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Summary: CRIN is contacting all candidates standing for election to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in December 2012. We are asking them about their experience in children's rights, what they think they can contribute to the Committee, what they think about key issues, their vision for the Committee and, importantly, how they see NGOs' role. Interviews have been edited where appropriate for clarity and brevity.
Sara de Jesus Oviedo Fierro is currently Representative for Ecuador at the Inter-American Children's Institute, and until October 2012 held the position of Executive-Secretary at the National Council of Childhood and Adolescence. To read Sara's CV, click here. Why do you want to serve on the Committee? Because I recognise the importance of the institution. In first place because I think it's an institution that can provide the conditions in which to make specific provisions and advances in relation to children's rights. It has proven to be a very effective institution in this respect... The second point is on a more personal level. For the past seven years, I've been my country's representative at the Inter-American Children's Institute, and [during this time] I was able to appreciate...the importance of collaborative institutions, where we can, among different countries, create measures that will advance [and] guarantee children's rights. And [in third place], I believe that I've spent a considerable part of my life working according to people's rights – from the age of 13 – [and] from an early age I understood that one is either for or against human rigths. [This is why now] I find myself seeking a place on the Committee on the Rights of the Child. What experience do you have on working in children's rights? I worked for many years on indigenous rights. I also joined the women's rights movement. And 33 years ago, I began working in children's rights, [23 of which] I worked on [issues concerning] children younger than five in what has now come to be known as public policy on early childhood. I coordinated the construction of the second National Plan of Action on Integral Protection of Children and Adolescents, which [in Ecuador] commits precisely to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and which is binding from 2005 to 2015. [Now] in October, my management of the National Council of Childhood and Adolescence, [where] I have worked as the Executive Secretary for eight years, will come to an end. As the head of the Council, I think that [this] has been the most rewarding experience I've had…as an advocate of this cause for children, always led by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. What do you think are the main barriers to children's rights being fulfilled? In my opinion, the main barrier is culture,...in the sense of what we as adults and as a society believe children are. It's as if by the power of the Holy Spirit it were decided [that only] at the age of 18 do we have all of our capacities. [It's like a] sort of schizophrenia – for lack of a better word – which adults have. What happens before [one turns] 18 is not important to society, or to adults, and in general [neither] to the authorities. This regrettable dissociation that's in society allows for them [children] to be invisible until the age of 18. Every time I speak about this [issue] at a national level I always [mention that] when we were children and adolescents we were of the group of families that would say to us: “You keep quiet. You don't understand... This is between adults. Stop being a nuisance.” From that invisibility, from that submission, from that cultural reality that's so pronounced which I'm talking about – [and] which can reach extremes – [adults] feel like they have the authority to do [whatever they] like with a child. So accross my country, in the work that I've developed, we have debated this type of [issue], and it's shocking just how entrenched it all is. I do believe that it [would be] a very important and very revolutionary change [to achieve], and...if humanity does achieve it, it will work in everyone's favour. Which areas of the Convention do you think need more clarification? I've written a sort of work plan [that] more or less addresses this question. [In it], I didn't want to refer to the Convention by saying “in this part, and in that part, and in this other one”, [beacause] I appreciate that the Convention in and of itself is a historical product, in the sense that it was born out of a certain circumstance, out of a certain moment. What has happened since then, and what generally happens in society and in humanity, is that new pheneomenons are arising, new situations, new forms of violations of children's rights. So rather than me just giving a list of [areas of] the Convention, what I did was [look at current] reality,...orienting myself in it, so to speak. Those who developed the Convention fulfilled their task, [and] there's always [the] possibility [of] saying: “Let's see, here in this momement [in time] it's my turn to act, [and] what we need to do is take these steps, [and] carry out these solutions”. As regards which issues I think need more emphasis, it's simple: those that have arisen in this moment in time. The issue of girls' childhood – girls' childhood – needs to be delved into much more. I know that Plan International has launched a campaign precisely in relation to girls. The phenomenon of trafficking, for example, has grown a lot, and the main victims of trafficking are girls. We can no longer say that here in this country girls are not sent to school. Because it used to be like that. It used to happen when I was a girl. It no longer happens. But there are other things [for which] we need to put this emphasis on girls. So trafficking and the multiple forms of human trafficking, and the use of social networks for the same purpose. I'm not going against social networks,...but I do think these situations need futher research. [On a recent visit] to Geneva, I realised the importance of civil society organisations...and how they support of the Committee's work. I think that presence is really important, and [according to] Committee members themselves, its work would be very restricted without that presence. And on that point you can understand [why in] my post, which is a public role, I had one foot in the public sector and the other foot in civil society. However I'm aware that in general within the government, there are strong restrictions