and into the social factors which influence such violations? In addition, please indicate whether the information and awareness raising campaigns mentioned in paras. 79, 150, 177 and 152 of the report have been effective in preventing the ill-treatment of children within the family and have helped to strengthen the system for protecting children.
The National Commission against Child Abuse (CO), which is composed of governmental and non-governmental organizations and attached to the Children' s Ombudsman of the Office of the Human Rights Procurator, engages in activities to prevent and deal with ill-treatment of children and to refer cases to the appropriate authorities. Each of its constituent organizations carries on activities within its competence in connection with this problem.
In 1995 CONACMI held 22 workshops to introduce and follow up the subject of child abuse. These were addressed to the medical and paramedical staff of national hospitals and the Guatemalan Social Security Institute and to staff of the Judicial and Community Homes Agency of the Social Works Office of the wife of the President of the Republic. According to the Human Rights Procurator's latest report, two workshops on supervision, 10 working sessions with families at risk, one follow-up workshop with facilitators at Guatemala City and one in Mexico City have been held.
In essentials, the activities carried out by COCMI have been designed to strengthen the reception and processing of complaints of child abuse; to equip various sectors to identify, refer and deal with cases; to familiarize institutional personnel with two alternative programmes for the prevention of ill-treatment and sexual abuse of children; to train facilitators for the "bringing with Affection" programme; and to develop the technique of communication with children in a critical situation.
In the exercise of his competence, the Human Rights Procurator receives complaints of child abuse, investigates them and, if the case so warrants, refers them to the competent courts. It should be pointed out that, in the area of social rights, the majority of complaints received by the Procurator relate to acts committed against minors; that child abuse in one or other of its manifestations (physical maltreatment, sexual abuse, mental violence or abandonment) is among the commonest of such acts; and that in most cases it is committed by parents, persons in charge and teachers as a result of failure to respect the most vulnerable segment of the population.
According to the Children's Ombudsman, the main recurrent factors detected in child abuse in Guatemala include the economic and social situation of families, especially the lack of education at every level and of family support programmes. A further factor in sexual abuse is lack of sex education at every level.
As to the results achieved through the campaigns referred to in the question, the reporting of acts of child abuse may be said to have been achieved: in other words, the silence which used to prevail on the subject in Ct= country in past years has to a fair extent been broken. Furthermore it has proved possible to treat child abuse as a topic of more open discussion in the social communication media.
The "Dial 155" telephone service provided for child abuse complaints is being improved as follows:
1. The service is being computerized.
2. The personnel -zing it are being trained.
3. It will be in operation round the clock from May 1996 onwards.
The Departmental Committees for the Convention, for their part, are holding workshops in various municipalities on the ill-treatment and sexual abuse of children.
Mention should also be made of the work carried on by the various committees against child abuse which function in the hospitals and peripheral clinics of the Guatemalan Social Security Institute (IGSS) (4) and in the San Juan de Dios and Roosevelt National Hospitals.
on the initiative of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Committee of the Peripheral Unit of IGSS Zone 5, a symposium entitled "Towards an ecological/transactional approach to community violence and child abuse: effects on the child's development" was held on 16 March last. Its purpose was to create awareness of the epidemic-scale development of child abuse in Guatemala and its consequences for both the individual and society and, in essentials, to prompt the establishment of more committees throughout the national territory.
28.. Please provide more information on the measures being considered for the prevention of disability. Has the distribution of vitamin and mineral supplements or the production of iodized salt been undertaken on a wide scale? (Paras. 227-229 and 240 of the report).
Decree 44-92 of the Congress of the Republic, entitled "General Food Enrichment Act", makes it compulsory to enrich fortify or realize the foodstuffs needed to make good the lack or shortage of nutrients in the normal diet of the population. This Act requires the issue of the regulations needed to govern this obligation.
There are at present three sets of regulations based on the Act, which were issued in 1993:
(a) Regulations on the Fortification of Sugar with Vitamin A;
(b) Regulations on the Fortification of Salt with Iodine;
(c) Regulations on the Fortification of Wheat Flour.
Article 1 of the first-mentioned Regulations provides that "All sugar for the domestic market of Guatemala, irrespective of type, shall be fortified with vitamin A. The State of Guatemala takes great pleasure in announcing that, through the application of this rule, the Republic of Guatemala has been classified by UNICEF as the leading country in the application of large-scale programmes. In February 1996 it accordingly received an international prize for its attainment of the goals set.
Article I of the second set of Regulations provides that "Salt intended for human, animal or industrial consumption shall he iodized because its fortification or enrichment is necessary and desirable in order to safeguard the health of Guatemalans owing to a deficiency in this micronutrient.
Article 1 of the third set of Regulations reads U follows:
"All flour imported into or milled in the Republic of Guatemala which is used in the food industry and for direct human consumption shall be enriched with micronutrient of the highest bio-availability; the flour shall be of the first quality, in a good state of preservation and free from impurities.1
Article 2 of the Regulations in question prescribes the following qualities of micronutrient:
Micronutrient Minimum quantity Maximum quantity
Thiamin 4 milligrams 6 milligrams
Riboflavin 2.5 milligrams 3.5 milligrams
Niacin 35 milligrams 40 milligrams
Ferrous sulphate
(Expressed as iron
ions.) 55 milligrams 65 milligrams
Folic acid 0.35 milligram 0.45 milligram
The Government keeps the fortification of foodstuffs under strict supervision through the Food Registration and Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. This process of fortification has a marked impact on the prevention of disability in Guatemala, for in many cases disability is due to nutritional deficiencies in children.
29. What concrete steps have been taken to reduce the number of avoidable deaths from diarrhoea as well as to improve the immunization coverage of preventable diseases? (Paras.. 185, 212, 217, 241 and 244 of the report).
Significant results have been achieved as regards immunization in recent years. For example in 1990 cases of poliomyelitis were eliminated; the commitment to eliminate them was made in 1985, as witness UNICEF document The Progress of Nations 1995, in which Guatemala is recorded as a country where polio eradication has been certified.
From 1995 onwards the State of Guatemala has made the following commitments:
(a) To consolidate and maintain the elimination of indigenous transmission of wild polio virus;
(b) To eliminate neonatal tetanus by the year 2000;
(C) To eliminate indigenous transmission of measles by the year 2000;
(d) To bring whooping cough, diphtheria, tetanus and tubercular meningitis under control.
In order to fulfil these commitments, the National Immunization Programme is being actively pursued on the basis of the following strategies:
- Institutional vaccination, which is continuously available (every day of the week at whatever time it is requested) at all health service establishments: hospitals, health centers and health posts;
- Recovery and expanded coverage with anti-measles vaccine;
- Blocking with anti-measles vaccine;
- National Health Days with a vaccination component; - -
- "Sanitary sweeps" to prevent cholera and diarrhoea;
- Programme of Care for Populations at Risk of Immunopreventable Diseases.
As a result of the strategies applied from 1986 onwards, vaccination coverages have tended to increase. In 1997, 1991 and 1994, however, there was some decline in coverage. In the first of those years, this can be related to failure to observe the National Vaccination Days. In 1991 it can be related to the arrival of cholera in the country, which demanded of the operative-level staff especial devotion to prevention and in coping with the epidemic. In 1994 it can be related to several adverse factors, including in particular a shortage of biologicals and of inputs for their application and the labor disputes which broke out in the first six months of the year.
