2. It should be noted that an exhaustive effort has been made to provide detailed, item-by-item information but, as indicated in the reply under item 2 of the present report, the Argentine Republic's political and administrative structure is federal in nature, by virtue of which each constituent province is responsible for its activities, particularly as pertains to social questions.
3. A Statistical Profile of the Child in Argentina*, containing information on a number of areas and indicators of social interest, such as population, nationality, households, education, employment and health, is attached. The statistical tables presented were selected from a larger set and in accordance with the availability of basic information (publications of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC), in particular the National Population and Housing Census). The statistics are broken down as necessary by subject-matter, and give, whenever possible, combined categories for the age group 0 to 19 years. For technical reasons, it was necessary to retain the higher age, even though the Convention defines children as being below the age of 18 years. The data are for the entire country and are by political and territorial division (provinces). For the variable "employment", the main aggregates used by the Permanent Household Survey (EPH) were retained.
5. Article 75 (22) of the new National Constitution, adopted on 22 August 1994 by the National Constituent Convention, gives constitutional status to the Convention on the Rights of the Child "... in the conditions of its applicability ...", thereby reaffirming both the reservation and the declarations. No provision was made for withdrawing the reservations, which would require the procedure set out in the above-mentioned provision, because the unilateral interpretative reservations and declarations strengthen and extend the applicability of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in the spirit of respect for the "best interests of the child", as set forth in article 3.
6. The Argentine interpretation of article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is that it covers all children from conception up to the age of 18, regardless of their legal situation. The scope of article 38 of the Convention ensures protection of life and physical integrity for all children up to the age of 18.
7. The reservation to article 21 (b) to (d) of the Convention does not affect an exception in article 20 in fine of that instrument, according to which the general principle on behalf of ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity is fully applicable, in keeping with the right to an identity recognized in article 8 of the Convention. Consequently, the reservations and interpretations are not contrary to the spirit of the Convention, but amplify and reaffirm the general principles which it proclaims.
...
(p) To participate in activities pursuant to international cooperation agreements within its jurisdiction to which the State has acceded and its counterpart in specific assistance programmes in the area.
"Art.3. In addition to the functions described in the previous article, the National Council for Children and the Family may:
(o) Participate in the conclusion and implementation of international instruments which Argentina signs or to which it accedes, when these affect or refer to areas within its jurisdiction".
10. Consequently, the content of this report primarily covers the specific area of competence of the National Council for Children and the Family and the 250 non-governmental organizations integrated in it, although it also includes national government programmes directed towards compliance with the aims of the Convention, together with all the decisions of the federal public authorities, at both the constitutional and the legislative levels.
12. The National Council for Children and the Family plans to publish and disseminate the report throughout the country and will present it at a public ceremony with media coverage on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the deposit of Argentina's instrument of ratification, with its reservations, with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
- include the topic in the curriculum at all educational levels before 1995;
- ensure that ongoing dissemination campaigns are carried out at the national, provincial and municipal levels, using the media and adapting the messages to the target audience."
(b) Human rights and social rights;
(c) Political rights;
(d) Civil rights;
(e) Approach to personal rights:
(ii) Right to identity;
(iii) Protection against all forms of discrimination;
(g) Right to health in the framework of the Convention;
(h) Administration of justice for children and regulations concerning minors who have committed offences, with emphasis on articles 37 and 40 of the Convention.
15. At the second Federal Congress on Children and Young People, which took place from 22 to 24 April 1993 at las Termas de Río Hondo, in the province of Santiago del Estero, a series of workshops were held on various themes relating to children. The Congress was organized in conjunction with the first Meeting of Youth "For Our Rights", which provided a forum for young people to express their feelings and experiences with regard to their rights and the issues affecting them.
16. The following workshops were held at the second Federal Congress:
Children and youth as subjects of law. Aspects to consider in view of recent modifications;
Treatment of minors in conflict with the criminal law. Minors in prisons and police stations. Preventive and alternative programmes;
Families at risk. Preventive programmes. Self-management. Community networks;
Programmes to prevent abandonment in early childhood. Focus on mothers at risk;
Adoption. Foster placement for the purpose of adoption. Administrative and judicial procedures;
Comprehensive instruction for children and youth. Spiritual and religious aspects;
Avoiding institutionalization of children with social problems. Alternative programmes;
Dealing with street children and children living on the streets;
Indigenous children. Integration without cultural breakdown;
Child and youth workers. Monitoring of working conditions;
Micro-production enterprises for young people;
The adolescent and solitude. Integration programmes to occupy leisure time and recreation;
Comprehensive approach to drug dependency and alcoholism;
Comprehensive approach to maltreatment, violence and sexual abuse;
Comprehensive approach to a new social problem: sexually transmissible diseases and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS);
Social integration of the disabled. Programmes for independent living;
Budget, funding and administration of economic resources under programmes dealing with children.
Right to freedom of expression, thought, conscience and religion;
Right to protection against all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, maltreatment or exploitation;
Right to education;
Right to rest and leisure time, to engage in play and recreational activities;
Right to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing hazardous work;
Right to health.
(a) A network of Schools for the Rights of the Child: incorporation of educational units into pedagogical, recreational and artistic community activities based on a participation model;
(b) Teacher-training in basic concepts of human rights and the role of education in the development of humanitarian and community values;
(c) Dissemination through, inter alia, artistic competitions, production of television spots, promotion of cultural events, and creation of image banks.
19. As an additional tool, the National Council for Children and the Family has published Act No. 23,849, under which the Convention on the Rights of the Child was approved, including the text of the Convention and the reservations made to it by Argentina. One hundred thousand copies have been issued in stages since April 1991 and publication will continue through 1995; copies are to be used in seminars, congresses, classes, and debate forums, with free distribution in various contexts.
(1) Formulate policies on children and the family in exercise of its ineluctable responsibility to do so;
(2) Promote the development of municipal and neighbourhood community networks that provide comprehensive care to children and young people;
(4) Establish rules by 1995, through the specialized technical administrative body, for the purpose of monitoring and supervising all non-governmental organizations concerned with children and young people, thereby ensuring the effective implementation of policies consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
(5) Target its programmes on families at greatest risk and develop preventive programmes aimed at helping such families to become a key element of society and the natural medium for the growth and well-being of all its members, particularly children, by allocating to programmes of prevention a greater share of the budget than that allocated to programmes of assistance;
(6) Promote reforms designed to make education responsive to the real needs of children and young people;
(7) Promote reforms in both the substantive and procedural aspects of current legislation governing the care of children so that such legislation takes full account of the principles of the Convention and the constitutional guarantees protecting children and young people as subjects of law (1995);
(8) Remodel the organizational and functional structures, both governmental (administrative and judicial) and non-governmental, of all jurisdictions in order to bring them into line with the convention on the Rights of the Child and to ensure consistency in the elaboration and implementation of policies relating to children;
(9) Discontinue by 1996 the practice of detaining juvenile offenders under 18 years of age in police stations, municipal premises and institutions run by penitentiary and prison services;
(10) With the aid of interdisciplinary teams, develop in all jurisdictions programmes offering alternatives to the institutionalization of children and young people in conflict with the criminal law, through such mechanisms as immediate evaluation, release under supervision, individual treatment, community strategies and other approaches which do not involve deprivation of liberty;
(11) Comply with the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of Their Liberty when, in exceptional cases, juveniles under 18 years of age are required to be held temporarily in custody;
(12) Gradually reduce the number of children in welfare institutions, whether government or non-governmental, by increasing assistance to their families or developing programmes offering an alternative to confinement;
(13) Introduce in all jurisdictions in which these do not already exist, specific programmes catering to street children and juveniles;
(14) Put an end to all exploitation of the labour of children and young people by developing control mechanisms and promoting alternative approaches that permit children and young people to obtain: education, job training, support for themselves and their families, and gradual incorporation into the legitimate labour force in conditions of dignity;
(15) Develop in all areas preventive programmes aimed specifically at children and young people affected by such social problems as drug addiction, AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, domestic violence, ill-treatment and abuse, whose prevention and treatment, given their complexity, require an interdisciplinary and intersectoral approach;
(16) Promote initiatives aimed at preventing the marginalization of disabled children and young people, while fully respecting their dignity as human beings, valuing their different abilities and promoting their social integration and, where possible, independent lifestyles;
(17) Elaborate and implement programmes aimed at the advancement of families in indigenous communities, taking into account and respecting the particular cultural characteristics of each ethnic group and rejecting discrimination in all its forms;
(18) Ensure that all persons who exercise responsibility at every level over children and young people, both in public and private systems, have received proper and adequate training. Train 50 per cent of current personnel by the year 1996 and 100 per cent by the year 2000;
(19) Introduce specific labour legislation applicable to persons exercising responsibility over children, young people and families, which ensure that the particular requirements of the job have been met and provide for training and continuous evaluation;
(20) Create mechanisms for the dissemination of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by:
- ensuring that at the national, provincial and municipal levels, educational media campaigns are continuously organized in which the message is adapted to suit its recipient."
21. The following objectives have also been proposed in the field of health:
* Reduce the mortality rate for children under 5 years of age to less than 23 per thousand nation-wide, paying particular attention to those areas in which the rate is higher than the national average.
* Reduce late foetal mortality by one third.
* Keep vaccination coverage at over 90 per cent throughout the country.
* Eliminate neonatal tetanus.
* Control measles.
* Reduce morbidity and mortality rates for diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections. Halve the mortality rate in such cases.
* Reduce by 20 per cent the accident mortality rate for the under-5 age group.
* Increase anti-tetanus vaccination coverage for women of child-bearing age. Achieve 90 per cent TT coverage for pregnant women.
* Monitor pregnancy from the early months of gestation (minimum of five check-ups).
* Promote programmes of responsible parenthood throughout the country.
* Monitor the growth and development of 80 per cent of children under 5 years of age.
* Reduce the incidence of underweight and premature births to less than 7 per cent.
* Control iron and iodine deficiency.
23. As a legal precedent, it is possible to cite the Supreme Court of Justice decision in the case of Ekmekdjian, Miguel A. v. Sofovich, Gerardo, and others, July 7-1992 (v. 1992-C), which states:
"That the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, approved by Act No. 19,865, ratified by the Executive on 5 December 1972 and in force since 27 January 1980, gives international treaty law precedence over internal law. This priority is now part of the Argentine legal system. The Convention is a constitutionally valid international treaty which assigns international treaties priority over domestic legislation within the framework of internal law, that is to say, the primacy of international law is recognized by the internal law itself.
"That, in this connection, it should be borne in mind that when the Nation ratifies a treaty which it has signed with another State, it gives an international undertaking that its administrative and jurisdictional authorities will apply that treaty in the circumstances envisaged therein, provided that it includes descriptions of those circumstances sufficiently specific to permit its direct application. A rule is effective when it addresses an actual situation within which it can operate directly, without the need for institutions which have to be established by Congress."