in relation to civil society. What does happen – and this is a problem that we have [in Ecuador] – is that in countries like [mine], the contributions made by civil society, and therefore also their presence, is less and less, because it's assumed that it's no longer necessary. But I [continue to consider it] important, and I think it's essential for the Committee. Part of the Committee's role will be to examine complaints submitted under the new Optional Protocol to the CRC. How do you think this will change children's rights advocacy One of the most important areas of the work of the institution that I manage, is precisely receiving complaints – complaints from children, complaints from institutions and parents. In this sense, I think that [the Optional Protocol] is going to keep the Committee quite well connected to [children's] reality, and that is very important. The dynamics of the Committee will be more consistent with real life, [and will be able to] propose and continue proposing new issues, more than it is currently [doing]. But [this] will require other institutional skills [and] capacities within the Committee. I imagine that they are already working on it. [The complaints] will be a constant thing. […] But...incorporating this element of complaints, [is] definitely very powerful, it will be very important, and believe me that it will give the Committee a new change. A new change that I insist will place it more in the real world, and make it more current [in everyone's eyes] across the world. [It would] rely on regional mechanisms, [and] NGO networks. You'd have to think up the process,…but with a greater regional presence. What I feel here from Ecuador as part of the Inter-American Children's Institute, is detachment from the Committee. For me, the only possible way to conduct follow-up is to form an alliance with regional networks and bodies, and with them create small and agile bodies that can carry out this follow-up process. If you were appointed chair and had to make a big change on how the Committee works, what would it be? [There would be] three. The [first]: the issue of changing the submission methods of State reports. I would ask countries to submit an 800-odd-page [full] report, but that they [also] send me a very concise but detailed 20-odd-page executive summary. And if I have any doubts from the executive summary, then I'll refer to the [full] report. I've experienced the other site of the situation, [and] we find the [concluding] observations to be very useful politically. An NGO asked me in Geneva what I would do to overcome the problem of the...backlog of reports, [and] I said [that] I would request this executive [summary] report from States, and I would review it, and I would quickly send the reports to NGOs requesting their support by forming specialised teams to review the execitive [summary] reports. I would do a “minga”, as we say here in Ecuador, [which refers to] a collaborative job in which everyone lends a hand to [solve] a problem. The second part of the answer [refers to]...the procedural system of the Committee, that is to say how it is organised [and the need for it to] form alliances with regional institutions and NGO networks to establish these follow-up systems and [to bring] the Convention closer to each territory. I have proposed the need to establish clearer [and] closer ties between the Committee with institutions such as the Inter-American Children's Insititute, not only so that the Institute which is based here [in Latin America] can support the Committee a little more in [its] follow-up, but also so that the Institute itself can work according to the dynamics of the Convention. During [the last] five years, we have brought the Institute closer in line with the provisions of the Convention. It's not that it wasn't [already]; but it wasn't really a priority. I would also review the sessions. I would look into [different] forms of bicameralism. In other words, [splitting the Committee into] two groups, with one reviewing one group of countries and the other, another group [of coutnries]. Or I would [look into having] even more groups. In general, I would review the mecanisms, I would make collaborative decisions while seeking greaty flexibility, and above all greater visibility of what the Committee is doing. If you could propose a new right for the CRC, what would it be? I hadn't thought about this, but one that comes to mind now is the right to happiness, because... I think that being happy is part of childhood. Crying fits and kicking and screaming is only one aspect, but then you generally get this happiness, that lovely feeling of living [life]. Simply that. Monseñor Leonidas Proaño, the Bishop of the Indigenous People. The reason: the process of liberating the ancestral inhabitants in my province from the difficult circumstances in which they lived. He was my rolemodel. I was fortunate to have him as a rolemodel early on in my life, and that was key. Even to this day I still repeat his message... because I went through a lot with him, and I put it into practice, above all his beliefs, his integrity, [and] his way of leading life. The Ecuadorian National Council on Childhood and Adolescence carried out a survey of 25 juvenile courts in Ecuador, which revealed that children's testimonies are not systematically taken into account. According to your research, and in your opinion, what is the reason for this? The institutions…that are most closed off [to children's rigths] are... public institutions, [such as] ministries, - and justice institutions even more so. If they [judges in juvenile courts] are unable to see children, [then] they don't value them. So what are we talking about? Without a doubt it's about the cultural influence that I mentioned before, which has very deep roots. Precisely because of that is why judges in juvenile courts who are different stand out. But you can count these with the fingers on one hand - judges who manage to really understand the issue. And like I said, it's indolence that exists generally in the issue of justice,...indolence towards children.
Civil society organisations play a key role in the CRC monitoring process, yet globally, States are becoming more hostile towards their participation. How do you think this could impact the work of the Committee?
The Committee on the Rights of the Child is the only UN treaty body that lacks any follow-up procedure. If you were to develop the procedure, what would it look like?
Who has inspired you in your work and why?