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Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports.
Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity.
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- UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism
- UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
- UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples (2009)
- UN Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries
- UN Independent Expert on the Right to Development: Argentina, Chile, Brazil
- UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples (2003)
(A/HRC/25/59/Add.2)
Country visit: 17 to 30 July 2013
Report published: 14 April 2014
I. Introduction:
[...] (T)he Special Rapporteur consulted with relevant United Nations agencies, including the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. (para 7)
C. Legislative framework - 2. National legislative framework:
Alongside the Government’s commitment to dropping the cases relating to terrorist crimes referred to earlier, Act No. 20,467 was published in the Official Bulletin on 8 October 2010 and introduced amendments to the Counter-Terrorism Act (No. 18,314). (para 38)
Confronted with the erroneous interpretation of that second reform by the justice system (which continued to prosecute minors through the Counter-Terrorism Act), the law, however, was amended again in June 2011 through Act No. 20,519, which added a second and third paragraph to article 1 clearly forbidding the application of the law to minors. (para 39)
C. Excessive use of force by the police:
Another issue of serious concern to the Special Rapporteur is the use of excessive force by members of the Carabineros and the investigative police forces (Policía de Investigaciones), during raids or searches of Mapuche communities and the apprehension of suspects, together with the almost complete absence of accountability for the crimes of excessive violence committed against the Mapuche during the course of those searches. (para 69)
The issue was also recently highlighted by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which observed that the enforcement of the Counter-Terrorism Act and the undue and excessive use of force against members of the Mapuche people, including children, women and older persons, could have negative and discriminatory impacts on indigenous peoples that go beyond their impacts on the individuals suspected of having committed an offence [...].The Special Rapporteur further notes that violent situations in which the rights of Mapuche children have been violated have been documented by the Inter- American Commission on Human Rights, with the issuance of a public statement condemning the police for its disproportionate use of force. (para 70)
The Special Rapporteur believes that the use of excessive force by the Carabineros during the course of such searches was, until recently, commonplace and even systematic. He has been informed of numerous instances in which wholly disproportionate numbers of armed special forces have entered communities, often accompanied by helicopters and reinforcements, and in which non-lethal firearms have been discharged not only against adult males but against the elderly, women, children and even infants, causing many injuries. (para 72)
The Special Rapporteur visited the community of Juan Catrilaf II, which special forces of the Carabineros entered in October 2009 in pursuit of a single unarmed individual. Despite the fact that the resistance met from other members of the community was unarmed, the special forces discharged numerous firearms into the community that injured 19 people, including three women and a nine-month-old baby, who were struck with plastic bullets. Many of the victims were hospitalized; independent records of their injuries and treatment are available for investigation. (para 76)
UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
A/HRC/22/45/Add.1
Country visit: 13 to 21 August 2012
Report published: 29 January 2013
Right to reparation: The law establishes a reparations pension for the immediate family; a reparations voucher for victims’ children aged over 25; a compensation payment for the immediate family; study grants for victims’ children aged up to 35; access to the Compensation and Comprehensive Health-Care and Human Rights Programme, giving access to the public health system for free physical and mental health care; exemption from compulsory military service for victims’ children, grandchildren, siblings, nephews and nieces; and counselling and support for relatives in relation to identification and return of the remains of victims. (para 44).
Preventive measures: Based on the above considerations, the Working Group recommends that the Chilean State immediately register all cases of deprivation of liberty during mass demonstration. In the case of minors, families must be notified as soon as possible (para 69).
UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples
S. James Anaya
(A/HRC/16/43/Add.4 )
Country visit: 5 April – 9 April 2009
Report published: 24 April 2009
Report only available in Spanish.
UN Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries
Mr. José Luís Gómez del Prado
(A/HRC/7/7/Add.4 )
Country visit: 9 July – 13 July 2007
Report published: 4 February 2008
No children's rights references.