24. The National Constituent Convention to reform the National Constitution decided to give the action of international treaties constitutional status. Among these treaties is the Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 75, (22)), which is thus expressly incorporated in the legal pyramid previously erected by article 31 of the National Constitution of 1853 which states:
"This Constitution, the laws of the Nation enacted by the Congress in pursuance thereof and treaties with foreign Powers are the supreme law of the Nation ...".
25. Thus, in the Argentine Republic, the Convention has acquired the highest legislative status as a result of its inclusion in the text of the new Constitution approved in August 1994, and specifically in the above-mentioned article 75 (22), which reads:
28. In those jurisdictions which have not yet incorporated these rights, their swift inclusion is being encouraged and promoted, given the status accorded to them by the new National Constitution, which in any case has immediate effect on the provincial legislation. It is worth noting that the Province of Buenos Aires, the province with the most children, amended its constitution as soon as the rights of the child were included in the National Constitution.
Art. 2. The National Council for Children and the Family shall have the following functions and duties:
(a) To plan, organize and execute the policy of comprehensive development of children and the family within the framework of the existing provisions, the general principles of children's rights and the social policies established by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
(b) To adopt the necessary measures to contribute to the strengthening of the family, and to guide and support it.
(c) To provide for the comprehensive protection of children and disabled and elderly persons who have been abandoned or are exposed to moral or physical danger, by taking such action as it considers appropriate.
(d) To submit for the approval of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare a comprehensive programme of activities and an annual report on its implementation.
(e) To coordinate the participation of public institutions, non-governmental organizations and neighbourhood and public-interest bodies in general in the planning, execution and publicizing of local and regional activities aimed at the guidance and comprehensive development of the family and all its members.
(f) To carry out a policy of preventive action and protection of children within its sphere of competence.
(g) To promote the development of research and training in the area of children and the family.
(h) To supervise its institutions and services and establish rules relating to the statutes, functioning and registration of cooperative associations of such establishments.
(i) To collaborate obligatorily with the competent judges, as required, informing them immediately of any transfer or change in the situation of children placed by the courts and, at regular intervals, of the results of the care provided for each child.
(j) To make arrangements for children in care to receive education in accordance with their individual characteristics, with a view to enhancing the dignity of the person and improving the prospects for social integration.
(k) To organize and computerize the register of children in care and the register of public and private institutions and services for the protection of children and the disabled.
(l) To establish rules relating to the supervision and registration of private institutions for the care and protection of children and the disabled, to take the steps necessary to ensure compliance with these rules and to give an opinion before the said institutions are granted juridical personality, under national law.
(m) To provide support for those leaving the institutions for which it is responsible, assisting them directly, through 'old boy' associations or through other non-governmental organizations.
(n) To maintain the necessary representation in all the official advisory and supervisory bodies in the field of communications media and to ensure compliance with the child protection legislation in force.
(ñ) To organize congresses, seminars and meetings of a scientific nature and to participate through representatives in those organized by others.
(o) To provide specific technical and administrative advice for national, provincial and municipal authorities which request it and to answer the inquiries of non-governmental organizations with a justifiable interest in the subject.
(q) To carry out studies and assessments with a view to the progressive decentralization and debureaucratization of the organization and its programmes.
Art. 3. In order to perform the functions enumerated in the previous article the National Council for Children and the Family may:
(a) Establish the rules, regulations and provisions necessary in order duly to achieve the objectives of this decree and determine the agenda and rules of procedure for its meetings.
(b) Organize administratively all the services necessary to achieve its objectives.
(c) Propose to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare -through the competent bodies - an area budget, a work programme and an estimate of resources.
(d) Make the necessary approaches to the courts, the Government Procurator's Office and the competent administrative authorities with a view to protecting children and disabled persons receiving care, and promote the appropriate measures.
(e) Award grants, subsidies and loans within the framework of the programmes approved.
(f) Organize its own data centre, training school and research programmes and the publication of books and periodicals in its specific field.
(g) Institute legal proceedings for the purpose of achieving its objectives.
(h) Conclude agreements within its sphere of competence with the provinces and municipalities and approach the national or provincial authorities for the purpose of achieving the objectives assigned to it by this Decree.
(i) Summon persons to appear, as necessary for the fulfilment of its mission, in which case those summoned must cooperate in the way prescribed by law.
(j) Draft rules governing the specific activities of the teaching staff, without prejudice to the supplementary application of the Teacher's Statute.
(k) Determine the forms of care and arrange for the admission and transfer of children to the most suitable establishments and programmes, after first making the appropriate studies. Children whose cases have been dealt with by the courts may not be admitted or discharged except by order of the competent judge.
(l) Dispose of their resources within the limits of their jurisdiction and take all the administrative measures essential to the achievement of their objectives, within the same limits.
(m) Perform the functions enumerated in and derived from Act No. 22,359 (National Fund for Children and the Family).
(n) Sponsor and approve the realization of studies, research, conferences and training and technical assistance activities connected with specific topics within its sphere of competence in so far as they do not entail expenditure for the State or can be provided for within the budget of the National Council for Children and the Family.
(ñ) Approve programmes and projects, within budget limits and within the plan referred to in article 2 (d) above.
(o) Participate in the conclusion and implementation of international instruments which Argentina signs or to which it accedes, when these affect or refer to areas within its jurisdiction.
(p) Set up committees or working parties for limited purposes, with their own staff, whether permanent or temporary, with the possibility of inviting the participation of other entities and other areas of government.
(q) Propose the conclusion of agreements with the competent authorities for the issuing of diplomas and training certificates to children receiving assistance.
(r) Conclude agreements with institutions or enterprises to provide training and jobs for those it has assisted.
The powers conferred upon the National Council for Children and the Family are not to be understood as limiting its activities undertaken for the purpose of achieving its objectives, in accordance with the legislation in force.
Art. 14. The National Council for Children and the Family shall propose its definitive structures, paying particular attention to the following areas of operation:
A School of Specialized Training in Children and the Family shall be organized to coordinate all the courses, seminars and conferences on the subject for the ongoing training of the professional, technical and administrative personnel of the institution and of others who, by agreement, have access to the system.
For this purpose it may rely upon the support of national and international entities, public or private."
31. For its part, Decree No. 775/93, article 2, strengthens the functions and duties mentioned above by granting the National Council for Children and the Family economic and financial self-government for the administration of its resources, as a decentralized agency of the Argentine civil service.
32. A federal order signed in the city of San Juan in 1982 established in the Argentine Republic a Federal Council for the Protection of Children and the Family to which all the provinces belong and which is presided over by the head of the National Council for Children and the Family which, in its turn, is the country's representative on the Directing Council of the Inter-American Children's Institute of the OAS.
33. At all these levels, national, federal and regional, full compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child is being urged.
35. The total expenditure is made up of items in the national, provincial and municipal budgets. For example, within the social chapter, the Province of Buenos Aires is investing 367,800,000 pesos in education and 453,900,000 pesos in health and social development and welfare.
36. Specifically, at the national level, the budget of the National Council for Children and the Family (40,461,000 pesos) is intended for children in the situation envisaged in article 20 of the Convention. The need to adapt the structure of the Council to the new programmes and techniques in the field of child welfare, which require an increase in the level of specialized professional and technical intervention, resulted in the adoption, under Decree No. 775/93, of a new organizational structure with economic and financial self-government which has made it possible to optimize the available resources. It is also intended to increase the budget for 1995, take on additional staff and expand training activities, at both the internal and the external level, in order to make more efficient use of human and material resources.
Insert graph.
Item 10
38. This interpretation is consistent with the positive law in force and with Argentine internal public order, since article 70 of the Civil Code states: "Human existence begins from conception in the womb; and a person may acquire certain antenatal rights, as if he had already been born. These rights remain irrevocably acquired if those conceived in the womb are born alive, even though only for moments after being separated from their mother". In addition, it is stated that parental authority is the body of duties and rights incumbent on parents in respect of the person and assets of their children for their protection and comprehensive upbringing from the time of their "conception and continuing for as long as they are under legal age and have not been emancipated" (Act No. 23,264, art. 264).
39. Furthermore, the Argentine Republic has ratified the American Convention on Human Rights, "Pact of San José, Costa Rica", by Act No. 23,054 which states:
41. Thus, it is clear that for the purposes of the Argentine legal system a child is "any human being from conception up to the age of 18", without prejudice to the semantic designation of each phase or the extension of family and social protection beyond the age of 18, as is frequently the case.
43. Articles 264 et seq. of the Civil Code set forth the duties of the parents with respect to their children under the age of majority:
This authority shall be exercised:
(1) In the case of children born in wedlock, by the father and the mother jointly, provided they are not separated or divorced and provided their marriage has not been annulled. The acts performed by one of them shall be presumed to have the consent of the other, except in the circumstances provided for in article 264 quater, or if express opposition has been declared;
(2) In the case of a de facto separation, divorce or annulment of marriage, by the parent who has legal custody of the child, without prejudice to the right of the other parent to sufficient access to the child and to supervise his upbringing;
(3) In the case of the death, or absence and presumed death, of one of the parents, deprivation of parental authority, or suspension of the exercise thereof, by the other parent;
(4) In the case of children born out of wedlock who are recognized by only one of the parents, by the parent who has recognized the child;
(5) In the case of children born out of wedlock who are recognized by both parents, by both if they live together and, if not, by the parent who has custody granted by agreement or by the court, or recognized by means of a summary proceeding;
(6) By the parent who has been declared by a court to be the father or mother of the child, if he has not been recognized voluntarily.
Art. 264 bis. If both parents are legally incompetent or have been deprived of parental authority or had their exercise thereof suspended, the under-age children shall be placed in the care of a legal guardian. If the parents of a child born out of wedlock are unemancipated minors, preference shall be given to the parent who exercises parental authority rather than to the parent who has the child under his care or protection, in which case the care of the former parent shall replace that of the latter parent even when he is emancipated or reaches the age of majority.
Art. 264 quater. In the cases specified in article 264 (1), (2) and (5), the express consent of both parents shall be required for the following acts:
1. Authorizing the child to marry;
2. Granting him legal capacity;
3. Authorizing him to enter a religious community, or the armed or security forces;
4. Authorizing him to leave the Republic;
5. Authorizing him to institute legal proceedings;
6. Disposing of any of his real estate, rights or other registrable property which they administer, with judicial authorization;
7. Administering the property of the child, unless one of the parents delegates such administration, in accordance with the provisions of article 294. In all these cases, if one of the parents does not give his consent, or it is impossible for him to do so, the judge shall decide what action is in the family's best interest.
Art. 265. Under-age children are under the authority and in the care of their parents. It is the duty and right of the latter to feed their children and to bring them up according to their circumstances and means, not only with the assets of the children but also with their own.
Art. 266. Children owe respect and obedience to their parents. Even if they are emancipated, they have an obligation to care for their parents in their old age or if they become insane or ill, and to provide for their needs in all the circumstances of life in which their assistance is essential to them. The other ascendants are entitled to the same care and assistance.
Art. 267. The obligation to provide maintenance includes meeting the needs of the children in respect of their sustenance, education and leisure, clothing, housing, assistance and expenditure on account of illness.
