COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD EXAMINES REPORTS OF CHILE ON OPTIONAL PROTOCOLS TO CONVENTION ON RIGHTS OF CHILD

The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the initial reports of Chile on how that country is implementing the provisions of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Juan Martabit, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations Office at Geneva, presenting Chile's reports, said that, with regard to progress on implementation of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, the 1999 Framework for Action against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents contained the main guidelines for combating commercial sexual exploitation in all its forms. Huge progress had been made in legislation in this area, with laws adopted to increase penalties for sexual crimes against minors, and restrict bail for those who perpetrated sexual crimes against minors aged 14 years and under. A draft law that was soon to be adopted would protect victims of sexual crimes who were minors during investigations and trials, including by limiting interviews of child victims to prevent their re-victimization. There was also a national draft law on human trafficking, which carried increased penalties in cases involving minors, and provided protections during the investigative phase. For its part, between 2003 and 2007, the National Service for Minors had cared for over 1,510 children who were in some way involved in the commercial sexual trade.

On progress regarding the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, Mr. Martabit noted that, in 2005, Chile had seen the modernization of the armed forces selection process. Compulsory recruitment had been abandoned for a voluntary enlistment process. Children under 18 could under no circumstances participate in active hostilities. There was also no possibility for reducing the minimum age of recruitment in exceptional circumstances, such as a state of emergency.

In preliminary concluding observations, Committee Expert Jean Zermatten, Rapporteur for the report of Chile on the Optional Protocol on children in armed conflict, welcomed assurances received in a number of areas – that no children under 18 could be involved in armed conflict, and that compulsory recruitment was clearly fixed at 18. The Committee's recommendations under this Protocol would centre on issues such as the need to establish an independent national human rights institution and a children's human rights ombudsman, and with regard to refugees, the need to establish a process for ratifying their status within the framework of international standards.

In concluding observations on the report on the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Rosa Maria Ortíz, Co-Rapporteur for the report, said the Committee's recommendations would be the need for the criminalization of all the acts defined under the Optional Protocol; the extension of extraterritoriality for such crimes; and the adoption of a law on child protection. It was also hoped that the draft Ombudsman's Act, which foresaw the establishment of a child defender, would soon be adopted. Coordination between the various actors involved was also an area of concern. Measures to prevent child sexual tourism would also be encouraged, and the involvement of tour operators in such activities.

The Committee will release its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Chile towards the end of its three-week session, which will conclude on 1 February.

Also representing the delegation of Chile were representatives from the National Service for Minors; the Ministry of Defence; the Ministry for Planning and Cooperation; the National Police; the Ministry of Justice; the Public Prosecutor’s Office; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the Family Court system; as well as members of the Permanent Mission of Chile to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

As one of the 193 States parties to the Convention, Chile is obliged to present periodic reports to the Committee on its efforts to comply with the provisions of the treaty. The delegation was on hand to present the report and to answer questions raised by Committee Experts.

The Committee's next public meeting is scheduled for 12.30 p.m. on Friday, 1 February, when it will make public its concluding observations for reports it has reviewed over the past three weeks, before officially closing its forty-seventh session.

Reports of Chile

The initial report of Chile under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPSC/CHL/1) says regarding sexual exploitation of children, programmes coordinated by private institutions working with and funded by the National Service for Minors are currently under way which provide care, rehabilitation and legal representation for child and adolescent victims of such offences. A preventive role is performed by the Offices for the Protection of the Rights of Children throughout the country, and by the free telephone help lines to the National Service for Minors and the Carabineros for reporting these offences. The National Service for Minors also acts as legal representative for children in criminal proceedings. There has been a gradual increase in resources earmarked for rehabilitation and care of child and adolescent victims of sexual exploitation, with 16 projects currently running throughout Chile, reaching 730 child victims – or 19.7 per cent of the estimated total. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is addressing the problem of commercial sexual exploitation as one of the worst forms of child labour, and is running projects in social research, victim care and legislative reform. In the legislative sphere, a significant advance was the promulgation of Act No. 19,927 of 2004, which severely sanctions paedophilia and child pornography and Web-based paedophile and pornography rings, and regulates more fully the various sexual offences of which children and adolescents are victims. Among other matters, the Act increased the penalties for most sexual offences against children and adolescents; it raised the minimum age of sexual consent from 12 to 14; and it created a special offence penalizing anyone who obtains the sexual services of a minor (a person under the age of 18) in exchange for money or other form of compensation.