Despite the increase observed during the period, vaccination coverage still does not reach the epidemiologically desirable levels: a situation which leaves the country somewhat exposed to epidemic outbreacks.
According to the survey carried out by the National Immunization Programme at the beginning of 1995, 221 municipalities (66.9 per cent of all those in the country) were considered critical by reason of rates of 50 per cent or less for vaccination coverage with one or more biologicals, and 57 of these (17.3 per cent) were regarded as persistently critical because they recorded coverage of 50 per cent or less with one ore more biologicals for two or more consecutive years.
The epidemiological trend of Immunopreventable diseases is downwards and is reflected in a marked reduction of morbidity and mortality rates for this group of diseases.
As regards the reduction of morbidity and mortality, the following achievements are worthy of mention:
(a) Drop in the child morbidity rate, largely attributable to the efforts made in the matter of immunization;
(b) Absence of cases or deaths of poliomyelitis since 1991;
(c) Absence of cases or deaths of diphtheria since 1992;
(d) Reduction in cases of whooping cough since 1994 and absence of deaths from this cause according to data collected by the epidemiologic cal monitoring system;
(e) Significant reduction in cases and deaths of measles since 1991;
(f) Significant reduction in cases and deaths of neonatal tetanus since 1990.
In connection with the eradication of poliomyelitis it should be mentioned that 140 cases of acute flaccid paralysis (An) in children under 15 years of age were reported in 1994. of these, 55 were dismissed immediately; 85, or 60.7 per cent, were classified as probable and entered the An epidemiological monitoring system.
Of the 85 cases considered probable, 83, or 97.6 per cent, were dismissed on clinical, epidemiological and laboratory grounds, 'while two (2.3 per cent) from the Departments of Baja Verapaz and Santa Rosa were regarded U compatible. In the period 1 January to 8 May 1995 27 cases of An were reported; nine of these (33.3 per cent) were dismissed within 49 hours of the onset of sickness and 18, or 66.65 per cent, entered the epidemiological monitoring system U probables. of these, 10 (55.6 per cent) are still probable cases, while eight (44.4 per cent) have been dismissed.
Guatemala has satisfied the requirements of the International Committee on Certification of the Eradication of Poliomyelitis in the Americas. It should be noted in this connection that, except for the taking of samples from five contacts per case, which by decision of the Programme has not been done, the country satisfies the indicators, in most cases by more than the required 80 per cent. From the foregoing, plus the absence of evidence of any circulation of wild polio virus in the country for more than five years, it may be concluded that Guatemala is qualified to receive certification of the eradication of poliomyelitis.
With regard to the elimination of neonatal tetanus (NNT),
91 municipalities, or 27.0 per cent of all the municipalities in the country, were at risk of NNT from 1999 to 1994; 34 per cent of the women of childbearing age were living in them.
At the beginning of 1995 19 municipalities which had attained more than 90 per cent cumulative coverage with TT2 and had exhibited no cases for a period of more than three years were taken off the list. The municipality of Gualúfl, in the Department of Zacapa, was later added, so that 71 municipalities were classified as at risk of NNT in 1995.
In 1994 29 suspected cues of NNT were reported; 11 (37.9 per cent) were dismissed and 18 (62.1 per cent) were confirmed.
The cases reported were from 16 municipalities, of which nine were already considered to be at risk of NNT and seven - Playa Grands, Department of Ctic; Sansare, Department of El Progreso; Concepcion las Minas, Department of Chiquimula; El Asintal, Department of Retalhuleu; Sumpango, Department of Sacatepquez; Santa Bbara, Department of Suchitepquez; and Chuarranco, Department of Guatemala - joined that category.
An appraisal of TT2 coverage in municipalities at risk of NNT during the period l989-1994 found a cumulative coverage of 96 per cent in those municipalities, corresponding to a coverage of 61 per cent for the country u a whole.
Of municipalities situated in the frontier strip, 10 are at risk of NNT. These are situated in the Department of Pet'n (San Andrs, San Jos, Flores, Meichor do Mencos, Dolores, San Luis and La Libertad); the Department of Huehuetenango (Santa Maria Ruista); and the Department of San Marcos (Tecun Uman and Malacatan).
Epidemiological analysis of the cases of MNT points to the need to strengthen TT vaccination, maintaining the risk criterion and giving priority to those municipalities which have reported casu in the last three years and those which maintain low coverage with this biological.
The occurrence of cases due to confinements attended by trained and empirical midwives is evident; this suggests a need to institute supervision and increase training. The provision of services will have to be improved, especially u regards reaching the pregnant women, prenatal examination and clean obstetrical services.
Pursuant to the commitment to eliminate indigenous transmission of measles by the year 2000, special vaccination strategies are being developed and epidemiological monitoring for eruptive febrile disease (EPD) has been practiced at the national level since September 1992, when the attack phase was put into operation. This phase culminated in the first National Vaccination Day, 1993, and was addressed to the population group aged 1-14 years; it achieved over SO per cent coverage.
The consolidation phase was then put into operation, with emphasis on strengthening institutional vaccination. It was accompanied by special measures such as "Operation Comb-out" in June-July 1993, in which an active search was made for unvaccinated children between the ages of nine months and 14 years through house-to-house visits and other special activities suited to local conditions. These activities were continued until September 1993, attaining 93 per cent coverage of age group 5-15.
In October-December 1993 vaccination campaigns ware addressed to special groups. These were carried out by the Metropolitan Region in coordination with non-governmental bodies and with the support of the Social Action Committee of the wife of the President of the Republic; the so-called "street children" were vaccinated.
In the same context, special strategies were followed in the health service, such as vacction at night and on non-working days, making it possible to increase coverage in localities which had previously had difficulty in achieving this.
As a result of the periodic evaluations made by the National Immunization Programme, critical and persistently critical municipalities were identified and given priority. On the basis of this classification, "sanitary sweeps" and the 1994 National Health Days were held between October 1993 and July 1994 and efforts were made to strengthen institutional vaccination.
In 1994, 60 municipalities - 19.1 per cent of all those in the country were identified U critical for measles and special campaigns of epidemiological monitoring and vaccination were held there. Even so, the rate of coverage of babies under 1 year with anti-measles vaccination was 66.0 per cent for 1994.
On the basis of the commitment secured to eliminate measles by the year 2000, significant advances have been achieved in epidemiological monitoring for eruptive febrile disease; laboratory support has played a decisive part in this effort.
Standards for epidemiological monitoring and control of eruptive febrile diseases were laid down in February 1993, establishing a classification of cases and prescribing rules for the collection, storage and transport of serological samples.
In April 1994 cases of EFD were detected in Ruehuetenango, specifically in the municipalities of Chiantla and Todos Santos Cuchumatúfl and the military zone of the departmental capital. These cases warranted the adoption of epidemiological monitoring and control measures including in particular an active search for cases and blocking vaccination addressed to inhabitants under 15 years of age non recently vaccinated against measles.
As a result of this outbreak, 191 cases of EFO and four deaths were reported. The cases were classified as measles, 12 by positive serology and the remainder by epidemiological nexus.
The population group most affected (with 52 per cent of cases) was that of persons over 15 years of age: i.e., the group which did not benefit from the attack phase of the Measles Elimination Programme and which includes a great many susceptible persons.
