COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD EXAMINES THE REPORT OF COLOMBIA

The Committee on the Rights of the Child today concluded its consideration of the combined third and fourth periodic reports of Colombia on its implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Introducing the report, Cristina Plazas Michelsen, Director of the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare, said that peace was now a real possibility and that the Colombian Development Plan for the next four years was structured around the key pillars of peace, equity and education. Colombia had increased its investment in childhood and adolescence from $ 1.3 billion in 2011 to $ 2 billion in 2014, while the 2006 Code for Children incorporated the obligations from the Convention and other human rights instruments. The Policy for Comprehensive Childhood Care aimed to create favourable conditions for children under the age of six and focused on quality, and was an effective mechanism to prevent violence against children. Colombia faced the challenge of ironing out the inequalities between regions and groups, particularly the indigenous peoples, Afrodescendants, people affected by the conflict and people living in the border and rural areas.

Committee Experts inquired about the exclusion of and discrimination against indigenous children, children belonging to ethnic minorities and Afrodescendants, and asked about the affirmative action to ensure that they enjoyed their rights. An issue of great concern was violence against children, including in family settings, and Experts asked about measures to reduce violence and deaths of children by criminal gangs and armed groups, and how families could be strengthened to protect their children. There were some 5 million displaced persons in Colombia, half of whom were children and adolescents; Experts asked about measures to address the root causes of forced displacement and provide a comprehensive system of protection for displaced children. Other issues raised in the discussion included child labour, children in street situation, trafficking of women and children, particularly for sexual purposes, forced recruitment of children by non-State armed groups, the sexual violence they committed against girls and efforts to protect children during armed conflict.

Kirsten Sandberg, Committee Chairperson and Country Rapporteur for the report of Colombia, in concluding remarks, thanked the delegation for the informative and fruitful dialogue and said that there was a need to better understand how everything was being implemented on the ground.

In concluding remarks, Ms. Plazas Michelsen said that Colombia was moving forward on the path of peace, and children occupied an important place in public policies; there were challenges ahead, particularly in closing the gap between rural and urban children, caring about the vulnerable and the ceaseless battle against corruption.

The delegation of Colombia included representatives of the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare, Office of the President, Office of the Inspector General for Children and Family, Ministry of Labour, Unit for Attention and Reparation of Victims, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The next public meeting of the Committee will be at 3 p.m., when it is scheduled to start the examination of the combined second to fourth periodic report of Switzerland (CRC/C/CHE/2-4) under the Convention and its initial report under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children (CRC/C/OPSC/CHE/1), in Chamber A. Also at 3 p.m., the Committee will continue in Chamber B its consideration of the combined second to fourth periodic report of Iraq under the Convention (CRC/C/IRQ/2-4).

Report

The combined fourth and fifth periodic report of Colombia can be read via the following link: CRC/C/COL/4-5.

Presentation of the Report

CRISTINA PLAZAS MICHELSEN, Director of the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare, introducing the report, said that Colombia was taking steps towards peace, which was now a real possibility; its Development Plan for the next four years was structured around the key pillars of peace, equity and education. The Code for Children 2006 incorporated the obligations from the Convention and other human rights instruments, while institutions had been strengthened through the national family welfare system. Investment in childhood and adolescence had been increased from $ 1.3 billion in 2011 to $ 2 billion in 2014. Colombia had a unified childhood data system with 53 indicators that related to the effective enjoyment of rights. The Policy for Comprehensive Childhood Care aimed to create favourable conditions for children under the age of six and focused on quality; this strategy also had a direct impact on the reduction of violence against children and had become an effective prevention mechanism. The National Strategy for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labour and other national plans to combat trafficking in persons and prevent and eradicate commercial sexual exploitation of children were in place; more than 60 comprehensive penal centres were mandated with investigating sexual domestic violence. Over the past four years, 2.4 million Colombians had been lifted out of poverty; significant efforts were being made to combat hunger and chronic malnutrition of children under the age of five, while public schooling had been free of charge since 2011.