Chile's initial report under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/CHL/1) notes that one of the requirements for entry into the military schools is that the person must have completed the fourth year of secondary education, which is generally completed at the age of 18. In some cases the age requirement of 18 years for entry into these schools is set out explicitly. In any case, persons under the age of 18 may not be mobilized when they are performing military service. This means that they may under no circumstances take part in an armed conflict or state of emergency. In Chile, compulsory enlistment exists only from the age of 18, and applies to men. Only if there are too few volunteers to constitute the force required is the missing number made up by compulsory means with non-volunteers, through a lottery system. The only provision in the recruitment law envisaging the possibility that a person of 17 years of age may perform military service as a volunteer calls for the person in question to make a specific request, and prohibits that person from being mobilized before reaching the age of majority. Armed forces schools' curriculum comprises two hours per week devoted to preparatory military training, and basically includes aspects related to discipline and exercises such as formations, parades, salutes, ranks and emblems of the armed forces. There is no shooting practice or instruction in the use of weapons. Students at the schools are not members of the armed forces. Only certain provisions of the Staff Rules of the Armed Forces apply to them. There are no armed groups other than the armed forces in Chile.
Presentation of Reports

Presenting the initial reports of Chile, JUAN MARTABIT, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that, with regard to progress on implementation of the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Chile had promoted, through public institutions and civil society, coordinated efforts with a view to combating the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. In that regard, in 1999, the Framework for Action against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents contained the main guidelines for combating commercial sexual exploitation in all its forms, in accordance with the principals set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Huge progress had been made in legislation in this area, Mr. Martabit highlighted, with laws adopted to increase penalties for sexual crimes against minors, and restrict bail for those who perpetrated sexual crimes against minors aged 14 years and under. A draft law that was soon to be adopted would protect victims of sexual crimes who were minors in the context of investigations and trials, in particular limiting interviews of child victims to prevent their re-victimization. There was also a national draft law on human trafficking, which carried increased penalties in cases involving minors, and provided protections during the investigative phases in conformity with the Treaty of Palermo, which Chile ratified in 2005.

Regarding child labour, in June 2007, a law was promulgated establishing new requirements for those hiring children of 15 years of age and over, reducing the number of hours and mandating that the work could not interfere with schooling. It also set out a list of dangerous activities that children were not allowed to perform.

For its part, between 2003 and 2007, the National Service for Minors – together with international organizations and civil society, and the private sector – had cared for over 1,510 children who were in some way involved in the commercial sexual trade. Those children were incorporated into special programmes to rehabilitate them, and were provided social, psychological and legal assistance. To improve and expand on that system, Special Integral Intervention Programmes had been put in place throughout Chile, since October 2007. Another initiative, the "Safe Surfing" programme, developed by the National Service for Minors in conjunction with the Police and the Prosecutor's Office, focused on the prevention of cyber pornography and related Web-based crimes, Mr. Martabit added.

In the areas of commercial sexual exploitation and human trafficking, three investigations had been carried out in 2007 to determine the effectiveness of the programmes in place: one by the Government of Chile and the International Labour Organization (ILO), and two others by the ILO and the International Organization for Migration, Mr. Martabit said.

In the area of raising awareness, between 2003 and 2007, the public and private sector, with assistance from ILO, had implemented two different strategies to raise public awareness on commercial sexual exploitation, through campaigns such as "There is Child Commercial Exploitation in Chile" and "No Excuses". In addition, there had been 14 seminars across the country, involving 1,173 local actors.

During the same period, with a view to improving the management of institutions responsible for the care of children in this area, training programmes for technical teams specialized in caring for child victims of commercial sexual exploitation had been carried out. Those sessions saw successful exchanges of best practices and experience, Mr. Martabit said.