In 1994 227 cases of EFD were reported and 205 were confirmed as measles. Of these latter cases, 175 (95.3 per cent) were classified by the epidemiological nexus criterion and 27 (13.2 per cent) by positive serology, while three (1.5 per cent) were classified as compatible by the criterion of loss of follow-up.
By epidemiological week No.19 of 1995, 33 cases of EFD had been reported and 25 confirmed as measles. Of these latter, 14 were classified by epidemiological nexus and 11 by positive serology.
Two Vaccination Days are planned for 1996, mainly against measles. These will be supplemented by activities to prevent diarrhoea, dengue and rabies. The first series of Days will be held from 27 April to 3 May and the second five or six weeks later.
The aim of these Days is to reach all children between the ages of nine months and 4 years 11 months who were not vaccinated against measles in 1995 and have not received any other type of vaccination. Each Day will be accompanied by promotion through the social communication media and local promotion in the language of each community.
The aim of the present immunization scheme is that the majority of children should be fully protected by the end of their first year. However, a problem which should be mentioned is that, owing to the cultural diversity prevailing in Guatemala, not everyone, especially in rural areas, is willing to accept immunization.
It should be noted that the Assistance provided by the Pan American Health Organization (PAlO), the World Health Organization (WHO), CEF, AID and the European on is very important in carrying out immunizations. Of the cost of this activity, 25 per cent is covered by the international organizations just mentioned and 75 per cent by the Government of Guatemala. It should be mentioned further that the immunization activities carried on by the Government in recent years have been recognized as successful by PAHO/WHO.
With effect from 27 April 1996 the so-called "150 Day Plan; Actions of a Society for a Healthy Population" will be put into operation. The execution of this Plan is intended to respond to the problems identified as having priority in view of their effects on the death rate and the health of the population. These problems affect substantial segments of the population, and chiefly the indigenous and rural population, who receive inadequate coverage and an inadequate quality of public health care that result in social unfairness. This Plan aims to improve the efficiency of the Ministry of Health care services within a short period. (See annex No.4.)
30. Please provide clarification as to the extent to which health posts and health centers are operating in the country, particularly in the rural areas and poorer areas in general. (Paras. 236-239, 242-243 and 246 of the report).
According to the data available up to 1995 there are in the country 857 health posts, 221 health centers without beds and 33 health centers with an average of 30 beds each. These health units provide maternal and child care; control of diarrhoeic diseases; immunization; emergencies; treatment of such diseases as dengue, cholera and rabies; out-patient consultation in general; and environmental sanitation at community level.
All these health centers and posts are functioning normally. only in a limited number of cases does one of them go temporarily out of action when the person in charge is absent by reason of sickness or maternity. However, every effort is made to fill these vacancies as quickly as possible.
Under the current policies of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and in particular the policy of social supervision (in which the community is given a share), persons belonging to the locality are being engaged to men the health posts and centers; this obviates lengthy absences, and these persons know the local language and culture.
31. What are the steps being taken by the Government to ensure that there is an equitable distribution of medicines, medical equipment and health personnel to all health units in rural and poorer urban areas, especially __ areas populated by indigenous children? What role is international cooperation playing in this regard? (Paras. 243-245 of the report).
There are some difficulties in this endeavor owing to delay in placing resources. There are also problems in distributing medicines because the bad state of communication renders certain places difficult of access.
Fair distribution presents difficulties owing to the historical process of centralization at health centers and posts and urban hospitals. Because of this, the Ministry of Health is undergoing technical and administrative decentralization through the reform of the health sector. The purpose of this reform is (a) to extend coverage, especially in rural areas; (b) to decentralize; and © to modernize all the Ministry' operative machinery.
The process of health sector reform began in 1995 with the component of expanded coverage by health services and administrative and financial reorganization, making a new approach to the care modal and contemplating a basic basket suited to the morbidity and mortality pattern in each geographical area of the country. For this purpose, strategies of decentralization and deconcentration have been initiated at the departmental and municipal level.
In addition priority has ban given to preventive health measures, the budget for which never exceeded 19.0 per cent of the total before 1995, when the proportion for 1996 is 45 per cent; this makes it possible to reorient the budget and to deconcentrate it by laying the stress on activities carried on in the interior of the country.
The reform process includes making changes in programmes for the integration of institutional efforts: i.e., those of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Guatemalan Social Security Institute (IGSS), other State Ministries, social investment funds, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international technical and financial cooperation agencies. The aim is to coordinate and strengthen social policies with the broad participation of the community itself, with the community initiating the processes of caring for its own health and organizing itself to meet its recognized needs. Policy in the water subsector is being reoriented towards a wider composition for the subsector - latterly over-fragmented - with the participation of all concerned.
32. Please provide further information on the measures being considered to overcome the constraints to providing adequate reproductive health education, mentioned in paras. 214 and 215 of the report.
In this field the State is striving to apply the conclusions reached at Cairo (Egypt), taking into account ethnic and religious conditions in Guatemala. Past history notwithstanding, some steps in this direction are being encouraged in the Health and Education Ministries. In addition a non-governmental body, the Family Welfare Association (APROFAM), is carrying out several programmes centered on reproductive education and health. It must be acknowledged that these efforts are still insufficient and of little significance.
33. Please describe the measures taken to promote health information and education among the general population especially with regard to the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS. (Para. 219 of the report).
Under the National AIDS Prevention and Control Programme of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, seminars on the prevention of this disease are held for personnel of the army and National Police, staff and pupils of public and private schools, staff of the country' s municipalities and the Ministry' S own employees. The subjects of this training include the human rights of HIV positive persons and AIDS sufferers, with a view to preventing the discrimination such persons may encounter in all situations. A total of 6,000 persons attended such seminars in 1994.
In the course of the lectures just mentioned, educational materials on the prevention of this disease are distributed. In addition the Programme has a telephone number providing a round-the-clock service of information on the subject and assistance when needed.
Decree 54-95 of the Congress of the Republic dated 2 August 1995 declares that health information and education to prevent human immune deficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) present a nationally urgent social problem. The Decree provides that the Ministries of Education, Health and Social Welfare, National Defense and the Interior, the Guatemalan Social Security Institute and the various organizations working in this field shall take action in the area of information on and prevention of those conditions.
Article 10 of the Decree provides that:
"Any information, for purposes of prevention, concerning the sexually transmitted diseases HIV-AIDS shall be imparted under conditions of respect for the patient' s human rights, respect for the dignity of the persons affected and strict medical confidentiality, taking also into account the international conventions to which Guatemala has acceded."
For the Committee's further information, Decree 54-95 of the Congress of the Republic is annexed.
34. Please indicate what measures are considered necessary to develop a national nutritional strategy and to guarantee nutritional security, including as regards the methods for improving the production and distribution of basic and nutritious food, especially for the most
vulnerable and disadvantaged groups of children. (See paras. 187, 190 and
194-211 of the report).
In order to solve the problems of nutrition, the Government of Guatemala considers it vital to institute a National Food Security System by modernizing and better coordinating the institutions directly responsible, encouraging policies that facilitate food production and carrying out special programmes focused on high-risk groups.