The challenge was to iron out the inequalities between regions and groups, particularly the indigenous peoples, Afrodescendants, people affected by the conflict and people living in the border and rural areas. Extreme poverty in rural areas was 3.2 times higher than in urban areas, while in the three departments with majority indigenous and Afrodescendants populations, 25 per cent lived in extreme poverty. That was why the first pillar of peace must be the overcoming of inequality and the first beneficiaries of such measures must be children and youth. The second pillar for durable and sustainable peace was reconciliation, including through the implementation of the 2011 Law for victims and land restitution, which had been recognized as the world’s most ambitious integral reparation programme. The armed conflict had caused great harm to children, through forced recruitment, displacement, disability and other forms of violence. Progress had been made in the integral reparation of more than 30,000 victims, and the State had provided services to more than 5,600 adolescents who were victims of forced recruitment by armed groups. The inter-sectorial Committee for the prevention of recruitment, utilization and sexual violence against children was composed of 23 State entities and was established in 2007. Colombia was aware that reconciliation would only be the result of transformations that involved a fundamental cultural change based on the guarantee and realization of human rights. Part of the challenge was to strengthen the ability of families and communities to protect boys, girls and adolescents from all forms of abuse, exploitation and violence. The Office of the Public Prosecutor had recently been reformed to expand its technical and operational capacity to the whole national territory.

Questions by the Country Rapporteurs

KIRSTEN SANDBERG, Committee Chairperson and Country Rapporteur for the report of Colombia, welcomed the enactment of the Child and Adolescence Act 2006 and noted that its effective implementation was a problem. Had the National Development Plan 2010-2014 been evaluated and how were the findings incorporated in the new phase 2014-2018, and how did this link up to the National Action Plan for Childhood and Adolescents? The Chairperson noted that between 2003 and 2010 the share of the public budget on children had increased, but later the share had gone down to the same level as in 2003. The delegation was asked to explain the way Colombia dealt with the business sector in relation to children’s rights, and how their activities were monitored and regulated, particularly in the mining and tourist industries, and about the measures to address the high level of corruption.

WANDERLINO NOGUEIRA NETO, Committee Expert acting as Country Rapporteur for the report of Colombia, took up the issue of discrimination and asked what was being done to address the exclusion and discrimination suffered by the children of indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities and Afrodescendants. What affirmative action was being taken to ensure that those children enjoyed their rights, particularly to access health and education? The 1991 Colombian Constitution had established the primacy of the right of the child over the rights of the others; how was this principle of the best interest of the child implemented in practice and were there any limitations to its implementation? Turning to issues of inequalities, the Country Rapporteur noted that the economic development in Colombia had not gone hand in hand with the equal distribution within society and asked about the link between socio-economic factors and vulnerability to abuse, violence and exploitation. The delegation was also asked to comment on the rights of children to be heard and the participation of children in decision making.

KIRSTEN SANDBERG, Committee Chairperson and Country Rapporteur for the report of Colombia, asked about the legal age for marriage and the plans to raise it to 18 years of age. There were deaths of children and violence against children in general; one third of deaths of children between 15 and 17 years of age were perpetrated by Government agents. What could be done to reduce violence and deaths of children by newly emerging armed groups? The National Committee for the eradication and prevention of commercial sexual exploitation of children had lost its dynamism; what could be done to reinvigorate it? Corporal punishment was not comprehensively prohibited, while children of indigenous communities enjoyed weaker protection than other children. The delegation was asked to inform about the effects and impact of the 2012 law on domestic violence and about general measures to prevent and address domestic violence. Most violence, including sexual violence, occurred in families; how could families be strengthened to protect their children, and also how could children be protected from their families? Were there intentions to enact a legal ban on female genital mutilation?