On progress regarding the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, Mr. Martabit said that, in 2005, Chile had seen the modernization of the selection process. Compulsory recruitment had been abandoned for a voluntary enlistment process. Children under 18 could under no circumstances participate in active hostilities. There was also no possibility for reducing the minimum age of recruitment in exceptional circumstances, such as a state of emergency.

Discussion on the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict

JEAN ZERMATTEN, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of Chile on the involvement of children in armed conflict, congratulated Chile on its legislation for limiting compulsory military service, which spelled out that there should be no recruitment of children under 18 and no involvement of them in active military services.

Mr. Zermatten was interested to know what Chile had done to disseminate the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, in particular with regard to the training of armed forces.

In January 2007, the Committee had made a recommendation that Chile develop an independent national human rights institution. Had any efforts been undertaken to that end, Mr. Zermatten asked. That was of relevance for children who wished to complain of any possible violations under the Protocol.

The Committee was disturbed by the possibility of exceptional recruitment in the event of conflicts or states of emergency, where the text of the law said the President had the power to recruit persons without any age limit. That was in contradiction with what had been said today, and Mr. Zermatten asked for some clarification.

As for protections against children under 18 years of age from entering the Armed Forces through military schools, the report had stressed that on the completion of such schooling all applicants would necessarily be older than 18. But under the law, which Mr. Zermatten then cited, it was possible to join the Armed Forces before having completed secondary education. Would it not be clearer if Chile simply adopted a law prohibiting recruitment before the age of 18?

Further, the Optional Protocol required States to criminalize the recruitment of children under 18 by illegal armed groups. According to the report, no such groups existed in Chile. Mr. Zermatten cautioned, however, that foreign armed groups could threaten Chilean children through international recruitment, and hoped that Chile would therefore enact legislation to cover that situation.

Chile had accepted refugee children from Colombia, as well as Palestinian children fleeing violence in Iraq. It was clear that Chile was doing a great deal to foster access to education and health care for such refugee minors, but Mr. Zermatten wished to know what was specifically being done to help them deal with trauma associated with their involvement in armed conflict? On this same subject, had Chile ratified the 1959 Protocols on stateless children?

The floor was then opened for a discussion, with Experts putting additional questions and concerns, and responses to those questions and others provided by the delegation.

An Expert was concerned about reports of certain pre-military schools, not operated by the Ministry of Defence, where children as young as 12 could be enrolled and where training with firearms was carried out. Had any complaints been brought by children in such schools? As for Luís Cruz Martínez Military Preparatory Institute, which was supervised by the Ministry of Education, were there any other ties with the military, such as instructors?

Responding on military schools, the delegation said that children in Chile could only enter such schools following the fourth year of secondary school – or after 12 years of compulsory education. Normally, that meant such students were 18, but of course it could be as young as 16. However, under no circumstances were those under 18 allowed to participate in hostilities.

The curriculum of the Military Preparatory Institute was drawn up by the Ministry of Education, the delegation continued. In the context of extracurricular activities, for two hours a week the students received military training comparable to that received by the Boy Scouts, such as in the identification of ranks in the armed forces and marching practices. There was no training in firearms at the Institute. As far as was known there had been no complaints made to the Ministry of Defence that such arms training was being carried out. As for private military schools that existed, there was no possibility of arms training in such schools. There were very strict rules controlling the use of firearms in Chile, and only the police and armed forces were authorized to carry such weapons.

As for the possibility of recruiting children under 18 for military service, even in the event that compulsory service was reinstated, the laws of registration for the draft effectively prevented those under 18 from being selected. Anticipatory enlistment, at the age of 17 years, was possible under an exceptional regulation, but anyone who was 16 years of age could not do so. That regulation also provided that such persons could not be mobilized in a situation of hostility until they reached 18 years of age, the delegation underscored.

An Expert then asked if minors of 17 who volunteered for anticipatory enlistment required the consent of their parents.