Art. 269. If an under-age child is in urgent need and his parents are unable to meet that need, the essential supplies provided shall be deemed to have been furnished with their authorization.
Art. 271. In the event of divorce, de facto separation or annulment of marriage, it shall always be the responsibility of both parents to provide maintenance for their children and to bring them up, in spite of the fact that only one of them has custody.
Art. 272. If the father or mother fails to meet this obligation, a maintenance suit may be filed against him or her by the child himself if he is an adult, with the assistance of a special guardian, one of his relatives or the Government Procurator for Juveniles."
Art. 7. The Council is the natural agent of the National Government for ensuring the comprehensive protection of children under the age of majority. To this end, it ensures the effective application of the general provisions concerning acts and situations which may jeopardize the harmonious development of their moral, intellectual and physical abilities. As regards children who have been abandoned, are in moral or physical danger or are affected by situations of conflict, the Council is responsible for providing guidance on action by the community for their protection and assistance, carrying out by itself, where appropriate, and in accordance with the laws all acts conducive to that end. In order to achieve this, it is required to contribute to the strengthening of the family, acting for it and replacing it when the due protection of the children so requires."
Art. 14. Full adoption confers upon the adopted child a filiation which replaces the filiation of origin. The adopted child ceases to belong to his natural family and his relationship with the members of that family ceases to exist, as well as all its legal effects, with the sole exception that the impediments to marriage subsist. In the family of the adoptive parent, the adopted child has the same rights and obligations as a legitimate child.
Art. 20. Simple adoption confers upon the adopted child the status of a legitimate child, but it does not create a bond of kinship between the adopted child and the family of origin of the adoptive parent, except for the purposes expressly established in this Act. The adopted children of the same adoptive parent shall be deemed to be siblings as regards relations between themselves."
Art. 197. Dismissal shall be deemed to have been ordered on the aforementioned grounds where the employer orders dismissal without giving reasons or where evidence supporting the reasons given is not produced and where the dismissal takes place within the three months preceding or the six months following marriage, provided that notification of the marriage has been duly given to the employer. Such notification may not be given before or after the periods specified."
52. Crèches are provided for by Act No. 20,744, as amended, in the case of undertakings employing a minimum number of women as determined by the relevant regulations, but since these regulations have not been formally issued, they are difficult to apply:
54. In the Province of Buenos Aires, Act No. 10,067/93 on the care of children and its exercise states as follows:
Art. 2. For the purposes of the coordinated exercise of child care, it shall be understood that: (a) The judge has exclusive competence to decide on the situation of a child in a state of abandonment or moral or material danger and is required to take all necessary guardianship measures in order to provide the child with protection; (b) The assessor of incompetence, in his capacity as representative of the child and society, is vested with all powers necessary to monitor effective compliance with the provisions intended to protect the child; (c) The Under-Secretariat is responsible for planning and executing - on its own account or through the municipalities -overall policy on children, as regards both prevention, and the training and rehabilitation of children placed in establishments under its authority or control pursuant to the mandates of the competent courts.
Art. 10. The juvenile courts shall be competent:
(b) When the health, security, education or morals of minors are jeopardized; by misconduct or serious or minor offences by their parents, guardians or third parties; by infringements of the legal provisions relating to education and employment; or when, as a result of being orphaned or for any other reason they have been left in a state of material or moral abandonment or are in danger of being so left, in order to provide protection and support, to secure moral and intellectual education for the child and, where appropriate, to punish the misconduct of his parents, guardians or third parties, in accordance with the relevant laws on children and young persons and the provisions of this Act".
(a) Act No. 23,054 ratifies the American Convention on Human Rights ("Pact of San José, Costa Rica").
(c) The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was ratified on 14 August 1985;
(d) On 24 September 1986, the instrument of ratification of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, recognizing the competence of the Committee against Torture to receive communications from individuals, was deposited;
(e) Additional Protocols I and II to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 were also approved, the instrument of ratification having been deposited on 26 November 1986;
(f) Act No. 23,160 lifted the geographical reservation to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, so that the benefits of refugee status are now granted to persons coming from any part of the world;
(g) On 8 August 1986, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Optional Protocol thereto, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, were ratified.
56. All these multilateral agreements are without prejudice to the bilateral treaties entered into by Argentina, such as the agreement with Uruguay on the protection of minors, which deals in particular with the return of minors.
57. As far as the question of children's work is concerned, it should be noted that the authority responsible for the application of labour legislation is the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. The articles that are relevant are as follows:
(a) Certificate of physical fitness
(c) Young persons under 14 years of age. Prohibition of their employment.
A young person over the age indicated above may not be employed if he is of school age and has not completed his compulsory schooling, save where the Ministry responsible for the interests of young persons has given express authorization on the grounds that the young person's work is deemed to be indispensable for his maintenance or for that of his immediate family, provided that he satisfactorily completes the minimum period of schooling required."
(e) Working day. Night work.
58. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security's concern with child labour is clearly reflected in the considerations and proposals of the National Seminar on Child Labour in Argentina, which are reproduced below:
(a) Child labour is an everyday reality which has long existed but whose scale, characteristics and tendencies are not well enough known. Among the reasons for this situation is the fact that it tends to be concealed and takes diverse and complex forms. In addition, child labour is not defined and understood and recognized by everyone in the same way, there being differences on the subject between official institutions, non-official institutions, parents and children themselves, which helps to keep it hidden;
(b) The usual statistical tools do not deal with child labour as such, which makes it difficult to find out about it. Similarly, some forms of child labour involving high personal and social risk, such as begging, drug trafficking and prostitution, are not covered by these tools;
(c) At all events, the problem is a serious one, whose dimensions are certainly greater than is usually recognized;
(d) It is therefore necessary that appropriate and continuing studies should be undertaken on the question, including statistical research dealing in depth with the characteristic forms and situations of child labour, with a view to arriving at an exhaustive account of its forms, dimensions, trends and implications;
(e) These studies should include an investigation of the variables that will explain the reasons why the existence of child labour is to a large extent denied by a considerable portion of society. The results should serve as a basis for action to reverse this social attitude;
(f) Child labour, unless carried out within the family and in appropriate working conditions, is very insecure, both in its nature and as regards its position under the law;
(g) Child labour is particularly important in informal and urban activities, and secondly in rural activities, where it may be involved in formal productive activities;
(h) Among the children who need priority care, we may mention, firstly, those who perform work or tasks which interfere with or oblige them to interrupt the cycle of formal education; secondly, those who perform tasks or work which endanger the health and psychosocial development of anyone who does them; and, fundamentally, those who are obliged, for structural or other reasons, to perform work or tasks with a high social risk;
(i) Particular importance should be attached, with the restrictions indicated, to application of the existing legislation on child labour. In particular, attention should be given to the regulation and implementation of the provisions on the authorization to work that is to be granted in certain conditions to persons who have not reached the minimum age for starting work;
(j) The provisions prohibiting the performance of work which is dangerous, harmful or arduous for the children doing it and those which protect children against economic exploitation and ill-treatment deserve special attention;
(k) With regard to labour inspection, preventive action and the intervention of civil society are highly useful. The provision of qualified staff and adequate resources are elements of fundamental importance for effective inspection;
(l) Nevertheless, improvement of working conditions for children will only be appropriate in cases where they are engaged in activities appropriate to their age and not those that should be eliminated because of their high degree of social risk or danger;
(m) It would be desirable to set up an intersectoral commission, consisting of representatives of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the General Confederation of Workers, the Argentine Industrial Union, the Argentine Agrarian Federation, other employers' organizations and non-governmental organizations with a view, in the first place, to following up these proposals and, subsequently, to collaborating in the formulation of the national programme of action on child labour.
59. Aiming specifically at the group of minors who are exploited in work or exposed to situations which diminish their dignity, generally those under the age of 14, the National Council for Children and the Family has developed the programme against child exploitation reproduced below:
1. Legal framework
2. Background
(a) Street children programme
(b) Order No. 270/290 of 17 August 1990
3. Objectives and methodology
4. Activities
4.1 Inter-agency coordination
4.2 Identification of cases
4.3 Community awareness campaign
4.4 Social treatment of cases
4.5 Intervention of the Government Procurator's office and the competent courts
4.6 Rescue of exploited children
5. Resources
5.1 Community
5.2 Extra-institutional
5.3 General institutional
5.4 Specific institutional
6. Investigation and specialized training of human resources
7. Dissemination and extension
61. In view of the great diversity of dates and sources, it is suggested that the indicators requested should be generated using the most recent data and that comparisons in time should be presented with data from the same source.
LIST OF INDICATORS
1. Average size of multiperson households for 1970, 1980 and 1990.
5. Percentage of births to unmarried women between the ages of 15 and 49 (spinsters and women divorced, separated and in consensual unions).
Calculation: Births to unmarried women between the ages of 15 to 49 as a percentage of total births to women aged 15 to 49.
Periodicity: This datum should be obtained for 1970, 1980 and 1990.
10. Percentage of the population aged 15 and over separated and divorced.
Period: This datum should be obtained for 1980 and 1990.
11. Percentage of women between the ages of 15 and 24 in consensual unions.
Calculation: Total women between the ages of 15 and 24 in consensual unions as a percentage of total women aged between 15 and 24 married or in unions.
12. Percentage of women aged 15 and over in consensual unions.
Calculation: Total women aged 15 and over in consensual unions as a percentage of total women in unions (married and in consensual unions) aged 15 and over.
13. Percentage of households with an economically active head and spouse.
Calculation: Total households with an economically active head and spouse as a percentage of total households with an economically active head.
Periodicity: This datum should be obtained for 1980 and 1990.
14. Percentage of households in a poverty situation for rural and urban areas.
Source: ECLAC has made the calculations for the countries of the region. If the countries agree, these will be the data used.
15. Percentage of households in a situation of overcrowding. A situation of overcrowding means one in which three or more persons share a room or two or more persons share a bedroom in a dwelling.
Calculation: Total households in a situation of overcrowding as a percentage of total households.
Note: It is recommended that overcrowding should be calculated on the basis of data on the number of bedrooms; only when this information is not available should the number of rooms be used.
17. Percentage of the population under the age of 14 in incomplete nuclear households.
Calculation: Population under the age of 14 in incomplete nuclear households as a percentage of the total population under the age of 14 in nuclear households.
18. Percentage of the population under the age of 14 in complete nuclear households with economically active spouses.
Calculation: Population under the age of 14 in complete nuclear households where both spouses are economically active as a percentage of the total population under the age of 14 in complete nuclear households.
19. Percentage of the population under the age of 14 in complete consensual nuclear households.
Calculation: Population under the age of 14 in complete consensual nuclear households as a percentage of the total population under the age of 14 in complete nuclear households.
20. Percentage of the population under the age of 14 in poor households.
Calculation: Population under the age of 14 in poor households as a percentage of the total population under the age of 14 in households.
Source: Information supplied by ECLAC (ideally multi-person households, if not possible all households).