UN Independent Expert on the Right to Development: Argentina, Chile, Brazil
(E/CN.4/2004/WG.18/3 )
Country visit: March 2003
Report published: 23 January 2004
Nutrition: An important element of the food emergency programme was to run community canteens and to provide nutritional support to children at schools. Besides enhanced allocations to fund the initiative, additional assistance was provided for school canteens in the provinces with the worst shortages. To meet the employment emergency, in its PJHD programme, the Government provided a salary, for participation by heads of household in productive community work for up to six hours a day; completion of formal education; undertaking professional training; or working under a formal work contract. By January 2003 more than 1.9 million beneficiaries throughout the country had been assisted under the programme. The unique features of this programme have been the speed at which it has been expanded to cover the targeted population and the relative efficiency and transparency in targeting the needy. In the health sector, REMEDIAR is the biggest programme for the free provision of primary health-care medication in the world. It provides for free medication, supplied by the State, for the prevention and cure of major diseases at 6,200 primary health-care centres throughout the country, meeting the needs of the poorest. In the field of education 350,000 grants have been awarded to teenagers and young people from low-income families who are attending secondary school to encourage school retention; in addition, textbooks and school supplies have been distributed at all levels of the education system. There are other programmes that seek to include the poor and vulnerable groups in the social mainstream by providing subsidies to offset the costs of education, health care and training of children under 19 and women. (Paragraph 21)
School enrolment: In terms of social sector development, over the 1990s the country has achieved dramatic results in improving the living conditions of the people, brought about a near 10 percentage point reduction in the incidence of poverty by the middle of the decade and, more recently, taken steps towards sustaining its rich environmental heritage. The poverty incidence has remained the same even in the face of adverse shocks and stagnation in per capita income growth, unlike other countries in the region. The net enrolment in basic education has risen from 84 per cent at the beginning of the decade to 95 per cent at the end; in particular, school enrolments for 7-11 years have increased from 80.5 per cent to 96.5 per cent in 2000 and illiteracy rates have dropped from 18.3 per cent to 10.2 per cent in the same period; infant mortality has declined from 47.8 per 1,000 persons in 1990 to 29.6 in 2000; access to drinking water has improved from 73 per cent in 1986 to 87 per cent in 2000. However, about one third of the population is still below the poverty line, an incidence which is quite high for a country of Brazil's per capita income. It reflects the serious problem that exists in respect of income inequality in the country. The poorest one fifth of the population account for only a 2.2 per cent share of national income or, from the other end, before transfers the richest 1 per cent of the population receives the same 10 per cent share of national income as the poorest 50 per cent. Income inequalities exist between rural and urban populations and between different racial groups and regions of the country. The income and social indicators are particularly lagging in the north-eastern region of the country. Similarly, on the issue of environmental management, though steps are being taken to address issues, there are many gaps. With 82 per cent of the population residing in urban areas, only 56 per cent of urban dwellings are connected to the sewerage system. In rural areas less than 20 per cent of the population has piped water and only 13 per cent has sanitation services. Overall, less than 10 per cent of waste water is treated and up to 40 per cent of solid waste is not collected in the country. (Paragraph 46)
The social protection strategy directed at the poor and excluded includes mainly conditional cash transfer programmes such as the Bolsa-Escola, the programme to eradicate child labour (PETI), the rural pensions programme (for the old or disabled) and, more recently, the Zero Hunger initiative.13 Bolsa-Escola was started in 1995 and now covers more than one third of all school-age children in the age group 6-15 years, with the objective of promoting school enrolment and attendance. It provides for a standard transfer for up to three children per family to families with per capita incomes of less than half the minimum wage. Evaluations have revealed that the programme may have brought down the number of poor children not in school by half. It has been indicated that improved coverage, larger transfers and administrative convergence with similar initiatives (PETI) would help improve the effectiveness of the programme. Moreover, under the present cost-sharing arrangement with the federal Government, many of the poorest municipalities, where the need for this programme is the greatest, are not able to benefit from this initiative. PETI was initiated in order to address the problem of child labour in urban and rural areas. It also involved cash grants to families with working children of school age (7-14 years) whose per capita income was less than half the minimum wage, in return for the children attending school for at least 80 per cent of the required attendance as well as programmes of after-school activities. As a result of this programme, participation in which is limited to four years, the proportion of working children fell from 20 per cent in 1992 to 15 per cent in 1999. The programme is seen as a well-designed initiative that has continued relevance, given the magnitude of the problem. The disability and old-age pension programme introduced after a law was passed in 1993 makes available a pension of one minimum wage to a household with a disabled and elderly person and with a per capita family income of less than one fourth of the minimum wage. This initiative accounted for nearly 45 per cent of the social assistance spending in 2002. (Paragraph 50)