Clarifying the compulsory/voluntary issue with regard to military service, the delegation explained that, military service was still compulsory but, under the new laws, compulsory service was regulated so that few who did not wish to enlist were included. Out of some 40,000 recruits called up each year, there was only space for 16,000. The new legislation ensured that those 16,000 were selected on the basis of the conscripts desire to enlist, and the wishes of their parents – for military service also brought a number of benefits, which parents wanted their children to benefit from. Those who were pursuing a university degree were also exempt. What that meant was that only one third of the population ever did their military service, which had effectively done away with the need for compulsory enlistment. The trend in Chile was clearly towards the establishment of a professional military.

Was there a difference between civil and military defence, an Expert asked? The delegation responded that, as regarded civil emergencies, such as earthquakes or floods, whereas the local populations might mobilize themselves to provide assistance and deal with the situation, in no case was there compulsory recruitment for such manoeuvres.

On refugees, Chile worked with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to investigate the cases and to determine their status, the delegation said. Cases of children involved in armed conflict had been identified. Such refugees received their rightful access to health care, housing and education. As for refugees from Iraq, Chile was applying the same standards it did for refugees from other conflict areas, such as Bosnia. There were currently some 900 Palestinians who had been taken in, members of 12 extended families. They were being monitored in refugee camps, with a view to determining those who were able to join in national life, using criteria such as mastery of the national language etc. Of course, one felt for the children, but so far there had been no cases where it had been determined that the children were directly involved in armed conflict.

On issues involving Chilean peacekeeping troops, the delegation said that, over the past 10 years, not a single complaint had been lodged against Chile's 10,000 peacekeeping troops deployed throughout the world – in Haiti, Bosnia, Timor-Leste, and the Syrian Golan. The delegation attributed that fact to the excellence of the training programmes and the efforts made in that direction. Chile's academic community had been actively involved in designing and delivering human rights training programmes.

There had also been no reports of Chilean children involved in armed conflict, the delegation underscored, whether that was at home, or through international recruitment, by the use of bribes or by any other manner.

Detailing the strict gun laws in place in Chile, the delegation said that children were prohibited from possessing or using firearms. Adults were allowed to own such weapons, subject to a number of provisions, including passing a psychological test establishing their fitness to do so. If a minor between the ages of 14 and 18 possessed a firearm, they would be subject to criminal sanctions. However, those sanctions focused on rehabilitation and social reinsertion. Minors under 14 were not criminally liable.

Experts were concerned about cases in which adolescents might be subject to military law. An Expert brought up the case of 45 adolescent recruits who were frozen to death in an accident. She had read that the families of those recruits had had difficulty in getting a hearing of that case, as the case fell under the jurisdiction of military courts. The delegation confirmed that the accident had happened, but none of the victims had been under 18 years old. It was true that the case fell under military jurisdiction in terms of sanctions for the leaders responsible. However, with regard to financial compensation, the victims’ parents brought a case in the civil courts. As for crimes committed by Carabineros, under new legislative reforms in place in Chile, these fell under civil jurisdiction. That was in contradiction to the Armed Forces, who were subject to military law, the delegation said.

Preliminary Concluding Observations

In preliminary concluding observations, Committee Expert JEAN ZERMATTEN, Rapporteur for the report of Chile on the Optional Protocol on children in armed conflict, thanked the delegation for the extremely collegial dialogue. They had received important assurances in a number of areas: no children under 18 could be involved in armed conflict; compulsory recruitment was clearly fixed at 18; and safeguards for voluntary recruitment appeared sufficient. Information provided on the pre-Military State Institute was also satisfactory: it appeared to be a unique facility without training in firearms.

Recommendations would centre on the establishment of an independent national human rights institution, a children's human rights ombudsman, refugees and the process for ratifying their status within the framework of international standards.