21. Percentage of the population under the age of 14 in extremely poor households.
Calculation: Population under the age of 14 in extremely poor households as a percentage of the total population under the age of 14 in households.
22. Percentage of the population under the age of 14 in overcrowded households.
Calculation: Population under the age of 14 in overcrowded households as a percentage of the total population under the age of 14 in households.
23. Percentage of the population under the age of 14 in households with a poor educational environment (less than six years of formal education).
Calculation: Population under the age of 14 in households with a poor educational environment (less than six years of formal education) as a percentage of the total population under the age of 14.
24. Percentage of persons aged 65 and over who do not live alone or as a couple.
Calculation: Persons aged 65 and over who do not live alone or as a couple as a percentage of all persons aged 65 and over in private households.
63. Within the framework of the agreement, the Council will take part in training the necessary staff to carry out the activities and in preparing the various projects for recording the specific data arising from these activities. For its part, the Institute will provide all advisory services, information and technical support required for the statistical tasks involved in the agreement and will take part in specific training activities.
64. In the plan of work to be implemented between August 1994 and July 1995, activities aimed at expanding and adding to available information on children and the family predominate. Existing statistics will be analysed for the purpose and a value judgement made of the content of the joint activities so as to give a full picture of children and the family.
The authorities shall ensure the protection of this right, the rational use of natural resources, the conservation of the natural and cultural heritage and biological diversity, and environmental information and education. It devolves on the Nation to promulgate laws which will provide the minimum prerequisites for protection, and on the provinces the requirements to supplement them, without interfering with local jurisdiction. Entry into the national territory of dangerous or potentially dangerous radioactive wastes shall be prohibited.
Art. 42. Where consumption is concerned, consumers and users of goods and services shall have the right to protection of their health, safety and economic interests; to appropriate and accurate information; to freedom of choice; and to conditions of fair and dignified treatment.
The authorities shall make provision for the protection of these rights, for consumer education, for the defence of competition against all forms of market distortion, for control of natural and legal monopolies, for the quality and efficiency of public services and for the establishment of consumer and user associations.
The law shall establish efficient procedures for the prevention and settlement of conflicts and frameworks for the regulation of public services of national jurisdiction and provide for the necessary participation of the consumer and user associations and the provinces concerned in the regulatory bodies.
Art. 43. Anyone may bring prompt and rapid amparo proceedings, provided that no other more suitable judicial remedy exists, against any act or omission of the public authorities or individuals which may at the present time or in the immediate future infringe, restrict, impinge upon or threaten, in a clearly arbitrary or illegal manner, rights and guarantees recognized by this Constitution, a treaty or a law. In such cases, the judge may declare the norm on which the harmful act or omission is based to be unconstitutional.
Such proceedings may be brought against any form of discrimination and in connection with rights protecting the environment, competition, users and consumers, and rights with an impact on the community in general, by the person affected, the Ombudsman and associations for such purposes, registered in accordance with the law, which will determine the requirements and forms of their organization.
Anyone may bring such proceedings in order to be informed of data concerning him and the object of such data existing in public or private registers or data banks for the purpose of reports, and in the event of inaccuracy or discrimination, demand that such data should be destroyed, rectified, treated confidentially or updated. The secrecy of sources of journalistic information shall not be affected. When the right infringed, restricted, impinged upon or threatened is physical freedom, or in the event of an illegal aggravation of the form or conditions of detention or of the enforced disappearance of persons, habeas corpus proceedings may be brought by the person concerned or by any other person on his behalf and the judge shall hand down an immediate decision, even during a state of siege."
67. The direct participation of children in meetings and congresses, in legal and administrative contexts and even in legal matters is increasing. This can be seen from the national gatherings on the theme of "For our rights", organized by the National Council for Children and the Family, which bring together young people from different provinces of Argentina, as well as from various sectoral and non-governmental initiatives for the same purpose (see para. 17 above).
Source: National Population and Housing Census, 1991.
69. Reference was made only to activities geared to high-risk social groups, as indicated by the National Council for Children and the Family, whose operations are nationwide.
70. The country's population structure shows intensive concentration in the city of Buenos Aires and its neighbouring municipalities, which contain 33.5 per cent of the population of Argentina, with a total of 10,934,727 inhabitants for the region, according to the 1991 National Census. Children up to the age of 4 number approximately 200,000 in the federal capital, or 1 million if Greater Buenos Aires is included.
Art. 264 ter. In the event of a disagreement between the father and the mother, either of them may apply to the competent judge, who shall decide what action is in the child's best interest according to the most summary procedure laid down in the local legislation, after hearing the parents with participation of the Guardianship Ministry. The judge may ex officio request any information he deems necessary, and hear the child, if the child has sufficient judgement and the circumstances so advise. If there are repeated disagreements or there is any other element seriously hampering the exercise of parental authority, the judge may fully or partially attribute it to one of the parents or divide its functions between them, for the period he shall determine, which may not exceed two years.
Art. 267. The obligation to provide maintenance includes meeting the needs of the children in respect of their sustenance, education and leisure, clothing, housing, assistance and expenditure on account of illness."
73. It should be borne in mind that article 4 of Act No. 10,903 categorically provides: "State care ... shall be exercised with due attention to the health, safety, and moral and intellectual upbringing of the child".
74. Finally, the discrepancy concerned was eliminated on 22 August 1994 with the adoption of the new National Constitution, article 75 (22) of which gives constitutional status to all the articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including in particular article 3 (1).
Art. 61. When, in any judicial or extrajudicial proceeding, the interests of legally incompetent persons are at variance with those of their representatives, the representatives shall cease participating in such proceedings and shall be replaced by guardians specially appointed for each case."
78. At the constitutional level, article 120 provides for the Office of the Ombudsman of the Nation as an independent body with functional and financial autonomy and functional immunities.
79. Likewise, Act No. 23,984 establishes the juvenile court, the following being the relevant articles:
Art. 410. In cases involving individuals under eighteen (18) years of age, proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with this Code, with the exceptions laid down in this chapter.
DETENTION AND ACCOMMODATION
Art. 411. A child shall only be detained when there are grounds for believing that he will not comply with a summons or will attempt to destroy the traces of the act or collude with his accomplices, or will induce false statements to be made. In such cases the child will be housed in a special establishment or section, separately from adults, where he will be classified according to the nature and mode of execution of the act ascribed to him, his age, psychological development and other background data and his social adaptability. Any measures concerning him shall be taken following a report by the juvenile court assessor.
PROTECTIVE MEASURES
Art. 412. The presence of the young person at the examination proceedings shall as far as possible be avoided; the court shall observe the provisions of article 76 on the subject. The court may provisionally decide to entrust the care and upbringing of any child in its custody to his parents or another person or institution whose background and circumstances provide moral guarantees, following an administrative inquiry, a hearing of the interested parties and a report by the juvenile court assessor. In such cases, the court may appoint a delegate to exercise direct supervision and protection of the young person concerned and report periodically on his conduct and living conditions.
RULES OF PROCEDURE
Art. 413. In addition to the ordinary rules, the following rules shall be observed during the proceedings:
1. Proceedings shall be held in camera, being attended only by the government procurator, the other parties, the child's defence lawyers, parents or guardians and persons having a legitimate interest.
2. The accused shall attend only when this is essential and shall be removed once the purpose of his presence has been fulfilled.
3. Attendance by the juvenile court assessor is obligatory, non-attendance rendering the proceedings invalid; the juvenile court assessor shall have the powers of a defence counsel even in cases where the accused has his own counsel.
4. The court may hear the parents or guardian, past and present teachers, employers or supervisors of the child or the tutelary authorities who may be able to furnish information enabling an assessment of his personality to be made. These statements may be supplemented by a written report. The provisions in article 78 in this connection shall also be fulfilled.
POSTPONEMENT
Art. 43. The social workers' tasks shall be coordinated and directed by a Superintendent whose rank shall be equal to that of a clerk of the court, who shall also be designated by the Court of Cassation in Criminal Matters on meeting the requirements contained in the corresponding regulations.
Art. 44. The National Court of Cassation in Criminal Matters may engage additional social workers for the purpose of advising and providing assistance to all the judicial bodies on matters requiring it. The Court may also authorize the carrying out of such tasks by the juvenile social workers, provided that that does not prevent them from fulfilling their specific functions."
82. The rights set forth in articles 36-40 refer to political and democratic guarantees, which, while they do not relate directly to children, do provide for a social framework that is respectful of freedom and equal opportunity.
83. The remaining articles, which were discussed under item 13 above, relate more directly to the rights of children and refer to protection of the environment, consumer education and protection against all forms of discrimination, restriction of information or deprivation of liberty.
Art. 28. Births shall be registered within the time-limit set under local legislation, which may not exceed 40 days.
Art. 29. From the date of expiry of the time-limit set under article 28 until a maximum period of one year after birth, the Directorate-General may allow registration when sufficient justification exists. On expiry of this latter time-limit, registration may be effected only by a judicial decision. (Drafted in conformity with Act No. 20,751.)
Art. 29 (Original annulled version). From the date of expiry of the said time-limit until a maximum period of six months after birth, the Directorate-General may allow registration when sufficient justification exists. On expiry of the latter time-limit, registration may be effected only by a judicial decision.
Art. 30. The following must request registration of the birth: 1. The father or mother or, in their absence, the closest relative at the place in question or the person to whose care the newborn child has been entrusted. 2. Administrators of hospitals, hostels, prisons, orphanages or other similar public or private establishments, in respect of births occurring therein, when the persons mentioned under 1 above have failed to do so. 3. Anyone who finds a newborn child or in whose house the child has been left. In such cases, the persons in question must hand over any clothes or other articles found. 4. The authority responsible for keeping a logbook on board vessels or aircraft, referred to under article 27 (3) above, in the form of a copy of the entry, which should reach the Registry Office within five working days of arrival.
Art. 31. The fact of birth shall be attested by a certificate issued by the doctor or obstetrician or, in its absence, by a statement by two witnesses who have seen the infant and who shall sign the register.
Art. 32. The following information shall be entered in the register: 1. The given name, family name and sex of the infant. 2. The place, time, day, month and year of the birth. 3. The given name and family name of the father and mother and the number of the respective identity documents. In the absence of the latter, a record of identity shall be taken, including age and nationality. 4. The number of the identity form.
Art. 33. In the cases referred to in article 30, the entry in the register shall record as the place and date of birth those set down in the certificate issued by the doctor who examined the infant. If no such certificate has been drawn up, the place of birth shall be recorded as that where the infant was found and the date of birth as the mean of the most distant and the closest date recorded in the medical report.
Art. 34. In the case of a child born out of wedlock, neither the father nor the mother shall be mentioned unless either parent has officially recognized the child.
Art. 35. If more than one live child is born of the same delivery, the births shall be registered in separate and consecutive entries, each of which shall state that other infants were born of the same delivery.
Art. 36. If the certificate of the doctor or obstetrician states that the infant was stillborn, the entry shall be recorded in the register of deaths; if the certificate states that the infant was alive at birth but died immediately thereafter, both facts shall be recorded in the registers of births and deaths."
