Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: On 28 September, in Argentina, after 15 years of legislative wrangling, MPs passed the Law of Full Protection of the Rights of Children and Young People. This has replaced the controversial Law on the Welfare of Minors which considered minors "objects of the legal system" and not as "subjects of rights", as set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child which was ratified by Argentina in 1990.
[29 September 2005] - Last Wednesday in Argentina, after 15 years of legislative wrangling, MPs passed the Law of Full Protection of the Rights of Children and Young People. This has replaced the controversial Law on the Welfare of Minors which considered minors "objects of the legal system" and not as "subjects of rights", as set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child which was ratified by Argentina in 1990. The new law clearly states that a parent or guardian's lack of resources cannot be used as a reason "to authorise the separation of a child from his or her family nor can it be used to justify his or her institutionalisation." This is particularly important because the Law on the Welfare of Minors allowed the State to institutionalise a minor for being the accused or victim of a crime, or "if a minor were found materially or morally abandoned or in moral danger." This law recognises under-18-year-olds as "rights-holders" under article 3. Article 24 sets out their right to have their opinions taken into account; this is extended to all spheres of their life, in the family, community, at school and in science, culture and sport. Gabriel Lerner, the National Director of Rights and Programmes for the National Council for Childhood, Adolescence and the Family, said in an interview with Argentian newspaper Clarín: "The law has three broad themes. Firstly, it enforces children's rights as recognised in the Convention. Secondly, it names as the principal guarantors of children's rights the National Executive Power and the provincial authorities and those of the city of Buenos Aires. It is the job of judges to ensure that these rights are upheld, not to take them away. Finally, new institutions must be established in accordance with the law." A group of organisations advocating for the rights of Children and Young People including the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Brothers and Sisters for Truth and Justice for the Disappeared, Serpaj and Cels declared that "this highly democratic law gives all children and young people equal status before the law." Lerner warns that the law is necessary but not sufficient to change old practices, which will also require cultural change on the part of the State and civil society.