The outstanding aspect of the social security strategy in Brazil has been the development of excellent models of conditional and well-directed income transfers. These interventions, while raising the disposable income of targeted households, have successfully engineered behavioural changes among children and their parents, such as improving enrolment and retention in primary school, and raising the level of adult literacy and of training in the workforce, in the process improving their future productivity and the prospects for better earnings. In more recent times, the approach has been to identify and analyse the gaps in the social protection strategy and put together interventions that address these gaps. In part, this has been necessitated by the consideration that for a considerable period of time, economic growth has neither been sustained at an adequate pace nor has it generated sufficient employment opportunities. For instance, recognising that the existing social protection measures are biased in favour of the aged and the children of school age and do not offer adequate coverage to the younger working-age population, particularly in the rural areas, initiatives like the Zero Hunger programme and agricultural reforms have been introduced. More importantly, in designing and implementing these measures it has been demonstrated that it is possible to ground these measures in the human rights framework which seeks participatory, equitable, inclusionary and empowering development for the people. While it is too soon to assess the impact of some of the recently introduced measures, the fact that, in general, the approach to social protection has worked is reflected in the improvement of social indicators, as well as in the stability of indices on poverty and inequality, even during the period of economic volatility and stress. It is, however, important to sustain these measures over the medium term and to find resources for and build an environment conducive to, investment and economic growth. (Paragraph 52)
UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples
Mr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen
(E/CN.4/2004/80/Add.3)
Country visit: 18 July – 29 July 2003
Report published: 17 November 2003
School attendance/education: Poverty and indigenous origins are closely correlated in Chile. The majority of indigenous people, particularly the Mapuche in Araucanía, suffer from high levels of poverty and low levels of human development as a result of their long history of discrimination and social exclusion, particularly during the military dictatorship. Indigenous people and poverty in Chile : The incidence of poverty is significantly higher among indigenous populations (35.6 per cent) than among non-indigenous populations (22.7 per cent). On average, indigenous families' income is less than half that of non-indigenous families. School attendance among indigenous children is 2.2 years less than the average for non-indigenous children (9.5 years) and only 3 per cent of the rural Mapuche population over the age of 15 have any post-secondary education. Only 41 per cent of indigenous people's homes have drains, 58 per cent running water and 65 per cent mains electricity. The infant mortality rate among indigenous peoples is above average, particularly in rural areas, where it exceeds 50 per cent in some municipalities. Source: World Bank, August 2001. (Paragraph 16)
The Special Rapporteur also received information on the problems indigenous children face in gaining access to education and on big increases in school failure and dropout rates, which are already high. He is particularly concerned about the low number of indigenous children going on to secondary education and about the way children with behavioural problems are treated on account of their indigenous origin. (Paragraph 48)
The Government's bilingual intercultural education programme needs an adequate budget if it is to be quickly and effectively implemented in all indigenous regions. The Special Rapporteur recommends that specific measures be taken to improve the assistance given to indigenous students at the secondary and higher university levels in the form of youth hostels, particularly in the south of the country. (Paragraph 76)
The Special Rapporteur takes note of the Government's efforts to continue improving welfare schemes for families, particularly those intended to help them discharge their responsibility to bring up and educate their children with respect for their cultural identity. In this context, he would encourage the Government to make a greater effort to coordinate activities aimed at reducing the number of indigenous children in need of institutional care and encouraging them to grow up in the family home. (Paragraph 77)
Killings: As will be appreciated, the distinctions between these three types of protest are not clear-cut and in some cases a transition from one to another can be observed, depending on whether there are delays or problems in finding solutions to the demands for additional land and for restitution of land. It should also be pointed out that the third, and most serious, type of conflict occurs mostly in the provinces which have higher concentrations of indigenous people and higher poverty rates and which were adversely affected between 1973 and 1990 by the reversal of the measures taken to implement land reform.During his visit to Temuco, the Special Rapporteur was able to talk to relatives of a 17-year-old youth, Alex Lemún, who died on 13 November 2002 from his injuries after being shot by the police (carabineros) during a clash. Reports say that Alex Lemún died after being shot several times during a demonstration calling for the return of the Santa Alicia estate, which is controlled by a large lumber company. Alex Lemún was a member of the Arauco Malleco Coordinating Committee. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the necessary steps have not yet been taken to punish those responsible or compensate the family, and calls on the Government to take the necessary steps to resolve this matter. It is a matter of concern that the police officer responsible for the young man's death was released in September 2003. (Paragraph 29)
Ombudsperson's office: The Special Rapporteur joins with other international human rights mechanisms, such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in recommending that the necessary measures be taken to establish a national institution for the defence and protection of human rights, or an ombudsman, in Chile. In this context, the Special Rapporteur would encourage the Government to take this suggestion on board and draw up a specific timetable for the establishment of such an institution. An institution of this sort, with a broad mandate in line with the Paris Principles, would be of incalculable value in defending and protecting the rights of the country's indigenous peoples, as well as being a clear sign of the State's intentions towards its native peoples. (Paragraph 80)
Poverty: Despite this progress, the Special Rapporteur observed that there are some human rights issues that are a matter of grave concern to the indigenous peoples of Chile and that are closely related to political, economic and social factors. Attention should first be drawn to the failure to monitor and deal properly with the needs of indigenous communities in terms of their economic, social and cultural rights. This failure highlights a situation of vulnerability and extreme poverty that is particularly worrying in the case of the Mapuche. The poverty and illiteracy rates among the indigenous population, and particularly the Mapuche population, are more than twice the national average, and are particularly marked among women and children. (Paragraph 51)
The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government should, in consultation with the indigenous communities and with the necessary technical assistance from the United Nations system, set up a programme to reduce poverty among the country's indigenous communities, in accordance with the relevant millennium development goal, with specific targets for indigenous women and children. (Paragraph 62)