86. The Civil Code seeks to prevent illegal deprivation of identity by stating in article 242 that: "Maternity shall be established, even without explicit recognition, by the evidence of birth and the identity of the child ...".
87. With a view to preserving the identity of individuals, Act No. 18,248 in turn stipulates that:
Art. 2. The given name shall be acquired by entry in the birth certificate. It shall be chosen by the parents or, if either parent is missing, prevented from attending or absent, by the other parent or the persons so authorized by the parents. Failing that, it may be chosen by the guardians, the Government Procurator for Juveniles or the officials responsible for the Register of Civil Status and Capacity of Persons. Where a person has used a name prior to his or her entry in the Register, that name shall be recorded subject to compliance with the provisions of article 3. (Drafted in conformity with Act No. 23,264)"
Art. 147. DISAPPEARANCE OF MINORS: The same punishment shall be incurred by anybody who, being entrusted with the care of a minor under 10 years of age, fails to return him or her to the parents or guardians at their request or fails to account satisfactorily for the minor's disappearance".
91. With regard to measures to prevent disease, the Civil Code contains provisions governing transmissible venereal disease and the compulsory male and female prenuptial certificate:
The health authorities shall encourage and facilitate prenuptial medical examinations. The chiefs of the national medical services and the doctors appointed by the health authorities shall be entitled to issue certificates to future marriage partners on request. Such certificates, issued free of charge, shall be compulsory for males intending to marry. Persons infected with venereal disease may not marry during the period of contagion.
Art. 2. The respective medical examinations shall be conducted by the services of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Public Health of the Nation and of the Municipality of the Federal Capital, and by the provincial and municipal welfare services, under the same conditions as those conducted on behalf of persons of male sex. In all cases, the certificates shall be submitted to the relevant higher authority for endorsement before being displayed in the Civil Registry Office.
Art. 3. Persons infringing the provisions of this Act shall be punishable by the sanctions imposed under Act No. 12,331 and its regulations.
Decree No. 18,866. PRENUPTIAL CERTIFICATE. MUNICIPALITY OF THE CITY OF BUENOS AIRES.
Art. 1. The female prenuptial examination certificate, which is made compulsory by Act No. 16,668, shall be demanded from 1 February 1966 by the Directorate of the Register of Civil Status and Capacity of Persons from future marriage partners, who, in accordance with the provisions of decision No. 6015/65 of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Public Health, may opt for presentation to the authorities or professional persons authorized to conduct the examination, a certificate in which a qualified doctor of their choice declares that he or she has conducted the clinical examination, the signature on such certificate to be authenticated by the competent health authorities. Such a clinical examination must in all cases be supplemented by a serological examination conducted by authorized municipal professional personnel."
Art. 2. The provisions of this Act and of any supplementary regulations established shall be interpreted in such a way that they cannot under any circumstances:
(c) Transcend the framework of the legal exceptions limiting medical secrecy, which shall always be interpreted restrictively;
Art. 3. The provisions of this Act shall apply throughout the territory of the Republic. The implementing authority shall be the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of the Nation through the Under-Secretariat of Health, which may assist any part of the country in ensuring implementation of the Act. Its execution in the individual jurisdictions shall be entrusted to the respective health authorities, for which purpose they may adopt any supplementary regulations they consider necessary for better implementation thereof and of its regulations.
Art. 4. For the purposes of this Act, the health authorities shall:
(a) Develop programmes designed to carry into effect the activities described in article 1, managing the resources for their funding and implementation;
(b) Promote the training of human resources and encourage the development of research activities, coordinating their action with other public and private national, provincial or municipal and international bodies;
(c) Use methods that ensure fulfilment of the requirements of maximum quality and safety;
(d) Comply with the information system established;
(e) Promote the negotiation of international agreements for the design and development of joint programmes to achieve the aims of this Act;
(f) The Executive shall take action to inform the general public about the characteristics of AIDS, the possible causes or means of transmission and contagion, advisable preventive measures and appropriate forms of therapy, with a view to preventing the unscrupulous dissemination of biased information."
95. As regards national legislation, article 264 of the Civil Code sets forth the duties of parents with respect to their under-age children.
(6) By the parent who has been declared by a court to be the father or mother of the child, if he has not been recognized voluntarily."
Art. 8 (Text of Decree-Law No. 5,285/57). Any juvenile who is voluntarily entrusted by his parents, tutors or guardians to a private or public welfare establishment shall remain under the permanent tutelage of the National Council for the Protection of Children for the purposes of national jurisdiction and of the duly appointed authority for those of provincial jurisdiction.
Art. 9 (Text of Decree-Law No. 5,286/57). Minors whose status has been determined in accordance with the previous articles shall remain under the supervision of the National Council for the Protection of Children or of the Office of the Government Procurator for Juveniles, as appropriate, which shall supervise the action of the respective tutors or guardians and shall inspect the private or public establishments concerned at least once a month, through their visitors, assistants, inspectors or active members. They shall monitor the children's relationships and bring to the attention of the judge anything they deem appropriate, in the best interests of the beneficiary.
Art. 10 (Text of Decree-Law No. 5,286/57). Complaints concerning the matters covered by the previous articles may be submitted under national jurisdiction to the National Council for the Protection of Children by any legally competent individual; the Council shall conduct a summary investigation which it shall submit to the duty juvenile court assessor for him to initiate proceedings, within which the National Council for the Protection of Children must be summoned to testify in the investigation.
Art. 11 (Text of Decree-Law No. 5,286/57). If the judge so decides, the decision may simply withdraw custody of the child, in which case he or she may be handed over to the National Council for the Protection of Children, where national jurisdiction is concerned, or to the appropriate authority in the case of provincial jurisdiction; alternatively, any other of the safeguards in force may be adopted.
Art. 13 (Text of Decree-Law No. 5,286/57). Withdrawal of authority or suspension of the exercise thereof shall not discharge parents from the obligations incumbent upon them under articles 265, 267 and 268 of the Civil Code, provided they are not destitute.
Art. 13 (amended text). Loss of parental authority, suspension of its exercise or withdrawal of custody of children by virtue of this Act shall not discharge parents from their obligations under articles 265, 267 and 268 of the Civil Code, provided they are not destitute. To this end, the judge shall set the amount of maintenance and the manner of its payment.
Art. 14 (Text of Decree-Law No. 5,286/57). Judges of the criminal and correctional courts of the capital of the Republic and in the provinces or territories of the nation, before whom a juvenile aged under 18 appears charged with or as the victim of an offence, shall take preventive measures on his or her behalf if he or she is in a state of material or moral neglect or in moral danger, by handing him or her over to the National Council for the Protection of Children or by taking any other measures provided for by law. To this end, the ordinary federal courts of the Federal Capital and of the national territories shall not enforce the provisions of the law regarding pre-trial detention, which shall only be ordered if the judge deems it necessary and shall be served in an establishment run by the National Council for the Protection of Children. The juveniles may also be left in the custody of their parents, tutors or guardians under the supervision of the National Council for the Protection of Children.
Art. 17 (Text of Decree-Law No. 5,286/57). Any juvenile in respect of whom the judges referred to in the previous three articles have ordered any measures shall remain under their supervision, with the assistance of the National Council for the Protection of Children.
Art. 20 (Text of Decree-Law No. 5,286/57). The ordinary national courts of criminal and correctional appeal in the capital and the national territories shall, if they deem it desirable, appoint one or more judges exclusively to hear within their respective jurisdictions cases in which juveniles aged under 18 are charged; they shall adopt their decisions with the assistance of the National Council for the Protection of Children."
101. In the criminal sphere, Act No. 22,278 stipulates as follows:
(a) Mandatory custody of the child by the judge, in order to ensure the child's proper upbringing, by providing comprehensive protection. To this end, the judge may order such measures as he deems desirable in respect of the child, which may be amended at any time for the child's benefit.
(b) The consequent restriction on the exercise of parental authority or custody, within the prescribed limits and in compliance with the instructions given by the judicial authority, without prejudice to compliance with the inherent obligations of the parents or guardian.
(c) Award of custody where appropriate.
The definitive ruling may be lifted at any time by a substantiated judicial decision and shall terminate automatically when the child reaches the age of majority.
Art. 4. The imposition of a sentence on a minor as defined by article 2 shall be subject to the following requirements:
(1) His criminal and, if appropriate, civil liability shall have been previously declared, as required by law.
(2) He shall have reached the age of 18.
(3) He shall have been placed under guardianship for a period of not less than one year, which may be extended if necessary until he reaches the age of majority.
Provided these requirements are met, and provided the circumstances of the case, the minor's background, the results of the period of guardianship and the direct impression formed by the judge point to the need to punish him, the judge will so decide; the sentence may be reduced as stipulated by law for an attempted crime. Conversely, if there is no need to punish the minor, the judge shall acquit him, in which case the requirement of subparagraph 2 shall not apply.
Art. 6. Custodial sentences handed down by judges on minors shall be served in specialized institutions. If minors reach the age of majority while serving their sentence therein, they shall complete their sentence in an establishment for adults."
If there is any charge against a young person, the judicial authority shall order provisional action, verify the offence, arrange an interview with the young person concerned and his parents or guardian and order the relevant reports and tests for a study of his personality and his family and social situation.
If necessary, it shall place the young person in an appropriate place for the purposes of closer study for as long as may be needed.
If from the studies carried out it is apparent that the young person has been abandoned, is in need of assistance, is in material or moral danger or has behavioural problems, the judge shall, by a substantiated order, issue a final decision concerning action to be taken in the case, after having heard the parents or guardian.'
In these cases, the judicial authority shall initiate the relevant proceedings and issue a provisional order while formalities are being completed in order to enable the powers conferred under article 4 to be exercised.
Regardless of the result of the case, if it is apparent from the studies conducted that the young person concerned has been abandoned, is in need of assistance, is in material or moral danger or has behavioural problems, the judge shall, by a substantiated order, issue a final decision concerning action to be taken in the case, after having heard the parents or guardian.'
1. The provisions on arrest and pre-trial detention in proceedings against persons between the ages of 16 and 18 years shall not apply.
If, because of the nature of the case and the personal characteristics of the young person concerned, there is a substantiated need to take these measures, the judge may order them, but deprivation of liberty shall take place in a specialized establishment.
2. The decision handed down concerning young persons between 16 and 18 years of age shall be in conformity with the provisions of articles 495 and 496, but when the defendant is not acquitted, it shall simply declare his criminal responsibility and, where appropriate, the responsibility he would have incurred if a criminal indemnity action had been brought both against him and against responsible third parties.
Once the legal requirements subsequent to the declaration of criminal responsibility have been complied with, the judge shall acquit the defendant or impose the appropriate penalty on him.
3. Together with the decision terminating the proceedings, the judge shall reach a decision on final action to be taken with regard to the young person concerned, after having heard the parents or guardian.
An appeal may without restriction be lodged against the final decision within a period of five days.'"