The National Food Security System proposed in the Action Plan for Social Development (PLADES) 1996-2000 (September 1995) has been set the following objectives:
(a) To guarantee to the population the availability of food and effective access to it in quality and quantity; to encourage adequate biological utilization of food so as to attain the satisfactory nutritional state essential to a good quality of life;
(b) To reduce the prevalence of overall protein-calorie malnutrition in the population;
(c) To tackle the food and nutrition problem U a whole, establishing criteria for priority, with the full participation of the public sector, non-governmental bodies, the private sector and civil society, in pursuit of food security for the population;
(d) To promote comprehensive process of education, promotion and information on food and nutrition;
(e) To increase the supply of food of adequate quality in the basic basket on the basis of domestic production;
(f) To promote, encourage and protect sound practices of breast-feeding and supplementary feeding;
(g) To promote action in the preventive health field in order to encourage biological utilization of the food ingested;
(h) To establish a food security system, embodying decision- making, coordinating and executive levels, to take responsibility for executing plans, programmes and projects on this matter;
(I) To attain an adequate level of fortification of foodstuffs with micronutrient.
In order to attain the foregoing objectives, PLADES 1996-2000 proposes action on the following lines:
- The National Food Security System shall be put into operation;
- Continued encouragement shall be given to breast-feeding as a means of contributing to children' s alimentary and nutritional security;
- The fortification of staple foods with micronutrient in which the population is deficient shall be placed on a sounder institutional basis;
- The channels of marketing and supply of basic-basket foodstuffs for the population at greater risk of food insecurity shall be improved;
- Rational use shall be made of food aid by aiming it at the population at greater risk of alimentary and nutritional insecurity, with emphasis on mothers and children;
- Programmes of nutritional education for nursing mothers shall be strengthened;
- A programme shall be established to expand the production of basic basket foodstuffs on the basis of increased productivity.
By bringing the National Food Security System into operation, the following goals could be attained:
(a) To achieve 100 per cent iodization of salt;
(b) To fluoridate 100 per cent of salt for human consumption in order to prevent dental caries;
(c) To supplement the diet of 90 per cent of the high-risk population with iron of high bioavailability;
(d) To reduce the proportion of malnourished children under five years of age to about 25 per cent;
(e) To increase the proportion of breast-feeding in urban areas to about 90 per cent;
(f) To achieve 100 per cent observance of breast-feeding times for the first 10 months;
(g) To reduce iron-deficiency anaemia to about 50 per cent of that established by the basic survey;
(h) To fortify with vitamin A 100 per cent of sugar for internal consumption;
(I) To ensure that the alimentary and nutritional education content of the curriculum guides is taught at 90 per cent of schools
35. In view of the poverty affecting the country, what measures have been taken to protect and support the family, particularly those headed by women?
The problem of poverty and the effects of the armed clash have made it necessary to provide services for the more than 150,000 orphaned and 50,000 widowed in Guatemala U a result of that armed clash. In view of this situation, the Government of Guatemala is assisting this segment of the population through the Programme of Assistance to Widows and Minor Orphans who have fallen Victim to Violence in the Country (PAVYE).
This programme of social compensation comes under the Office of the President of the Republic and is directly linked to the Social Works Office of the President's wife. It was established by Legislative Decree 5-87 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala.
The target population is composed in a high proportion of indigenous women heads of households in a situation of extreme poverty. Geographically the programme covers nine Departments which have been classified as having high priority: Quiché, Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, El Peten, Sololú, Chimaltenango and Ouetzaltenango.
The main purpose of the program- is to promote the comprehensive development of the population thus identified, through the active and responsible participation of women in formulating and executing self-managed projects and by bringing them into the economic and social activity - in the areas of health, education and production projects - of the community to which they belong.
In 1995 technical and financial services were rendered to 150 groups comprising 5,245 widows and 9,970 minor orphans, with a social investment of 3,509,191.00 quetzales. These groups are organized to undertake productive activities that enable them to earn an income, such U retail shops, handicrafts and fattening poultry, pigs and cattle. Many of these groups are already consolidated: that is to say, equipped for self-management.
In the metropolitan area of Guatemala City members of the marginal population receive attention through the Directorate of Human Settlements and Housing (flava), a unit of the Office of the President of the Republic, to provide them with a basic infrastructure in the places where they live.
DVHVI has the following functions:
(a) To serve U a negotiator of funds in obtaining loans for the inhabitants of these areas from international financial agencies for housing construction at rates in keeping with their incomes. The main international agency providing loans has been the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD);
(b) To promote community organization among the inhabitants of marginal areas and effect the incorporation of the co-unities;
(c) To foster contact with non-governmental organizations for the provision of basic services;
(d) The legalization and purchase of land holdings.
In the last two and a half years DAHVI has served 11 settlements, benefiting 11,000 families. The budget appropriated for this unit by the Government for 1996 totals 10 million quetzales. In addition, through its good offices, a loan of 21 million quetzales will be provided by the World Bank for housing construction.
At present DAV;I works only in the metropolitan area of Guatemala City, though there are prospects of providing services for the population of other areas in the interior of the country in the future.
The main activities carried on by this unit include the following:
1. El Mezuital Urban Development Project. This project is located in the Municipality of Villa Nueva, Department of Guatemala, and is providing 2,800 families with infra structural works such as the introduction of basic utilities (electric power and drinking-water), paving, drainage and housing construction.
2. Municipal Rebirth Project: The aim of this project is to legalize the ownership of the land occupied by such families in a sector of zone 19 of Guatemala City; some 600 families stand to benefit.
3. El Pinito Settlement Project. The main objective of this project is to legalize ownership of the project site, which is situated in zone 17 of Guatemala City, for the benefit of 73 families.
4. Lea Palma Estate Project. To legalize the land occupied by 2,226 families on this estate situated in zone S of Guatemala City. The deeds are being executed by the Court and Government Notary. This project E.T. is being carried on with the participation of the organized community and the support of the following non-governmental organizations: the Civil Society for the Development of Popular Housing in Guatemala (SODEVIPO) and the Institute for the Economic and Social Development of Central America (IDESAC).
6. Water and Environmental Sanitation Project (PROASA) of Colonia Carolingia. This project is being carried out in zone 6 of Mixco, Department of Guatemala. Zt is of benefit to 1,426 families in the colony in question and 249 families in two new settlements adjoining it. The main purpose of the project is to lay on drinking-water and drainage.
Population Census Project in 62 precarious settlements on the periphery of Guatemala City. To date preliminary results have been obtained on 10,490 families who will receive services through various DHAVI projects in the future.
36. Please indicate what further measures have been taken to ensure that the language of instruction is not an obstacle to access to the various levels of education and therefore not a factor of discrimination. (See, inter alia, 270-271 of the report).
With effect from the issue of Government Decision No. 1,093 on 20 December 1984, bilingual education was institutionalized in Guatemala with the establishment of the Bicultural Bilingual Education Programme (PRONEBI).
The launching of a programme like PRONEBI is based on firm belief in the following postulates:
(a) That bilingual education in Guatemala is a fair and relevant activity for children in the monolingual indigenous areas of the country. This type of education has been planned, applied, developed and evaluated by indigenous professionals on the basis of anthropological, socio-linguistic and philosophical considerations;
(b) Education policies in a multilingual and multi cultural country should have constitutional, political and economic backing in order to respond to the expectations of the indigenous population;
© The recognition that Guatemala is a multilingual and multi cultural country and that bilingual education should therefore be encouraged in the regions having an indigenous population calls for supplementary action gradually to extend coverage to all indigenous groups in the country until the demand for culturally relevant education services has been met.