Replies by the Delegation

In response to the questions asked by the Committee Experts, the delegation said that after the law 1098 on childhood and adolescence of 2006, which incorporated the provisions of the Convention on the Right of the Child, childhood and adolescence policies had become of utmost importance. The Law had been evaluated in 2008 and as a result the new Childhood Law was now in place, giving the primary responsibility for its implementation to governors and mayors, who had carried out a diagnosis of childhood and youth in their departments. Colombia was concerned about violence and had developed a policy to address violence in the family unit; in 2009 the Law on Integrated Family Care had been approved and legislation to prevent violence against women was in place.

The territories had a great degree of autonomy and had public policies that made childhood and youth a priority. The national institute of family affairs had a strong institutional presence in the territories. The evaluation of childhood and youth policies and the Zero to Always policies had been carried out and Colombia now included in the Development Plan five key areas, such as building greater capacity for territorial management, quality coverage by providing services with real impact on the population, and social mobilization and participation of children. Resources dedicated to children, particularly health and education, were on the constant increase.

The delegation stressed that Colombia had moved from simply guaranteeing specific rights to children, to creating a protective environment for them; 400,000 families in Colombia had been provided access to specific services. Over the past five years, the focus had been on protecting groups vulnerable to discrimination and exclusion, particularly indigenous peoples, to enable them to create their own educational and health systems. Some indigenous peoples were losing their language, so the law on recovery of indigenous languages had been adopted, which ensured action from early childhood and saw that indigenous children socialized in their mother tongues. The Board for Monitoring of Indigenous Children and Childhood had been created, to strengthen indigenous communities and ensure they received good quality services. The Anti-Discrimination Law underpinned differentiated actions for ethnic populations and allowed for the creation of specific and differentiated projects. A range of strategies was in place, including one on dealing with indigenous victims of sexual violence.

Concerning the relationship with companies and their compliance with the rules stemming from the Convention, the delegation spoke about key strategies, including strengthening the inspection capacities of the State to ensure compliance, and said that territories themselves could regulate everything that was connected to the policing of the land.

Colombia considered impunity as another form of violence and had done important work on access to justice and the prevention of crime. Integrated care centres for victims of violence had been set up, to deal with emotional, social and economic consequences of violence. A child or adolescent who was a victim of a crime was supported by State agencies to ensure proper access to justice and avoid re-victimization.

Questions by the Committee Experts

Violence was a great concern in all settings, particularly in family settings, and the Committee Expert wondered how the Government would ensure equal access to support programmes for early childhood development throughout the country. Teenage pregnancies were on the rise despite the overall declining national birth rates; one fifth of girls aged 15 to 18 became mothers. Despite efforts, many children were still separated from their families, partly because of poverty or displacement; what efforts were being made to prevent separation and what reunification measures were in place? The Committee was concerned about the huge number of children adopted from Colombia and about mental health issues among adolescents because of heavy drinking and the use of cocaine and other substances.

WANDERLINO NOGUEIRA NETO, Committee Expert acting as Country Rapporteur for the report of Colombia, said that Colombia had been moving towards providing free education and there had been progressive provision of free education in preschool, primary and secondary education in State schools. The delegation was asked about the progress made in improving quality education and in strengthening the education sector overall, in particular education for indigenous peoples and Afrodescendants; the selection and recruitment of teachers, their retention in service and that they had appropriate didactic tools for human rights education; and about the progress in strengthening the education cycle and ensuring the continuity of students throughout it.

Another Committee Expert referred to reports stating that some five million persons were displaced in Colombia, and that more than half of them were children and adolescents. The delegation was asked about the mandate of the mobile support units and about the efforts of the Government to deal with the root causes of forced displacement and to provide a comprehensive system of protection for displaced children. Despite legislative and policy progress, child labour persisted and 1.7 million children were working in productive activities or performing tasks as home. There were also concerns about children working in the mining industry and children forced to work with illegal substances. How many children were in a street situation and what efforts were in place to deal with the situation and protect these children, and deal with the stereotype in the society that children in street situation were criminals? Colombia was considered as one of the main countries of origin of trafficking in women and children, particularly for sexual purposes. How many cases of child trafficking were investigated, how many resulted in convictions and what measures were in place to ensure the rehabilitation of children in the society?