104. These acts as a whole are supplemented by the bilateral agreements signed by Argentina, such as that with the Eastern Republic of Uruguay on the protection of minors, which makes particular reference to the return of minors.
105. As regards legislative measures taken to protect children against all forms of ill-treatment, on 1 December 1993 the Chamber of Deputies passed the following bill, which was sent to the Senate for review.
Art. 2. If the victims are minors or legally incompetent, elderly or disabled persons, the complaint shall be lodged by their legal representatives and/or the Government Procurator's Office. The following shall be also required to lodge complaints: the welfare services, the public or private social or educational services, health professionals and any public official by virtue of his office. A minor or legally incompetent person may directly inform the Government Procurator's Office of the facts.
Art. 3. The judge shall order a diagnosis of the interpersonal relationships within the family by experts in various fields, to determine the physical and mental harm suffered by the victim, the danger posed by the situation and the family's social or environmental background. The parties may request other specialist reports.
Art. 4. After he has taken cognizance of the background to the complaint, the judge may order the following protective measures:
The return to the family home, at the victim's request, of anyone who has been compelled to leave it for reasons of his personal security, with the exception of the perpetrator;
A temporary order in respect of the payment of maintenance, custody and the right to communicate with the children.
Art. 5. Within 48 hours of having adopted the precautionary measures, the judge shall summon the parties and the Government Procurator's Office to a conciliatory hearing at which he shall urge them and the family group to enrol in educational or therapeutic programmes, with due regard to the report drawn up under article 3.
Art. 6. The regulations pursuant to this Act shall establish measures designed to ensure that the accused and his family group receive free medical and psychological support.
Art. 7. The National Council for Children and the Family shall be informed of any complaints lodged in order for it to ensure coordination between the public and private services to avert and, if appropriate, eliminate the causes of ill-treatment, abuse and any form of violence within the family. For the same reason, the judge may summon public agencies and non-governmental bodies concerned with preventing violence and assisting victims.
Art. 8. The following paragraph shall be incorporated as the second paragraph of article 310 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Act No. 23,984):
Art. 1. The suit of family amparo is hereby instituted in order to put an end to acts of violence or abandonment affecting the physical or mental integrity of the members of a family group, and which are caused by a member of the group or by a third party without effective opposition thereto from the members of the group.
Art. 2. The suit may be filed by any person who considers that he has suffered injury or physical or mental ill-treatment, by the legal representatives of minors, legally incompetent persons and elderly persons, the Government Procurator's Office and administrative officials or agents who, in the performance of their duties, learn of any circumstances that make such a suit appropriate.
Art. 3. The suit shall be filed with any judge, who shall refer it to whomever has jurisdiction in criminal and/or family matters, without prejudice to any emergency measures that are necessary being ordered. The suit may be filed orally or in writing.
Art. 4. Within 24 hours the judge shall order evidence to be gathered concerning the act in question and the situation of the victim of domestic violence and:
He shall authorize the intercession of the Government Procurator's Office in order to institute criminal proceedings if the nature of the act so requires;
He shall order the appropriate emergency and precautionary measures.
Order the exclusion of the physical or mental aggressor from the family home;
Prohibit access by the physical or mental aggressor to the victim's home or to his or her place of work or study;
Order the return to the home, at their request, of any persons who have been compelled to leave the home for reasons of personal safety, with the exception of the perpetrator;
Order the placement in the hands of a legal guardian:
Of juveniles or legally incompetent persons who are ill-treated by their parents, tutors, custodians or guardians or induced by them to perform unlawful or dishonest acts or exposed to serious physical or moral risk;
Of minors or legally incompetent persons who have been abandoned or who have no legal representative, or if the latter are prevented from performing their duties;
Of legally incompetent persons engaged in litigation bearing on parental authority, guardianship or curatorship, or the consequences thereof, with their legal representatives;
Art. 9. The provinces are hereby invited to enact norms similar to those set out herein."
109. In recent years, there has been an increase in the incidence of these and related cases, partly on account of the exhaustive study and publication of indicators concerning the ill-treatment of children and the consequent gradual development of public awareness of the issues raised by it. This heightened awareness has made it possible to detect and denounce situations that were hushed up for many years.
110. Physical ill-treatment, neglect, sexual abuse, exploitation at work and emotional abuse, which includes forcing children to witness acts of domestic violence, grievously affect the normal physical, psychological and social development of the victims, and give rise to a number of individual pathologies and to social maladjustment.
111. It is also noticeable that children who suffer ill-treatment within their family generally ill-treat their own children as adults, thereby perpetuating the inter-generational cycle of domestic violence. Acknowledgement of this problem, and analysis of its harmful consequences for children, the family and society, have given rise to a number of theories that endeavour to identify its causes.
112. Conventionally, intra-family violence has been considered as the result of individual shortcomings, personality traits or psychopathological disturbances affecting a member of the family. This individual approach has been called into question by numerous specialists, leading to a conceptual change which, while acknowledging the importance of individual factors, shifts the focus from the individual to the family, social and cultural environment.
113. The growth of interest in the study of all the variables with a bearing on the ill-treatment of children has led to a more comprehensive explanatory model, which depicts it as the result of a combination of manifold factors which interact both within the individual system and within intra-family relationships, in transactions between families and systems outside the family, and within the macrosystem and its cultural variables.
114. Within the individual system, analysis of the character traits of parents is of vital importance in identifying variables that lead to ill-treatment: a personal background of ill-treatment, low self-esteem, depression, dependency, a lack of skill in solving problems, low ability to control aggressiveness, addiction, expectations towards children that are inconsistent with their role and level of development. In addition, certain character traits of children may contribute to the appearance and/or continuation of the problem: physical and/or intellectual disability and behavioural problem (hyperactivity, impulsiveness, aggressiveness).
115. Where the family system is concerned, a study of intra-family relationships has made it possible to identify the following factors in these cases: inadequate parental control strategies, inability to bring up children, discipline based on violence, punitive control, rejection and/or arbitrariness, lack of communication, conjugal disputes.
116. These traits are compounded by the finding that families in which there is a high level of violence are as a rule socially isolated and/or in a conflictual relationship with the extra-family environment, making it essential to examine the nature of such interaction: strength of the relationship with the community, involvement in informal organizations and voluntary activities, use of community welfare resources, participation in social, religious and recreational activities, interest in political, intellectual and cultural activities.
117. Lastly, it is essential to carry out an assessment of those variables within the socio-cultural system that encourage ill-treatment: forms of social organization, systems of belief, norms and values that legitimize violence, inadequate community satisfaction of basic physical, psychosocial and psychocultural needs, inadequate services to deal with crises, lack of appropriate legislation.
118. By defining the characteristics of these systems, it is possible to identify, in each particular case, some of the variables mentioned and to assess the contribution of each of them to the emergence of the problem. This approach, which is based on acknowledgement of the multidimensional nature of the problem of the ill-treatment of children, helps properly to select and apply the necessary preventive and support measures to diminish the frequency of ill-treatment, its duration and/or the damage it causes.
119. The action taken may focus on one of the systems analysed, or on a combination of them, and adopt strategies involving an individual, family, institutional or community approach: programmes to strengthen family ties, therapeutic programmes, self-help groups, emergency phone lines, human rights promotion campaigns, educational programmes to bring about a change in attitudes, training for family life and the performance of societal roles, establishment of training, supervisory and consultative bodies for health professionals, teachers and specialists, and organization of voluntary groups.
120. In order for these and other measures to go ahead, a contribution is required from various fields of knowledge that tackles the problem from a multidisciplinary angle and transcends specialized codes. It is also very important to provide a suitable legal framework for such measures in order to ensure and monitor their implementation and to encourage coordination and linkage among institutions as well as community involvement. It is likewise essential carefully to consider the contribution made by our own beliefs, ideas and feelings when investigating, developing an understanding of and dealing with a phenomenon which affects the most vulnerable members of society and which generally generates a feeling of anguish, impotence and horror in those who witness it. We must not lose sight of the fact that respect for the best interests of the child makes it incumbent on us to carry out a rigorous analysis of a child's circumstances before deciding on the most suitable treatment or the viability of his biological or adoptive links or the need to remove him from them.
121. A comprehensive approach to the problem will help to protect victimized children from repeated abuse, tear aside the veil of silence by encouraging denunciations and make provision for suitable treatment for those who ill-treat children and their victims, avoiding, wherever possible, the removal of children from their family environment.
123. The programme operates through grants of economic aid to families who are at risk, with an allowance for each minor child and one for the father, mother, guardian or legal representative. The programme also provides for the payment of an extraordinary allowance to deal with an exceptional socio-economic crisis affecting the family or to purchase machinery or tools that allow the family to set up a small productive enterprise.
124. The programme covers a total of 22,000 families and some 100,000 minors each year, encouraging the mobilization of their own resources in addition to the subsidy so that crisis situations can be dealt with effectively and family break-up prevented.
125. This specific programme is supplemented by provincial and municipal activities, sometimes in the form of programmes designed for the purpose (for example, PAICOR in Córdoba province, PROASI in Formosa province and the Integrated Mutually Supportive Food Programme in Buenos Aires province) and sometimes in the form of social and labour action.
127. The Emergency Housing Subsidy Scheme is intended for family groups with dependent minor children and young adults in emergency situations because of lack of housing, priority being given to:
(a) Family groups composed of juvenile mothers protected by this organization, who depend on the emergency facility for reintegration into their social environment;
(b) Mothers alone with dependent minor children, whose income is low or who are unemployed and without accommodation;
(c) Both parents with dependent minor children who, for duly attested reasons, are going through an emergency and need the facility;
(d) Minor adults of both sexes, with prospects for personal development and adaptation to the environment, who need a transitional development period.
129. The National Council for Children and the Family (CNMF) has an HIV infection control and prevention programme, which is described below:
"1. Objectives
2. To reduce morbidity and mortality associated with HIV infection;
3. To promote the establishment of centres providing treatment and guidance, within the CNMF's sphere of competence;
4. To promote activities to deal with the social problems deriving from the infection (adoption of HIV-positive children or their placement with families; reintegration of HIV-positive persons in society, in the family, in employment etc.);
5. To promote legislation to help control the spread of the infection, to prevent discrimination and to provide proper care for the families concerned.
2. Activities
(a) Improving the overall health of the target population;
(b) Preventing sexual transmission;
(c) Preventing parenteral transmission;
(d) Preventing vertical transmission;
(e) Providing proper care for the individuals and families concerned;
(f) Participating in epidemiological monitoring;
(g) Educating and training professional and non-professional personnel as outreach, information and training agents;
(h) Promoting research;
(i) Continuous monitoring of the situation in its area of competence."
131. In the light of this situational analysis, work began on a programme of prevention and control of the pandemic. The basic aims of the activities were:
(a) To design an educational strategy that would promote preventive behaviour;
(b) To ensure the availability, as a right, of reliable HIV laboratory tests;
(c) To have such tests carried out in a context conducive to communication with the patient;
(d) To ensure confidentiality of the results;
(e) To avoid discrimination of any kind;
(f) To implement universal biosafety measures;
(g) To ensure the best possible treatment available in the light of scientific progress.