The State of Guatemala, through the Ministry of Education, has prompted action to formulate and strengthen policies of removing the obstacles that deny indigenous children access to teaching centers. For the last two years Government strategy has been aimed at increasing the coverage of the education system, with emphasis on urban- fringe and rural areas, through the intercultural bilingual education programme.
Through this process 337,000 children have been brought into the bilingual and monolingual school population at the pre-primary and primary level in the areas mentioned.
Similarly efforts have been focused on devising strategies and policies for eliminating cultural and social stereotypes based on gender, the aim being to halt a trend conducive to discriminatory action. The texts prepared are under study in preparation for the issue of the relevant Ministerial Decision.
The National Bilingual Education Programme has been systematized, assigned its own budget and placed under the administration of Mayan and Leading technical personnel.
The Ministry of Education has established machinery to afford the Mayan -education communities an opportunity to participate in the decision-making process of selecting and appointing the teachers assigned to community schools and adapting the curriculum.
A CURRICULAR BAND OF MAYAN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE was instituted and brought into operation, within the country' 5 general education system, for the indigenous and leading population in the course of 1995. In this way the entire population will have the opportunity to study Mayan languages just as they are under an obligation to study and learn in Spanish.
During the same year 11,000 teaching appointments were made, of which about 40 per cent were for intercultural programmes. Furthermore 75 per cent of the appointments are to rural areas, and many of the posts are occupied by teachers who belong to the various ethnic groups in the country and who have been nominated and appointed by the community assembly of fathers of families.
Similarly the National Programme of Educational Self-Management (PRO1DDE) has been brought into operation in under-provided areas, especially ethnic areas with a greater concentration of Mayan population.
The Ministry of Education has also given priority to the Indigenous Girl Child Development Programme with the aim of leveling aptitudes and opportunities within the education system for girls ethnically classified as indigenous.
Under the Directorate of Intercultural Bilingual Education of the Education Ministry, policies have been established which chart the socio-cultural and educational path for the Mayan, Xinca, Garifuna and Leading people to follow in building a democratic, pluralist society in a cultural setting of peace and understanding. With the programmes brought into operation, a systematic education process will be generated for comprehensive training of the individual and for strengthening the cultural identity of the various ethnic groups living together in Guatemala, each group having its own cultural patterns, on terms of equality and respect, in a multilingual, pluricultural society.
The National Intercultural Bilingual Education Programme is an effective mechanism for strengthening cultural identity and has its own pedagogical, linguistic, cultural, social, political and economic activities.
37. Please indicate what measures are being taken to reach the goal of making primary education available and free for all children, especially children belonging to an indigenous group and children from the poor segments of society. (See paras. 260 and 270-271 of the report.)
Between June 1993 and December 1995 the Ministry of Education managed to increase the school population to 295,128 children at the bilingual and monolingual pre-primary and primary levels in rural and urban-fringe areas. Increases were achieved in school enrolment of girls, intercultural bilingual education and the primary education service for adults. In addition 11,278 new teaching posts were established at the pre-primary and primary levels, 522 new classrooms were built, 1.5 million children in the official education sector were provided with school equipment and (fortified) school biscuits, and transport vouchers were supplied to 91,000 students belonging to the poorer segments of the population.
During the same period the extramural education subsystem served 31,424 persons over 11 years of age. Special emphasis was laid on improving secondary-level coverage (general and occupationally oriented basic cycle) at official, private and cooperative establishments; 245,875 pupils aged 13-16 were taught in this way and 134,000 were taught at the secondary level specializing in various occupations.
Significant innovations were introduced, with programmes of continuous university-level training for serving teachers; a degree in primary education was made available for the first time. In this way the objectives of education were successfully linked to the characteristic needs of the target population. Of advantage in achieving these results was the participation of fathers of families and of the education community in supervising the changes made to improve the quality of the education system.
A corpus of studies formulated jointly by higher and secondary-level teaching personnel for the career of urban primary teacher was put into operation in order to make teachers' training more relevant and purposeful. The 400 educational development centers in the eight regions of the country were strengthened in order to support the process of continuous training for teachers.
The Bilingual Education Programme is in operation with financing from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. With this financing it is planned to establish five teacher-training schools of bilingual education in the Kich, Mam, Kaqchikel and QLlekchú language areas. Pour primary education manuals for the Mayan language and culture band have been published in accordance with the provisions of the Agreement on the Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
38. Has any evaluation been undertaken of the results achieved as regards the implementation of the national education strategy, which followed the approval of the new Education Act on 9 January 1991 (Para. 272 of the report).
With regret it must be stated that no evaluation has been undertaken.
39. In view of the information contained in pare. 261 of the report, is the Government considering allocating further resources to the 1992-2000 literacy programme?
It is true that there is a provision of the Constitution requiring 1 per cent of the general budget of ordinary State income to be appropriated to eradicating illiteracy among the economically active population during the lifetime of the first three Governments to hold office under the 1995 Constitution. Hence, for the period about which the Committee is inquiring, provision is made for funds; but in practice, the State' a financial resources being what they are, this requirement has been only partly met. An average of 0.4 per cent of the budget has been made available to the National Committee on Literacy (CONALA), amounting to about 40 million guetzales a year, or some 60 per cent of what it was to receive, on the average, each year.
With a new Government in office as from 14 January 1996 there is every reason to hope that this situation can be rectified, especially considering that the Committee' a plans call for teaching 2,411,000 persons of various ages all over the national territory to read and write by 1995. That is the first stage in the national literacy strategy. Another 156,000 persons are to be covered in the second stage, which consists in following up and introducing the pupils to Spanish.
CONALFA has projected the following indices of illiteracy and percentage reductions in it for the years up to 2000:
year Index Reduction
1995 37,00
1996 34,09 2,91
1997 31,18 2,91
1998 28,27 2,91
1999 25,36 2,91
2000 22,45 2,91
The national strategy comprises four programmes: teaching reading and writing; teaching adults; teaching children over school age; and bilingual literacy. The second programme reaches an average of 190,000 adults, 15,000 children and 30,000 persons of bilingual education. This programme aims to teach literacy in 11 Mayan languages to persons resident in Huehuetenango, Ouich, Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, Totonicap and ouetzaltenango. This is happening for the first time in Guatemala's history and meets a didactic need while at the same time strengthening the culture to which the pupils belong.
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Taking into consideration the financial weakness of the State, CONALFA receives the support of non-governmental organizations and private individuals, about 1,200 of whom are carrying out the programmes devised by the Committee. In some cases, private individuals contribute by donating literacy primers, pencils, exercise books and other items of school equipment.
40. Please provide information desegregated by gender and rural/urban areas on the level of school enrolment. What are the concrete measures being taken to facilitate school attendance of children and to prevent them from engaging in employment activities? (Paras. 264-265 of the report).