The delegation was also asked to explain the position of the Government on the proposals to lower the age of criminal responsibility and to expand the list of crimes for which children would be criminally responsible; about forced recruitment of children by non-State armed groups, the sexual violence they committed against girls and the efforts to protect children during armed conflict; and about the peace process and the preparedness of the Government to deal with the post-peace situation, which would see a great number of demobilized children, or a massive return of the displaced population.

Replies by the Delegation

Colombia was undergoing one of the most important periods in its history, one of hope and great challenges. Three years ago the Government had recognized the existence of the armed conflict which had left hundreds of thousands of victims, 31 per cent of whom were children. The adoption and the implementation of the Victims Law was grounded in the human rights principles and had led to the establishment of the Protocol of Participation of children and of women. A single victims’ register was in place which contained disaggregated data; over 90 per cent of victims under the age of 18 had been victims of displacement, and children also suffered forced recruitment, violence and sexual abuse.

More than 69,000 children were victims of crimes committed by criminal gangs who were responsible for 2.5 per cent of the deaths of minors. The Colombian Institute of Family Welfare had been providing care and protection for victims of criminal gang groups; 19,900 murders had been found in the single victims register and one per cent could be attributed to State officials. In Colombia there were 4.6 million persons victims of forced displacement, who were to be found mainly in cities; the situation of displacement was one that had to be urgently addressed by the Government. Family reunification was an issue; 47 per cent of those requesting family reunification had it granted, representing progressive increase in this right. A preventive strategy to address forced recruitment had been put in place, as was the integrated programme for psycho-social care for victims of conflict.

The participation of children in peace negotiations was seen as a keystone and young people were being consulted to ensure that their voices were heard. Colombia was ready for peace and the delegation stressed the importance of putting in place a mechanism to ensure the appropriate demobilisation and reintegration in the society of children associated with the armed groups.

A Committee Expert commented on the Victims Unit which was providing care and support to all victims of the conflict, noting that this might not be the best approach given the different needs of different kinds of victims, for example demobilized child soldiers, victims of sexual violence, or displaced persons.

In response, the delegate said that since 2007, the Government had in place a specialized programme to provide psycho-social care to demobilized children and in 2012 it had started the implementation of the Victims Law which recognized the existence of armed conflict and the victims of the conflict, while the Victim Unit provided different care for different categories of victims. The comprehensive reparation for children had started already in 2012 and the main aspiration was to ensure that there were no more children victims of conflict. The State was providing care and support for all victims of the conflict, regardless of the perpetrator, and also included victims of criminal gangs.

An Expert remarked that two million children were displaced and that there was a need for a specific mechanism in place to provide them with the assistance and support that they needed.

The delegation said that since 2004, $ 15 billion had been invested in the care of victims, 50 per cent of which had been allocated over the past two years, demonstrating the clear commitment of the Government to address this issue. More than 5,200 children had been demobilized since 1999 and the budget of almost $ 4 billion had been allocated for the support and care programmes for this category of children; the programme also included children who left criminal gangs.

In order to efficiently combat organized crime, the Office of the Attorney-General had a directive which implemented a criminal investigation system which prioritized crimes as outputs of organized crime and sought to identify those really responsible for the crime. The perpetrators were responsible under the law on transitional justice.

Public investment in education represented five per cent of gross domestic product and was invested in education, or more than $ 26 billion over the past five years. To extend the coverage, particularly in indigenous and rural areas, 19,000 teachers had been trained over the past four years. In 13,600 schools, from preschool education to high schools, these teachers had been trained to improve their teaching practices and strengthen their teaching skills. In addition, 8,000 teachers had been trained in human rights and citizenship, while scholarship funds had been established to support best students leaving high school in their choice to train as teachers. Since 2011, public education had been free of charge and today 8.5 million children were in education.