132. Serological studies of HIV infection carried out during 1992/93 using the diagnostic methods mentioned above show that only 7 per cent (29/410) of adolescents with the same characteristics and of the same average age were infected. It is interesting to note that the infection also diminished, to 34.21 per cent, in the group reporting intravenous addiction. An increase to 4.3 per cent was observed in the group not using the intravenous method, possibly indicating greater difficulty in preventing infection through sexual contact.
133. This indicates a trend towards more self-protective behaviour among these adolescents, who identify intravenous addiction as a high-risk form of behaviour. This is borne out by the fact that in 1987/88 45.5 per cent of them reported using the intravenous method, compared with only 9.27 per cent in 1992/93.
134. We consider that the organization of discussion forums with this group of young people, at which they play the leading role, promotes self-protective behaviour by word of mouth while they are in one of our programmes or institutes or in the street. The forums, which are attended by the entire staff of professionals, technicians, administrators, teachers and others, provide an opportunity to introduce the concept of prevention and self-protection in daily life.
135. We believe that there are various interrelated factors involved in the reduction of HIV infection among these adolescents: a change in the impact of the pandemic when it spreads and begins to claim the lives of acquaintances, a better knowledge of forms of transmission and the previously mentioned prominence given to the adolescents as promoters of self-protective behaviour.
136. A fact that should not be overlooked is that 95 per cent of HIV-positive young people reported intravenous drug addiction in 1987/88, compared with only 44.8 per cent in 1992/93. This indicates that 52.2 per cent of them probably acquired the infection by sexual contact.
137. Studies during the period 1991-1993 of adolescents aged 13 on average who spend most of their lives in the street showed that only 0.21 per cent (1/476) were HIV positive. The challenge before us is to prevent those children from reaching the 7 per cent recorded for older age groups by stepping up educational programmes and developing safe-sex strategies, while respecting their dignity as individuals.
138. Paediatric AIDS is basically related to mother-child transmission. According to National Programme data for the period up to 31 March 1994, 253 cases have been recorded (88 per cent from HIV-positive mothers, 5 per cent from transfusions and 4 per cent from haemoderivatives in the under-15 age group). In cases of abandonment associated with HIV infection, it is essential to find a family environment for the children. The National Council for Children and the Family has promoted such family reintegration through special programmes that provide training and technical support for family groups incorporating minors with this problem.
140. In 1991 the targets of the World Summit for Children were adopted in the light of national circumstances, with the assistance of scientific associations and heads of mother and child programmes in all the provinces. Agreement was eventually reached on a National Mother and Child Pact and a National Committee was set up the following year to ensure fulfilment of these goals.
141. Although the health sector is responsible for most of these activities, it works in cooperation with other sectors such as education, the National Council for Children and the Family, environmental health and housing.
142. The Mother and Child Action Plan covers the whole national territory, and responsibility for its implementation, at the federal level and on a decentralized basis, lies with the provincial health authorities. The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare assumes overall responsibility for the Plan, while the representatives of health affairs in the provinces are responsible for implementation of its operational aspects in their respective regions and at the municipal level.
143. Coverage is estimated at 300,060 pregnant women, 266,970 infants under the age of 1, 266,970 infants aged between 1 and 2, and 166,740 undernourished children.
144. The efficiency and effectiveness of the Plan are ensured through coordination of activities in the areas of health, social action and education. The Plan's target population are actively involved alongside workers dealing with health, social action and education and members of governmental and non-governmental organizations.
145. It is hoped through implementation of the Plan to improve the running and management of both public and private provincial bodies dealing with maternal, child and nutritional issues. To that end, steps are being taken to develop institutional capabilities in the provinces through training and technical assistance and to change existing models of health care, initial education and school canteens.
146. Non-governmental organizations, universities and scientific associations participate actively with government agencies in planning, implementing and evaluating the activities.
147. The National Mother and Child Action Plan is designed to ensure the proper growth and development of children from gestation until the end of adolescence. To that end, its key strategy is primary health care and supplementary feeding under a sustainable and comprehensive policy that ensures coverage for mothers, children and adolescents belonging to the most deprived sectors of society in accordance with criteria of equity and differentiated strategies for crisis areas.
148. The goals of the National Mother and Child Action Plan agreed by the Secretariat of Health of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Argentine Paediatrics Society and UNICEF Argentina are as follows:
(a) Child health:
(ii) To reduce the under-five mortality rate to less than 23 per thousand nationwide, focusing on districts that exceed the national average;
(iii) To reduce late foetal mortality by one third;
(iv) To keep vaccination coverage at over 90 per cent throughout the country;
(v) To eliminate neonatal tetanus;
(vi) To control measles;
(vii) To reduce morbidity rates for diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections; to halve the mortality rate in such cases;
(viii) To reduce by 20 per cent the accident mortality rate for the under-5 age group;
(ii) To increase anti-tetanus vaccination coverage for women of child-bearing age; to achieve 90 per cent TT coverage for pregnant women;
(iii) To monitor pregnancy from the early months of gestation (minimum of five check-ups);
(iv) To conduct post-partum check-ups of mothers and newborn infants and take measures to prevent genital and breast cancer;
(v) To develop programmes of responsible parenthood throughout the country;
(ii) To monitor the growth and development of 80 per cent of children under 5 years of age;
(iii) To reduce the incidence of underweight and premature births to less than 7 per cent;
(iv) To control iron and iodine deficiency;
(v) To encourage breast-feeding, so that 60 per cent of children are exclusively breast-fed at least up to the age of four months.
149. In coordination with the Action Plan, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare is implementing a Mother, Child and Nutrition Programme (PROMIN) as part of the process of economic and social change being pursued by the Government and with a dual focus in terms of the target population: people living in areas where structural poverty prevails and, within that population, women of child-bearing age and children under the age of 6.
150. The objectives of the Programme are to reduce maternal and infant morbidity and mortality rates by means of improved targeting and better design, implementation and coordination of health, nutrition, supplementary feeding and child development services and programmes; promotion of the psychosocial development of children in the 2 to 5 age group and improved efficiency of existing school canteen programmes. The total duration of the programme is 6 years.
151. Its fields of action are:
(a) Health: Development of the institutional capacity of the health system at the primary care level (health centres) and the primary referral level (hospitals) in the areas of intervention with a view to optimizing promotional, preventive and therapeutic activities;
(b) Child development: Gradual conversion of children's canteens and kindergartens into child development centres (CDIs), with nutritional care. Monitoring of growth and development, stimulative activities and use of preschool teaching techniques to guard against the disadvantages associated with school failure;
(c) Nutrition: Remedial nutrition and supplementary feeding for pregnant women (also during lactation) and children under 6 years of age. The activities will be incorporated in the health and child development components.
152. In 1991, the Secretariat of Health, recognizing the vital importance of comprehensive health for adolescents and the need to meet the health and development needs of present and future members of that age group, created within the new structure of the Ministry a Department of Child and Adolescent Health Care and prepared a preliminary draft National Comprehensive Adolescent Health Plan, which is being considered by the heads of the Mother and Child Programme in the different administrative divisions of the country.
153. In 1992, at the National Meeting of the Directorate of Mother and Child Health, it collaborated with the programme chiefs organized by region and, as a result of this process and in accordance with resolution IX of the Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization which it endorsed, in March 1993 it addressed the need to implement the National Comprehensive Adolescent Health Plan within the conceptual framework proposed by the Comprehensive Adolescent Health Programme in the Americas.
154. In the light of the policies pursued by the Secretariat of Health and in accordance with our country's National Mother and Child Pact, the general aims consist essentially in the promotion and protection of adolescent health through increasing coverage of services in terms of quality and quantity. The specific aims are:
(a) To recognize adolescence as a specific stage in the life of the individual, with its own needs and rights and with implications for the individual's future;
(b) To include biological, psychological and sociocultural dimensions in the concept of health in a family and community context;
(c) To promote equal opportunities for adolescents, having regard to the concept of equity;
(d) To make provision for different age groups within adolescence;
(e) To mobilize all available resources within and outside the sector in order to promote comprehensive adolescent health through the prevention of prior damage and risks;
(f) To encourage a preventive approach in all forms of care;
(g) To provide health services that cater to the needs of adolescents, adopting an interdisciplinary approach;
(h) To discuss and formulate coordinated strategies with other sectors;
(i) To promote inter-agency (governmental or non-governmental) national and international activities and the involvement of universities, scientific associations and other non-governmental organizations in the planning, implementation and evaluation of activities;
(j) To promote active community involvement, particularly by adolescents, in all stages of the plan;
(k) To encourage the effective use of communication strategies to ensure full implementation of the activities;
(l) To take account of the influence of regional characteristics on the needs of adolescents and their environment, promoting and supporting the programmes of the administrative districts;
(m) To encourage standard-setting and to promote operational research on this age group and the evaluation of programme strategies and results;
(n) To stimulate the creation and operation of institutional networks, using existing resources.
155. The National Council for Children and the Family, under its specific programmes for the prevention of abandonment and ill-treatment and for family therapy, attends to various biological, psychological and social aspects of mother and child health. The following, for example, are some of the objectives of the Programme for the Prevention of Abandonment and Ill-treatment:
(a) To look after minors at risk who are receiving medical care in hospitals, clinics, maternity hospitals, etc.;
(b) To provide support to the family and/or group living together with a pregnant mother to ensure timely emotional, economic and social support for the mother-child bond, within and outside the health-care centre;
(c) To identify persons in hospitals, maternity hospitals and clinics who run the risk of untimely dissolution of the mother-father-child bond and to assist them through the resources of the organization and of other institutions to prevent dissolution of the bond;
(d) To prevent exacerbation of the risk situations of minors receiving treatment in hospitals (drug addiction, ill-treatment, delinquency, family break-up, etc.);
(e) To channel relevant institutional resources to families with malnourished children;
(f) To offer timely and appropriate training to hospital and health centre staff in connection with the risk of dissolution of the mother-father-child bond;
(g) To give advice to teams of social workers and medical staff on all matters relating to protection of the mother-child bond;
(h) To encourage mothers to look after their own and their child's health through strict compliance with medical recommendations, giving special attention to early stimulation of their babies.
156. The external temporary fostering scheme for children requiring special care seeks to facilitate the total or partial recovery of children in the care of the organization. A child suffering from an illness requiring specialized treatment may be placed in a family environment, where he or she will receive individual care. The special external fostering services are designed for children with disability problems, and the allowances paid to temporary foster-mothers vary according to the nature of the disability. The scheme is supervised by the Department of Health. Only two or three children can be placed with a foster-mother at a time, and the period of fostering is longer on account of the children's special problems. Another element of the scheme consists of external temporary foster-mothers who care for HIV-positive children. This element was introduced into the scheme following the emergence of the AIDS problem. In view of the specific requirements of these children, the foster-mothers receive special allowances; the foster-mother has only one child in her care and is monitored continuously by the Department of Health. This scheme also accepts abandoned children, but without prejudice to other schemes for HIV-positive children whose mothers continue to maintain family relations with them.