In reply to the first part of the question, the data requested are as follows (for 1994):
(a) Pre-primary:
- Total pupils enrolled: 199,629
- Total enrolled in bilingual pre-primary: 71,407 (35.8%)
- Total enrolled in pre-primary infants': 129,22(digit missing)
(64.2%)
- Total boys enrolled: 103,997 (52.0%)
- Total girls enrolled: 95,732 (48.0%)
- Gross enrolment rate: 31.5
- Net enrolment rate: 19.3
- Rate of inclusion in the system: 15.3
(b) Primary:
- Total establishments in operation in 1994: 11,349
- Total establishments in the official sector: 9,843 (77.9%)
- Total pupils enrolled: 1,412,720
- Total pupils in the official sector: 1,172,746 (93.0%)
- Total boys enrolled: 768,801 (54.4%)
- Total girls enrolled: 643,919 (45.6%)
- Total pupils in first grade: 445,326 (31.5%)
- Total pupils in sixth grade: 121,117 (8.6%)
- Total pupils in first to third grade in the official sector:
816,420 (69.6%)
- Total pupils in first to third grade in the private sector:
145,411 (61.7%)
Total pupils in rural areas: 832,193 (59.9%)
Total pupils in urban areas: 580,527 (41.1%)
- Average pupils per classroom in the official sector: 37.1
- Average pupils per classroom in the private sector: 25.7
- Average pupils per teacher in the official sector: 29.6
- Average pupils per teacher in the private sector: 21.2
- Gross enrolment rate: 82.7
- Net enrolment rate: 68.2
- Rate of inclusion in the system: 57.2
- Drop-out rate in urban areas: 4.8%
- Drop-out rate in rural areas: 10.9% -.
- Drop-out rate in the official sector: 9.2%
- Drop-out rate in the private sector: 4.4%
- Promotion rate in urban areas: 91.1%
- Promotion rate in rural areas: 68.4%
(C) Secondary level: basic cycle
- Total establishments in Operation in 1994: 1,793
- Total establishments in the official sector: 220 (12.3%)
- Total establishments in the private sector: 1,169 (65.1%)
- Total establishments in the cooperative sector: 398 (22.1%)
- Total pupils enrolled: 235,365
- Total men enrolled: 129,006 (54.4%)
- Total women enrolled: 107,359 (45.6%)
- Total pupils enrolled in urban areas: 211,003 (99.6%)
- Cross enrolment rate: 31.4
- Net enrolment rate: 20.0
- Rate of inclusion in the system: 16.8
(d) Secondary level: diversified cycle
- Total estabishments in operation in 1994: 974
- Total establishments in the official sector: 131 (13.4%)
- Total pupils enrolled: 122,513
- Total women enrolled: 59,261 (48.4%)
- Total men enrolled: 63,252 (51.6%)
- Total pupils in urban areas: 119,989 (97%)
- Cross enrolment rate: 13.6
- Net enrolment rate: 10.9
- Rate of inclusion in the system: 13.3
In reply to the second part of the quastion it is stated thet the Child Workers' Protection Unit (tMT) advises and reguires young people (aged 14-19) who have not yet completed their primary education to enrol at and attend the Sunday alternative school run by the National Action Coilittee for Children (coZ) in coordination with the Vision Mundial organization. This programme is in operation at the present time in 16 schools, three in the metropolitan area and 13 in suburban areas. The schools in the metropolitan area are situated in Colonia Landivar, zone 7; Canalitos, zone 17; end Lu Tapias, zone 18. The remainder are situated in the following places: Cerro Alto, Cacsuy, La Soledad, Concepci6n, El Pilar, La Estancia end Brisas & Motagua in the Municipality of San Juan Sacatepquez, Department of Guatemala; Cotminidad Set end San Jos Nacagflil in the Municipality of San Pedro Ay=c; end lastly Sacoj Grande end Colonia Prez Guiosasola in the Municipality of Mixco.
41. With respect to the information contained in pare. 261 of the report, please provide clarification as to whether education about the Convention on the Eights of the Child has been incorporated into school curricula. (See also para. 108 of the report).
Yes, under the heading of education for democracy; also under the Morality and Civics Programme for Democratic Coexistence and the Cultivation of Peace. Curriculum and programme guides have been prepared in support and are in use at the national level. Work relating to human rights is in progress between institutions, and there is a project to mobilize Mayan education for the exercise of human rights in the educational life of the indigenous areas. In addition, at the various educational levels and in the various areas and sectors, institutions and individuals are giving their support in human rights education and in the preparation of materials.
This situation explains why the Education Directorate of the Office of the Human Rights Procurator and that of the Presidential Commission for Coordinating Executive Policy in the Field of Human Rights (COPREDEH) are active in promoting and disseminating the Convention.
42. With reference to para. 284 of the report, please provide clarification as to the strategies formulated and implemented to deal with the problems of displaced persons.
As explained in the initial report, the Government of the Republic of Guatemala established the National Commission for the Care of Repatriates, Refugees and Displaced Persons (CEAR). The work of this Commission has revealed the force of the return movement, in which 29,063 persons who had taken refuge in Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica and, mainly, Mexico have so far been able to enter the country.
In 1995, the latest year for which figures are available, 9,553 persons returned. So far 136 have returned in 1996.
Every return has been accompanied and supported by CHAR personnel. The care extended to the returnee population is many-sided and comprises:
- Supply of food for nine months;
- Supply of agricultural inputs and tools;
- Support for housing construction;
- Assistance on reception, care in transit, medical care and the provision of latrines, drinking-water and basic infrastructure.
The main projects executed by CEER with the support of national and international agencies are the following:
(1) FUND FOR REINTEGRATION IN WORK AND PRODUCTION (FORELAP)
In 1995 loans totaling 027,579,823 for the purchase of land were granted to 911 repatriated families. A total of 387.36 cabalerfas (17,925.5 hectares) was purchased. An average of 19.67 hectares was allotted to each family.
In addition production loans totaling the following amounts have been granted since September 1992:
Loans for agriculture 0 1,615,533.51
Loans for trade 1,013,696.93
Loans for stock-raising 1,975,186.30
Loans for industry 155,878.67
Loans for bee-keeping 43,079.18
Equipment 2,891.00
Infrastructure for self-propelled equipment 50,803.03
Loans for purchase of estates 56,563,498.34
TOTAL 061,592,224.56
The credit granted to the returnee and displaced population consists of soft loans repayable in 20 years, with a five-year grace period.
(2) PROGRAMME OF SUPPORT FOR THE VOLUNTARY REPATRIATION OF GUATEMALAN REFUGEES (CEAR-UNHCR)
All persons who returned in 1995 have received food aid, housing construction support, agricultural inputs and tools. In addition they are provided with assistance upon reception and in transit, and with transport to the place of final resettlement.
(3) ALTERNATIVES FOR IMPROVING LAND AVAILABLE FOR THE SETTLEMENT AND ECONOMIC-SOCIAL REINTEGRATION OF THE UPROOTED POPULATION (CEAR-UNDP)
In 1995, in 12 agrological surveys, the project studied 46 estates as a basis for resettlement of the uprooted population.
(4) ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL REACTIVATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL AND STOCK-RAISING COOPERATIVES AND THE RIVERS LA PAION AND USUMACINTA AND THE AREA OF LA MACHACHA
A total of 202 loans have been granted and the borrowers receive technical assistance in production. Direct communication is maintained with representatives of the cooperatives at periodic meetings and coordination is being instituted in order to carry out internal infra structural projects and to promote forest management as an alternative to production for the survival of the communities and the conservation of natural resources.
(5) PROGRAMME OF INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR CEAR (CEAR-EUROPEAN UNION)
This Programme has provided CEER with significant support in complying with its obligations and instructions. The system of inter-institutional coordination has been expanded. The methodology for identifying and formulating emergency and development projects has been systematized, such projects include those connected with the return and resettlement of the uprooted population under the peace plan. Relations with national and international cooperation agency have been expanded and improved.