Between 2011 and 2013, more than $ 142 million had been invested in school transport, while the school feeding budget was over $ 3 billion in addition to funds invested by territories; those were the two most effective measures to support children to stay in schools. Over the past four years, 15 mega-colleges had been built and were strategically placed around the country. Over the coming four years, $ 3 billion would be invested to reduce the existing deficits and shortages in school places. No girl could be excluded from school because of pregnancy; it was important to say that almost 13 per cent of girls did leave school because of pregnancy.

The gender equity policy was in place and had been built together with civil society and with the participation of women and men from all sectors and all parts of the society. It addressed areas of peace building, empowerment, non-violence against women, women health and others, and involved 34 State bodies. The policy was implemented through a national plan, and for the first time, substantive resources of over $ 1 billion were being allocated for its implementation.

Various activities were being implemented to reduce the incidence of teenage pregnancies, and this had been one of the goals in territorial development plans, with appropriately allocated budgets. Colombia now had complete coverage in health care, giving unfettered and free access to contraceptives to all, including youth. It was illegal to have sexual relations with children under the age of 14, and many doctors used not to report pregnancies in girls under the age of 14; the health inspectorate was monitoring the situation to ensure reporting did happen. At the moment there were 8,000 investigations into cases of pregnancies under the age of 14. Abortion was prohibited, except in cases of rape, foetal malformation and danger to the life of the mother.

With regard to measures to ensure that all children in Colombia could benefit from early childhood programmes, a delegate said that the focus was on specific needs of children, since prior to conception, through infancy, early childhood, adolescence, breastfeeding, etc. There were about 5 million children in the early childhood phase and more than 400,000 were victims of the armed conflict. Targeted actions on specific issues were essential, and the Government focused on children victims of violations, violence and abuse, marginalized children and children with disabilities. The family violence policy was in place and 1.2 million families benefitted from family services including the support to parenting or child-to-child monitoring.

One of the key strategies to protect human rights defenders was the 2009 plan within which there was an ongoing dialogue to find solutions to the problems and to guarantee the rights of human rights defenders. In an effort to combat impunity, 66 investigations into attacks on human rights defenders had been initiated. A prevention and protection programme, which was unique in the world, was in place, which aimed to provide protection to individuals and communities who needed it; today, some 500 human rights defenders were enjoying protection under this programme.

Colombia was in compliance with the Hague Convention on International Adoption and ensured that guarantees were respected. There were no “private homes” and there were only eight authorised institutions which could carry international adoption and they were constantly monitored by the State.

The current age of criminal responsibility was between 14 and 18 years of age; minors committing offences did not fall under criminal justice but restorative care. The challenge was in defining the criminal system and how it tied with the system of family welfare, and deciding on the lead agency and the coordinating body in this regard; the draft Presidential Decree defined the Ministry of Justice as the lead agency. There were at the moment several proposals to change the age of criminal responsibility.

Concluding Remarks

KIRSTEN SANDBERG, Committee Chairperson and Country Rapporteur for the report of Colombia, thanked the delegation for the informative and fruitful dialogue and said that there was a need to better understand how everything was being implemented on the ground.

CRISTINA PLAZAS MICHELSEN, Director of the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare, thanked the Committee for the opportunity to inform them of the progress made and the challenges that remained. Colombia welcomed criticism to further improve the situation and said that it required huge efforts to build a country on the principles of reconciliation. Investments made for children and adolescents and the robust control system represented real achievements. Colombia was moving forward on the path of peace, and children occupied an important place in public policies; there were challenges ahead, particularly in closing the gap between rural and urban children, caring about the vulnerable and the ceaseless battle against corruption.