Discussion on the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography

KAMEL FILALI, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of Chile on the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, said that trafficking in women and children was a very serious problem in Chile. The media had recently reported the case of a young girl who had put her child up for sale on the Internet. The information in the report, that Chile had agreed to review its legislation on the rights of the child, in particular with regard to adoptions, child pornography and prostitution, was therefore welcome. There was clearly a political will to address those problems. Progress had also been made in term of child sexual exploitation. Positive steps in that regard included ratification of ILO Convention No. 182 (concerning the Prohibition of the Worst Forms of Child Labour), and the important amendments to criminal law in this area, notably strengthening penalties for those who committed offences under the Optional Protocol.

However, with regard to child prostitution, there was no specific criminal provision in place in Chile, which would allow for effective implementation of the Optional Protocol, Mr. Filali said.

The report had also not contained information on how the crosscutting principles such as non-discrimination, and the higher interests of the child had been taken into consideration in the development and implementation of the Optional Protocol. There was also no information on the status of the Protocol in Chilean law, whether judges were being trained in the provisions of the Protocol, and whether it was used in case law, Mr. Filali pointed out.

Were there any taboos or other cultural mindsets that still prevailed that might make efforts to address the issues in the Protocol more difficult, Mr. Filali asked?

The statistical information provided for 2005 relating to the Protocol was insufficient, Mr. Filali felt, and required some clarification. Were there still unknown or undocumented issues under the Optional Protocol? There had been no statistics on organ donation, or disaggregated statistics. The Committee would like more information on how data collection and analysis was undertaken.

On the National Service for Minors, Mr. Filali asked whether that was a Government body, or a non-governmental organization, and what was its exact status. He would also appreciate specific information about how it assisted children within the legal process.

Turning to prevention, Mr. Filali commented that the report said there were Offices for Protection across the country, as well as a help line for children. But there did not appear to be many convictions. Did that indicate an overly heavy burden of proof, he wondered.

On cyber crime and its effects on children, Mr. Filali wanted to hear more about Chile's projects and plans for the future in this area.

ROSA MARIA ORTÍZ, Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for this report, said it was with some concern and surprise that – with so many efforts, including legal reforms and other initiatives – legislation in the area of the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography still lagged behind in Chile, and that there were few cases in which appropriate sentences had been handed down.

In particular, a bill for an ombudsman's institution was vitally needed if Chile wished to properly defend and protect children's rights.

The possession of pornography containing children still was not criminalized under Chilean law. It was known that the possession and use of pornography stimulated the desire to sexually abuse children. For that reason, Ms. Ortíz stressed that possession should be included as an offence under the law.

There was also a lack of dovetailing and coordination of plans to protect children. The National Service for Minors had a number of responsibilities, and it had a basic role to play, but as it came under a Ministry, it lacked the authority to work on an equal footing with the other ministries and to act as a driving force to strengthen legislation and other initiatives for children, Ms. Ortíz said.

An Expert was concerned by reports that child prostitutes in Chile continued to be treated as offenders, rather than as victims. An Expert echoed other Experts' worries about poor reporting and weak data in the areas covered by the Optional Protocol. An Expert raised the issue of protections for child victims during the judicial process, such as measures to limit the number of interrogations. If the perpetrator was a family member, what happened to the child? Were they removed from the family setting and what sort of care did they receive?

An Expert asked for more information about the sale of children. For example, could paid adoptions, under certain criteria, constitute a sale of children? An Expert was concerned that the Victims and Witnesses Unit, which protected child victims in the context of legal proceedings, was attached to the Public Prosecutor's Office.

An Expert asked for the specific definitions of the prohibited acts defined under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography in Chilean legislation. Whereas trafficking was not specifically included under this Protocol, that could be included as well as a related offence. An Expert noted that, if a child were trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation, or forced labour, it did fall under the Protocol, and asked for information and any data available on such trafficking within Chile.

An Expert wondered if the title of Chile's plan to combat child commercial sexual exploitation, "National Plan for Decent Treatment of Children, 2000-2006" had been a faithful translation. In English, that title did not indicate a rights-based approach to children's issues, but had other overtones, implying that the Government was caring for children out of generosity.