(6) CONSOLIDATION OF THE NATIONAL SYSTEM OF INFORMATION ON THE UPROOTED POPULATION IN GUATEMALA (CEAR-UNPF-IOM)
This project, jointly financed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) and the International Organization for Migration (ZOM), has carried out surveys to obtain information of a socio-demographic nature and on communitylevel infrastructures and services in the target areas: Alta Verapaz, Huehuetenango, San Marcos and El Pet6n.
43. Please provide further information on the provisions of the military and social service bill which offer alternative military service supplemented by voluntary social service, especially in light of the statement contained in para. 15 of the report that the Minister of Defense has been instructed "not to undertake any further recruitment until this legislation has been promulgated and to accept for military service in the meantime only persons aged 19 or over who volunteer for military service and meet the legal requirements". Please provide clarification as to whether the new bill provides for the acceptance of children under the age of 18 for military service. (See also para. 14 of the report).
A draft Patriotic Service Act is at present under discussion in the Congress of the Republic. It attempts to cover both the military service and the social service components and to combine all the draft laws submitted on this subject.
The draft text spells out the characteristics of military service and social service; specifies the exemptions from service and the cases of conscientious objection; prescribes the method of calling up Guatemalans liable to conscription, the relevant registers being transferred to the Registry of Citizens; lays down rules for the establishment of the National Call-up Board and the Municipal Boards on Patriotic Service, and transfers their jurisdiction to the civil sector.
In all the foregoing it is understood that, as at present, patriotic service is only for persons aged 18 years and over.
44. Has any research been undertaken as to the effects of war on children? Are any further measures planned or being taken in that respect?
No research has been undertaken on this subject in the governmental sphere. Certain NGOs are, however, )known to have made specific studies.
Those published include one prepared by the organization For Central American Children (PRONZCE) and entitled Diagn6stico de Condiciones Y Manifestaciones de a Salud Mental en Dos Communidades ("Diagnosis of Mental Health Conditions and Manifestations in Two Communities", Victoria 20 de Enero (Estate 14, Ixcúfl, Qnich) and Colonia Nueva Esperanza (Municipality of Nentdn, Huehuetenango). Another was prepared by the Community Health Services Association (ASECSA), which is located in the Department of Chimaltenango. This work was done under a regional project entitled Psychosocial Trauma and Latin American Adolescents and directed by the Latin American Institute of Mental
Health and Human Rights. --
From these and other, unpublished studies it appears that the psychosocial sequelae of war are considerable in children. It is calculated that one child out of five experiences levels of disfunction due to the violence occurring in his or her vicinity. The situation of violence perceived causes the child population to grow repressed, helpless, insecure, anxious, depressed, inhibited and unhappy: a condition that may lead a child to reflect those frustrations by taking alcohol and drugs. The violence generated by the war may have increased violence in the commission of offences.
It is accordingly important for the present Government of the Republic to formulate and apply a policy on childhood and youth.
45. In the light of the provisions of article 37 (a) of the Convention in particular, please provide further information on the prohibition of capital punishment or life imprisonment without the possibility of release for of fences committed by children under the age of 18 years.
Article 20 of the Political Constitution of the Republic exempts minors from criminal liability.
46. With reference to para. 297 of the report, please provide clarification as to how the Government has estimated that in 1996 the number of adolescents unnecessarily detained will decline by 20%
formal education is provided at the detention centers of the Treatment and Guidance Directorate through the Adult Further Education Plan. There are thus schools in operation, authorized and supervised by the Ministry of Education, which award the certificates and diplomas marking the end of the school year.
As to health, the detention centers have clinics run by a physician and a nurse. At these clinics all the adolescents are given primary or preventive care. Cases requiring specialized care are referred to the national hospitals. The greatest problem in this connection is that the working hours of the medical staff are fixed in each contract, making it difficult to obtain care or treatment outside working hours or on non-working days. This situation is being studied with a view to finding a suitable budgetary solution, for the limitation is a very serious one.
Another problem is that the supply of medicaments, materials and other necessities is not regular and that, when the supplies do arrive, there are not enough of them. This is due to economic and administrative difficulties.
As to the training of institution personnel, efforts have been made to devise and maintain a continuous programme of in-service training. Unhappily those efforts could not be brought to fruition for lack of resources and staff for the purpose. A plan to train all the workers in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Riyadh Guidelines was initiated in 1994 but only 25 per cent of it was carried out because the documents needed for the task were not available although support had been requested from several NGOs.
Requests for backing for the training process continued to be made in 1995, but met with no response until the Inter-American Children's Institute (lACX) of the Organization of American States (OAS) made a diagnostic study of the training requirements of the Directorate of Treatment and Guidance for Minors and the Directorate of Child and Family Welfare (ElF). In the second half of 1996 the Institute plans to bold the First Central American Seminar on Social Management Training for workers in public institutions providing services for children.
The Inter-Institutional Coordination Unit to Promote the Rights of the Child (CIPRODENI) has expressed its willingness to support in 1996 a process of continuous training for the staff of detention centers; the practical outcome of this situation is awaited.
49. Please provide further information, in the light of article 37 in particular, on the: use of arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child as a measure of last resort and for the shortest period of time; the prohibition of the unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of liberty; and the possibility to have prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance; as well as for challenging the legality of the deprivation of liberty before a court, or other competent, independent and impartial authority, and of having a prompt decision thereon. (Para. 297 of the report).
The Social Welfare Department, through its Directorate of Treatment and Guidance for Minors carries out the orders made by the competent court concerning the admission, stay and release of adolescents in conflict with the law.
It must be acknowledged that the Minors' Code in force does not stipulate specified periods for deprivation of liberty. With these left unspecified, only the juvenile court can fix the time for which a minor shall be detained. There is at present no system under which a child deprived of his liberty is given access to free legal assistance. The children's legislation in force allows only for appeal against the decision ordering final detention, but while the appeal is pending the minor remains in detention.
We may conclude that it is of the greatest urgency to adapt Guatemalan legislation to the rules of the Convention with regard to the prosecution of minors, so that they may be granted the procedural safeguards guaranteed by the constitutional order.
50. Please provide more precise details on the provisions of the draft code on childhood and adolescence which reflect the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other relevant international instruments relating to juvenile justice. (Paras. 10, 303-304 of the report).
The draft Code on Childhood and Adolescence Is awaiting approval by the Congress of the Republic. This draft text was submitted after being analyzed and adapted to the country' 5 legal order at meetings attended by advisers and attorneys from the Office of the Human Rights Procurator (the institution sponsoring the measure), the Government Procurator's Office, the group of non-governmental organizations interested in children' 5 problems and the Presidential Commission for Coordinating Executive Policy in the Field of Human Rights (COPREDEK).
It is composed of 362 articles and divided into three books containing substantive, organizational and adjective provisions. Book I contains the following four titles: 1. General provisions; 2. Fundamental rights of the child and the adolescent, which it classifies in their turn into rights of provision (life, identity, adequate standard of living, health, social security, education, culture, leisure and recreation), of participation (expression, association, conscience, movement, participation and action) and of protection (equality, integrity of person, privacy, personal freedom and freedom of adoption; exceptional protection of children and adolescents against traffic in children, against economic exploitation, against the use of dependence-producing substances and against ill-treatment and sexual abuse; in armed conflicts and in refugee situations); 3. Due inherent in childhood and adolescence; and 4. Childhood and adolescence under conditions of vulnerability, defining this and referring to the obligations of the State, society, parents, guardians and persons in charge; to working adolescents; to the communication media; and to criminal and administrative offences committed against children.