157. Two significant facts should be mentioned as a corollary to the Argentine stance on behalf of special mother and child care:
(a) In March 1994, the President, the governors and the Mayor of Buenos Aires signed a Federal Mother and Child Pact in which they undertook:
(ii) To promote comprehensive community care networks for mothers, children and adolescents in the provinces and the city of Buenos Aires;
(iii) To promote the reform of existing legislation to bring it into line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
(iv) To eliminate all forms of exploitation of children and adolescents;
(v) To create conditions in which children are assured proper growth and development from gestation to the end of adolescence;
(vi) To make optimum use of human and economic resources in the areas of mother and child care;
(vii) To guarantee the promotion of mother and child care in indigenous communities, taking into account and respecting the distinctive cultural characteristics of each ethnic group and eschewing all forms of discrimination;
159. In August 1990 the National Programme of Health Statistics (Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare), together with the Permanent Household Survey (National Institute of Statistics and Censuses), carried out a survey on the use of, and expenditure on, health services in all provincial capitals except those of Chubut and Río Negro. The analysis of the information on the percentage of the population affiliated to some health care system presented in this publication shows that the age groups with the lowest percentage of affiliation are generally children under 5 years of age and adults between 20 and 29 years of age.
160. It should be pointed out that in some provinces there are areas that are densely populated in relation to the province as a whole (Comodoro Rivadavia in Chubut, the Alto Valle del Río Negro area in Río Negro, Rosario in Santa Fé, Bahía Blanca in Buenos Aires, Río Grande in Tierra del Fuego), but there is no differentiation between urban and rural areas, although it can be presumed from the area covered by the Permanent Household Survey that the data relate mostly to urban centres.
162. In 1993 the amount transferred to the districts for the implementation of the maternal and child health programme was $61,990,344, an amount which covers a broad spectrum of facilities, ranging from milk or medicines to equipment or the training of human resources.
164. The National Programme for the Rights of the Child, under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Education, has adopted measures to include the rights of the child in the school curriculum, one of the basic objectives being "to propose curricular alternatives to address the issue of the rights of the child in study programmes in the best possible manner" and "to provide didactic support, technical advice and specific training to teachers so that in their work they have greater resources with which to educate children in the knowledge and exercise of their own rights".
165. In turn, the Integral School Canteen Subprogramme is intended to make good deficiencies in family nutrition by protecting and raising the nutrition and health status of the school-age population, as a starting-point for promoting various activities designed to mobilize the communities' own resources and capacities.
166. The purpose of the participation of the School Cooperative Associations is to involve community organizations in the use and management of funds provided by the State, which thus fulfils its welfare objective. The school canteens serve as a basis for further activities which give the Programme special characteristics going beyond the mere provision of food. This should generate in each community the motivation required for it to join in other activities which remedy the most pressing shortcomings through the general development of the human person.
167. A number of programmes are carried out under the auspices of the National Council for Children and the Family. The purpose of the Study Scholarship Programme (decision 142, File No. 50,204/90) is to provide assisted minors with opportunities for the all-round development of an independent personality, for their training in accordance with their needs, interests and aptitudes, and for their integration into their family, social and national setting.
168. In its implementation the Programme will seek to avoid the institutionalization of minors for the purpose of facilitating their access to education and to promote the de-institutionalization of minors who have been institutionalized for that purpose, without prejudice to its extension to beneficiaries of the various programmes and protection activities carried out by the National Directorate for Minors and the Family in keeping with the stated objectives.
169. These scholarships will be open to minors of up to 20 years of age who satisfy the following requirements:
(a) They meet the moral, intellectual and behavioural standards needed for the studies or training to be initiated and/or continued;
(b) They lack the individual and/or family resources required to finance their studies in a reasonable manner.
170. This programme is designed as a suitable tool for granting scholarships that will make it possible to meet the cost of studying and to make good any reduction or inadequacy of income arising from the minor's pursuance of his responsibilities as a student.
171. The Permanent Education and Vocational Training Programme (decision 149/92, National Council for Children and the Family) was established to develop principles for personalized and ongoing education - to form the ideological basis of the system and to ensure flexible adaptation according to the needs of the person assisted, participation and integration within the community and full utilization of the overall educational services available. This has involved the transformation of an institution closed in on itself and claiming to be self-sufficient into one that is open to the community, not only in providing services, but also in seeking and utilizing them, thus linking the person assisted with his social environment.
172. The Permanent Education and Vocational Training Programme provides a means of departing from the institutional models of the early twentieth century, conceived for the education of minors in boarding establishments, and, instead, providing opportunities for the training of all assisted persons. Under this system, the minor, whether within the family unit or assisted by the institution through its programmes, is furnished the means of paying for a teacher or vocational instructor, regardless of the type of service provided.
173. The novel aspect of this system is that it makes possible instruction at home in non-standard situations, as in the case of minors deprived of liberty by court order, illness, discrimination (HIV, victims of offences, pregnancy, etc.), so that their circumstances do not affect their education or their integration into the world of work.
174. This programme has also placed emphasis on recreational activities. A Recreation Department has therefore been established which seeks to develop habits of socialization and to strengthen self-esteem.
175. The principal function of the Recreation Department is to carry out the Cultural Recreation Programme in all areas for which the National Council for Children and the Family is responsible. Its activities consist of the following:
(a) Coordination of the activities of the recreation centres operated by the National Council for Children and the Family;
(b) Development and supervision of the planning of holidays for persons assisted by the National Council for Children and the Family;
(c) Organization and supervision of recreational, cultural and sports activities for persons assisted under the various programmes of the National Council for Children and the Family;
(d) Participation in the Eighth Seminar on Disability and Information, Mexico; Second Iberoamerican Conference on the Family, Valparaíso, together with persons assisted by the Council.
177. In many provinces of the Argentine Republic, juvenile courts have been established, some of which have competence in criminal cases and all of which have competence in civil cases and welfare matters, as provided in Act No. 10,067/87, articles 1, 2, and 10, as referred to under item 11.
178. Furthermore, article 3 of Act No. 22,278 provides that "... compulsory custody of a minor may be ordered by the courts, for the purpose of ensuring for him an appropriate upbringing and providing him with full protection ...".
179. Article 1 of Act No. 22,803 states: "... where necessary, the minor shall be placed for the necessary period in an establishment providing better facilities for study ...".
180. According to the National Population and Housing Census carried out in 1991, a total of 370,061 persons were living in community homes and 12.1 per cent of these were under the age of 14 years.
181. As regards recreation for children in institutions, the National Council for Children and the Family has a Recreation Department whose main function is "to carry out the cultural recreation programme in all areas for which the Council is responsible". This department is responsible for organizing and supervising recreational, cultural and sports activities for minors, elderly persons and the disabled and for securing the active participation therein of these persons and of the community (see para. 175).
182. During 1993, 8,300 children, young people and elderly persons benefited from vacations and 9,396 participated in marathons, competitions and camping holidays. These are just some examples of the many activities carried out daily in the field of recreation.
183. In addition to the holidays organized at various tourist centres in Argentina and the sports activities already mentioned, outings are arranged, as well as visits to museums, historical sites, etc.
184. Specially worth noting is the attendance of minors under all the programmes of the National Council for Children and the Family (including those receiving treatment in institutions) at national and international congresses, seminars and meetings where questions relating to family and minors' issues are discussed. Their attendance constitutes a valuable experience for them.
186. It was in 1971 that, by a provision included in Act No. 18,953, this penalty was incorporated in the Penal Code. This provision was later repealed by Act No. 20,043, but the penalty was reintroduced under Act No. 21,338, reflecting an alternation of mild and rigorous approaches.
187. Act No. 23,077, in its turn, has repealed the provision for a death penalty, which is now abolished in the case of those offences for which it was provided, which included: article 80 bis, aggravated homicide; article 142 ter, unlawful deprivation of freedom causing death; article 186 (d), arson causing death or very serious injuries, for subversive ends; article 186 bis (d), explosion or release of nuclear energy causing death or very serious injuries, for subversive ends; article 190 (4), endangering the safety of a ship, a floating structure or an aircraft, causing death or very serious injuries, for subversive ends, etc.
188. The death penalty may not be restored, Argentina being a signatory to the American Convention on Human Rights, or "Pact of San José, Costa Rica" ("The death penalty shall not be reestablished in states that have abolished it", art. 4 (3), Boletín Oficial, 27/0384/).
189. For Acts Nos. 22,278 and 22,803, see paragraphs 101 and 102.
190. The Penal Code provides as follows:
Art. 412. The presence of the young person at the examination proceedings shall as far as possible be avoided; the court shall observe the provisions of article 76 on the subject. The court may provisionally decide to entrust the care and upbringing of any child in its custody to his parents or another person or institution whose background and circumstances provide moral guarantees, following an administrative inquiry, a hearing of the interested parties and a report by the juvenile court assessor. In such cases, the court may appoint a delegate to exercise direct supervision and protection of the young person concerned and report periodically on his conduct and living conditions."
Art. 172. Temporary handing over of minors. In the case of commission by a minor of an offence or misdemeanour, where there do not appear to be any problems of behaviour or of moral or physical abandonment, the parents or guardian shall be summoned to appear and the minor shall be handed over to them on a temporary basis with the notification that they must bring him before the competent judge within five days.
Art. 173. If the official conducting the examination proceedings has doubts as to the desirability of leaving the minor under the control of his parents or guardian, because of moral unsuitability of the home or for any other reason, he shall consult by telephone the judge dealing with the case and shall act in accordance with the instructions he is given.
If the minor is clearly dangerous, the official shall, as soon as the examination proceedings permit, hand him over to the admission and classification office of the National Minors' Service and inform by telegram the court dealing with the case.
Art. 175. Report on family circumstances. While the examination proceedings are being carried out, the investigating official shall request that a social worker in the Under-Secretariat for Children and the Family should prepare a full report on the minor's family circumstances, his background and his record, as well as on the background and records of the parents or guardians, and provide, on the form approved by the Correctional Division, an opinion concerning the minor's general situation.
This information shall be transmitted to the judge dealing with the case, together with information relating to persons considered to be the victims of or to have suffered from any criminal act who are under the age of 18 years.
Art. 176. Competence in respect of petty misdemeanours and contraventions. The competence of the local Chief of Police and Mayor in respect of petty misdemeanours and contraventions by minors having been replaced by that of the correctional court judges (Act No. 10,903, art. 18), the action to be taken by the police or municipal authorities in such cases shall be of a pre-trial nature and shall conform to the provisions of the preceding articles. A record of the proceedings shall be delivered to the Juvenile Correctional Court within 24 hours.
Art. 177. Publicity. In no case shall the name of any minor under the age of 18 years who is charged with an offence or accused of a contravention be published, nor shall any details of his filiation or circumstances which might identify him be revealed. The court shall request the cooperation of newspapers, periodicals and press agencies with a view to avoiding publication of facts or reports that might be morally prejudicial to such minors."