As street children were particularly vulnerable to victimization in the context of commercial sexual exploitation, the sale of children and child pornography, an Expert was concerned to know what programmes or initiatives targeted that group, which had been the subject of the Committee's recommendations in other contexts. Another concern were recent reports of a growing involvement of boys in sexual exploitation, and he asked if the delegation would comment on that and on any plans focused on helping such victims.

Responding to questions on an Ombudsman's institution, the delegation said that that was a topic that was currently pending in Parliament. A draft proposal had been presented. A draft project for an independent national human rights institution, based on the Paris Principles, had also been presented by the Executive, and was before Committees in both the upper and lower houses of Parliament for consideration.

On the legal status of the Optional Protocol, it had constitutional ranking the delegation said. That meant that the State organs were bound to promote the rights contained therein, it had precedence over other domestic laws, and it could be invoked directly in the courts. That was the case for all duly ratified international treaties. So far, there had been no case law based on the Optional Protocol. Here, an Expert noted that the Optional Protocol had important differences from other international treaties. Under it, States parties had to take concrete measures and had to harmonize all their domestic legislation with the Optional Protocol. The Optional Protocol did not directly define the offences it covered; rather, those had to be specifically incorporated in a State's penal provisions. The delegation replied that Chile was translating a number of the Optional Protocol's obligations into criminal legislation, for example, as was being done in the law on human trafficking.

To understand better how the law worked, an Expert asked the delegation to explain exactly what would happen in a case involving the sale of a child by its parents for international adoption. The delegation responded that that behaviour would be punishable under existing Chilean law. There had been adaptation of Chile's civil legislation with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention had been cited in numerous adoption cases. It was the "punishment" for such actions that was currently under reform.

Here, it was important to underscore that there was not a problem of the sale of children in Chile, and such cases had not been reported. The only case that had been reported was one of a teenage mother-to-be who, along with the child's father, sought to obtain money by committing the unborn child for adoption. As soon as that offer came to light, the National Service for Minors intervened with a district judge. The teen mother – because of the poverty and overcrowded living situation of her family – was put into a treatment centre, where she had the baby. In the end, the mother decided to retain custody of the child, with the assistance from a support network. It should be underscored that this was a case of attempted sale – an offer had been made – but, in the end, because of timely intervention and with social assistance, that sale had been prevented.

As for the status and functions of the National Service for Minors, it was a public body under the Ministry of Justice, the delegation said. The 15 regions were represented and there were some 105 offices throughout the country. The National Service for Minors had comprehensive programmes for protecting children whose rights had been violated and in conflict of law situations. Efforts in this area concentrated on the local environment, and the National Service for Minors, in addition to its own projects, worked with non-governmental organizations carrying out some 1,000 programmes throughout the country. There were 16 programmes specifically addressing sexual exploitation, and 20 specialized operations in that area. Moreover, the National Service for Minors, with partner organizations, such as ILO, also carried out programme evaluations.

A study undertaken on street children, in areas most affected, had identified 1,040 such children. A street children monitoring group had been set up, bringing together non-governmental organizations, local government and private enterprise, to try and determine the extent of the phenomenon and to take such children into care. There was evidence to suggest that the efforts undertaken to date were meeting with success and that they were on the right track, the delegation observed. As for child prostitution, in 2006, the National Service for Minors was caring for 635 children who had been victims of such exploitation, 25 per cent of them teenage boys.

As for child disappearances, and an Expert who had heard reports of 7,000 disappeared children, a member of the delegation said that was the first time she had heard any such figure, which appeared greatly exaggerated. At a guess, that figure might represent the total number of all reported child disappearances – 99 per cent of which involved children who had "run away from home" and returned to their families within 24 hours.

In response to Experts' concern over lack of convictions, the delegation underscored that, since the Penal Code had been reformed, in 2007, there had been a great increase in the number of sentences handed down in areas related to the Optional Protocol, with 2,000 sentences for various sexual crimes so far. There was a lot more to do – in particular with regard to definition of specific crimes – but progress had been made.

One difficulty in prosecuting sexual crimes was that often in such cases the crimes were perpetrated by a member of the family, the delegation pointed out. Children often were unwilling or unable to bring complaints against members of their families. To address that, under the recent reforms, the statute of limitations on such crimes had been extended to five years and more.

Protections for minors in the legal process had been improved, as had been mentioned. For sexual crimes involving minors, victims could make statements in a separate room, in the presence of a judge, and did not have to confront their victimizers. The public prosecutor and the defence lawyer did not necessarily participate, to avoid an adversarial atmosphere. Whatever the result of the trial, the child was always entitled to protection, the delegation underlined.

In response to Experts' concerns about a lack of a crime of possession of pornographic materials, and only a 10 per cent conviction rate for such crimes, the delegation confirmed that there was no crime of "possession" of pornographic materials in Chile. The law specified that the "storage" of such materials was criminalized. A judge interpreted that term to mean that there had to be enough material "stored" for commercial sale, and that "storage" did not mean possession of a single pornographic image. The delegation thought that was an incorrect interpretation, and hoped it would be overturned.

An Expert asked about a particular case of an American national who had been caught with child pornography in his possession at a Chilean airport. He was reportedly deported to Panama, and she wondered why that had been done, rather than prosecuting him under Chilean law. Would an extended jurisdiction improve the conviction rate for such crimes? An Expert drew attention to the paragraphs in the report referring to extraterritorial jurisdiction for offences under the Optional Protocol, which acknowledged that such jurisdiction was not available for all offences under the Protocol. It also appeared from the wording that Chile did not have jurisdiction for such crimes when they involved Chilean citizens committing sexual crimes abroad. That was clearly needed.

The delegation responded that they had already explained about the difficulties encountered in prosecuting cases that fell under the category of "storage" of pornographic material. It was important to await a ruling from the higher courts as to the validity of the current interpretation. As to the allegation that only 10 per cent of such cases were prosecuted in Chile, that seemed incorrect. Investigations of such crimes were highly professional and were carried out by two specialized teams, one devoted to cases involving children. As for the case in the airport, that had occurred in 2003, before the recent legal reforms and it had not been easy to establish jurisdiction in that case. Today, jurisdiction could be established for that crime.

Cyber-monitoring took place systematically and regularly, the delegation underscored, as one of the measures to prevent children from coming into contact with pornographic images. Admittedly, there were a lot of emerging topics here with new technologies, such as sending images via portable phones. The National Service for Minors also offered the possibility of assistance for children stigmatized by the circulation of pornographic images of them. It had carried out a pilot project on cyber security for children on the Internet, which included a module on the dangers posed to children of having their images uploaded, whether on a cell phone or via the Internet. Children were made aware that paedophiles could access their video blogs, for example. It was hoped that that seminar would be repeated.

Regarding the Children's Observatory, that mechanism had been established in August 2007, with the mandate to follow-up on measures taken to promote and protect children's rights, and to ensure that legal protection gaps were filled, the delegation said.

As for concerns about child sex tourism, the delegation said that Chile was not a country known for child sex tourism. Nowhere, either abroad or at home, would any promotion of Chile as a sexual tourism destination be found.

Preliminary Concluding Observations

In preliminary concluding observations, ROSA MARIA ORTÍZ, Co-Rapporteur for the report, hoped that today's discussion had been a very constructive occasion for Chile, as it had been for the Committee. She also congratulated the organs of civil society in Chile, who had been in the vanguard in this area, providing a number of programmes for victims, and supplying information to the Committee.

Among areas for the Committee's recommendations would be the need for the criminalization of all the acts defined under the Optional Protocol, to enable their prosecution and to prevent impunity; the extension of extraterritoriality for such crimes, including through bilateral agreements with other countries; and the adoption of a law on child protection would be recommended. It was also hoped that the draft Ombudsman's Act, which foresaw the establishment of a child defender, would soon be adopted. Coordination between the various actors involved was also an area of concern. There were great hopes for the new Children's Observatory, and the delegation would await information from it on compliance with the Convention as well as the two Optional Protocols. Measures to prevent child sexual tourism would also be encouraged, and the involvement of tour operators in such activities.


For use of the information media; not an official record

CRC08007E