Book II contains one title and relates to comprehensive protection agencies. It establishes a National Council of Childhood and Adolescence, a National Institute of Childhood and Adolescence, and Departmental and Municipal Councils for the Comprehensive Protection of Childhood and Adolescence. In addition it refers to the Office of the Attorney-General of the Nation; the Office of the Human Rights Procurator and his Children's and Adolescents' Ombudsman; the National Commission on Adolescent Workers; the National Police; and NGOs.
Book III contains the following five titles: 1. Administrative competence, establishing Tutelary Councils in the municipalities; 2. Jurisdiction and competence, establishing courts for children and adolescents in a situation of vulnerability, courts for adolescents in conflict with the criminal law, courts to supervise the execution of measures and a court of second instance for children and adolescents, and determining the competence, functions and powers of each; Measures of protection for children and adolescents __ a situation of vulnerability, referring to specific measures of protection, measures appropriate to parents or persons in charge, the initial hearing, evidence, the preliminary hearing, the second hearing, the execution of the measure, and remedies; 4. Adolescents in conflict with the criminal law, referring to procedural safeguards, measures, procedure, persons prosecuted, prosecution, rules on deprivation of liberty, advance settlement of the proceedings, oral proceedings, final resolution, remedies, judicial execution of measures, rules on detention, administrative and disciplinary rules, and judicial supervision; and 5. Prevention policies.
It also contains transitional provisions, exceptions and final provisions.
51. Please provide further information on the effectiveness of the system for the protection of working children, including those working in the informal sector. Please indicate to what extent information is being successfully disseminated, including through the media, to make the community, parents and employers aware of the risks inherent in the premature employment of minors. (Paras. 83-85, 103-104, 253-4, 306 and 321 of the report).
Every adolescent who receives attention from the Child Workers' Protection Unit is urged above all to continue his or her studies. In cases where the adolescent arrives accompanied by one or both of the parents, it is pointed out to them that the obligation to work is incumbent on the parents, not on the children. With the aim of preventing the exploitation of adolescent workers, they are advised on the lines that income earned through their work should be spent primarily on their personal needs, studies or training and that they should also contribute a small share of it to the family income.
Adolescent workers who are found to have completed their primary education are advised and encouraged to continue their basic education. To that end they are informed about the loan-scholarships granted by the Scholarship Promotion Directorate attached to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
With regard to the high-risk employment of children and juveniles at firework factories, the Child Workers' Protection Unit holds interviews with the owners of such factories. In the case of family-run factories, special attention is given to providing them with information. However, the task is fraught with obstacles, largely connected with the economic crisis afflicting such families, which is the main argument in favor of continuing with this activity.
In the course of 1996 a process of social mobilization will be started with the central objective of bringing the problems of child labor to the attention of the decision-making authorities and the various sectors of civil society. The intention is to carry on this activity in every department of the country. With this and in view, an approach has already been made to 17 Departmental Committees for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This means that some 80 per cent of the country would be covered, only the Departments of Totonicapan, El Progreso and El Pet6n being left out.
52. With reference to the information contained in paras. 79, 103, 126, 138 and 319 of the report, how often have children requested the services of the Unit for Protection of Child Workers? What action has been taken and what remedies have been offered by the Unit to child workers who are experiencing difficulties in their labor relations? (See also para. 323 of the report).
An average of some 300 adolescents a month in the metropolitan area use the services of the Child Workers' Protection Unit. An office of the Unit will shortly be opened in the departmental capital of Quetzaltenango to cover the Departments of ouetzaltenango, Totonicapúfl, San Marcos, Suchitepquez and Retalhuleu, which form Region VZ.
Adolescent workers who have employment difficulties and who contact the Child Workers' Protection Unit are directed and accompanied, as appropriate, to the General Inspectorate of Labor so that they made be attended to promptly and treated with respect. On many occasions. before they are handed over to the Inspectorate, approaches are made to the enterprises, either by telephone, by letter or in person, in order to make it clear to the employers that young people, as workers, are entitled to all the benefits prescribed by the Political Constitution of the Republic. the Labor Code and the international conventions ratified by Guatemala. When these approaches are made in person, the officials of the Unit arrange for a labor inspector to accompany them because, under the Labor Code, the inspectors hold public authority to impose preventive measures. In many instances payment of the employment allowances prescribed by law has been achieved.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security has, through the Child Workers' Protection Unit, prompted among other measures the establishment of a Tripartite Commission for the Protection of Child Workers, composed of the :Chamber of Agriculture, the Trade Union Confederation of Guatemala (CUSG) and the Ministry of labor, which presides.
A plan of coordination with the Labor Inspectorate has been prepared in order to determine specific cases of unjustified dismissal of children of either sex and the employment allowances which entrepreneurs sometimes refuse to pay. In order to protect the children, case reports have been made and an inspector has been appointed to conduct each case. A limiting factor, however, is that there are no labor inspectors permanently assigned to the Child Workers' Protection Unit, with the result that the proceedings are very protracted.
The Child Workers' Protection Unit has an essentially preventive function of informing, guiding and alerting various segments of the population, from young workers in the formal and informal sectors to trade unionists and public officials. -
The rights of child workers, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and The Convention No. 138 are promoted at the same time. Furthermore, by way of monitoring compliance with the labor laws as regards the employment of adolescent workers, action is taken in cases in which contravention are detected in this area.
The laws ratified by Guatemala have been analyzed in order to establish the conditions in which it is acceptable for children to work; for it is clear that, at this stage of life, the fundamental task is to train and develop the personality to the full, so as to have healthy adults capable of developing within society.
53. What progress has been made in the establishment of trauma centers and shelters to assist in the protection and recovery of child victims of sexual abuse and substance abuse? (Paras. 171, 182, 259 and 295 of the report).
At the present time the Social Welfare Department has no treatment centers or shelters to assist in the protection and recovery of child victims of sexual abuse and substance abuse. However, it is known that the Office of the Human Rights Procurator is planning to launch such programmes, for which international cooperation is of great value.
54. Please provide further information on specific measures taken to prevent and combat: the sale and use of drugs by children; child prostitution; as well as the sale, trafficking and abduction of children. (See paras. 192, 257-259 and 294-295 of the report).
As to the use of drugs, the Directorate of Treatment and Guidance for Minors of the Social Welfare Department has arranged for work on this subject, concentrating mainly on prevention, to be done at every Centre within the institutional limits imposed by the number of technical and professional personnel.
With regard to child prostitution, the Directorate will begin work in the second half of 1996 on strengthening the methodology, infrastructure and equipment of the Observations Re-education Centre for Girls and the equipment of the Observation Centre for Girls. It will have the financial support of the European ion in this work.
Among the centers belonging to the Social Welfare Department these are the only ones providing care for adolescent girls, most of whom are faced with problems of child prostitution. It is hoped that the strengthening of the processes of school care, vocational training and treatment will make it possible to recover children confronted with this problem.
©
1996-2001
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland