COLOMBIA: National Laws

Summary: General overview of Colombia's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.

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National Laws on children's rights

Status of the CRC in national law
Under Article 93 of the Colombian Constitution, international human rights treaties including the CRC are considered to be part of constitutional law and take precedence over national laws and administrative acts. In addition, Article 44 of the Constitution further details the rights of children and mandates that these rights be given precedence over the rights of others. The CRC can be directly invoked before the courts and is widely cited and discussed throughout the justice system, especially in the Consitutional Court.

Constitution: The Colombian Constituion includes a number of provisions that directly address the rights of children:

  • Art. 42 establishes the family as the fundamental unit of society and the equality of all children, whether adopted, born out of wedlock or marriage or conceived naturally or with scientific assistance.

  • Art. 44 lists the fundamental rights of children and creates an obligation on the family, society and the state to protect these rights. It prioritises children's rights over the rights of others, and underscores the need for extra protection of children in situations of special difficulty.

  • Art. 45 provides for the protection of adolescents and their right to a comprehensive education.

Legislation: Colombia has a comprehensive Code on Children and Adolescents, which since 2006 expressly includes the CRC as an integral part of the Code to be used in guiding its interpretation and application. The country has also had a prominent Minors' code since 1989; others laws relating to children rights include, but are by no means limited to:

  • Law 98 of 1920 Establishment of Juvenile Courts

  • Law 79 of 1926 Creation of a Ministry of Education for the education and care of orphans

  • Law 129 of 1931 Protection of the Working Minor

  • Law 83 of 1946 Organisation of the Child’s Defense

  • Law 140 of 1960 About Adoptions

  • Law 1818 of 1964 Colombian Council of Social Protection of Children and Family

  • Law 7 of 1979 Creation of the Family Welfare System

  • Law 418 of 1997 Defines the crime of child recruitment

  • Law 724 of 2001 Institutionalisation of the Day for Children and Recreation and other provisions

  • Law 679 of 2001 On Prostitution, Child Pornography and Sex Tourism

  • Law 1098 of 2006 Code of Childhood and Adolescence

  • Law 1329 of 2009 On changes the title of Act 599 and other provisions to counter commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents

  • Law 1336 of 2009 Adding and strengthening the law 670 of 2001 to combat exploitation, pornography and sex tourism with children and adolescents.

Legal Research:
Both the Colombian Chamber of Representatives (Cámara de Representantes; (http://www.camara.gov.co/) and Senante (Senado; http://www.senado.gov.co/) maintain official websites in Spanish, with the former offering an extensive collection of existing and proposed legislation. The Constitution is available online in Spanish from the website of the President (http://web.presidencia.gov.co/constitucion/index.pdf). The Globalex initative at New York University has published a comprehensive guide to legal research in Colombia (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Colombia.htm), and both the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/colombia.php) and World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/co/) have assembled a selection of links to legal and government resources.

Case Law
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Case Law Research
The Constitutional Court maintains an official website that provides full-text decisions in Spanish, with English summaries of some of the more important rulings (http://www.corteconstitucional.gov.co/). The Supreme Court also makes its judgments available in Spanish (http://www.cortesuprema.gov.co).

Compliance with the CRC
In its 2006 Concluding Observations, the Committee welcomed Colombia's incorporation of numerous articles on children's rights and affirmation that the CRC takes precedence over domestic legislation. However, the Committee regretted “that the reform of the inadequate Minors’ Code of 1989 has not yet been completed despite 10 years of debate and numerous calls by United Nations entities” and criticised a draft law under consideration to reform the Code as failing to adquately address juvenile justice, adoption, work and protection against abuse of children.

In depth analysis:
National law has largely been brought into conformity with the CRC with regards to non-discrimination, but children from Afro-Colombian backgrounds and children living in rural areas still face widespread de facto discrimination. The minimum age for marriage remains discriminatory in law, however, as girls can marry at 12 and boys at 14. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has recommended that the State legislate to set a uniform minimum age for marriage at 18, and adopt a comprehensive strategy to ensure that the legal status of discrimination is reflected in practice.

Colombian law contains provisions with respect to the recruitment of children in armed conflict, enforced disappearance and extra-judicial killings, but the Committee has been critical of a general failure on the part of the State to investigate, prosecute and punish those who commit these offences. The Committee has also highlighted failings in the current legal framework for peace negotiations with illegal armed groups, and recommended that the State “seek legal advice from the OHCHR on how to integrate minimum human rights standards and a child rights perspective in the legal framework of peace negotiations”.

A number of areas of the juvenile justice regime are inconsistent with the rights and principles of the Convention. A rising number of children are prosecuted in the regular justice system, a high number of children are deprived of their liberty, and those who are detained are often not separated from adults. The Committee has also raised serious concerns over reports of torture and abuse in detention facilities. The Committee's recommendations have focussed on ensuring that deprivation of liberty is only used as a measure of last resort and that a child-sensitive complaints mechanism be set up to investigate, prosecute and punish mistreatment committed by law-enforcement personnel and prison guards.

Current legal reform projects
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any current legal reform projects.

Countries

Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.