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Summary: A compilation of extracts featuring child-rights issues from the reports submitted to the second Universal Periodic Review. There are extracts from the 'National Report', the 'Compilation of UN Information' and the 'Summary of Stakeholders' Information'. Also included is the list of accepted and rejected recommendations. Ecuador - 2nd Session – 2012 Scroll to: Summary of Stakeholders' Information Accepted and Rejected Recommendations (Read about the first review cycle) 25. A child development programme has been introduced to ensure the comprehensive protection of the rights of children under 5 who live in poverty or extreme poverty. The goal is for the children to be able to develop to their full potential in harmony with their sociocultural background and their environment, by involving the State, society and the family as partners in their day-to-day care, with shared responsibility for their health, nutrition, recreation and upbringing. 32. In order to realize this right, the Government has implemented a number of programmes since 2008, including the nutrition action programme, the “Aliméntate Ecuador” food programme, which covers various healthy-eating projects, school meals programmes and production programmes designed to promote economic inclusion. The State also subsidizes certain food staples to mitigate the impact of price rises since 2008, and over half a million children have received food and nutrition supplements through child welfare services. 46. Education is now obligatory up to the end of high school and free up to tertiary level. To improve performance in school, children from poor areas receive free meals, free textbooks and free uniforms. Between 2008 and 2011, the enrolment of young people in education grew by 3.3 per cent. The net enrolment rates in basic education (first 10 years, usually up to the age of 14 or 15) over the same period rose from 93 per cent to 95.4 per cent. The net enrolment rate for high-school education rose from 53.2 per cent to 62.5 per cent, also over the same period. 53. Ecuador is working to eradicate chronic malnutrition and anaemia in children under the age of 5. In 2006, the malnutrition rate from all causes nationwide stood at 26 per cent; by 2010, it had dropped to 22 per cent. 57. The Ministry of Health has also launched a programme under the national nutrition strategy, called “Zero Malnutrition”, which aims to eliminate malnutrition among infants during the first year of life in 303 selected parishes. 61. For the first time, Ecuadorians living abroad, members of the Armed Forces and the police, persons deprived of their liberty and young people over the age of 16 have been granted the right to vote, which they exercised in the most recent elections. 65. Detention centres now have psychology, education, labour and social departments, and prison meals have improved considerably. Libraries and workshops for developing various skills have also been set up to train inmates and direct them towards productive activities. The right of detainees to receive visits from relatives and for their children to be looked after is also respected. Health services have been improved, and psychological and emotional counselling is provided to detainees and their relatives, as well as information on how to prevent the spread of infectious and contagious diseases. 70. Various training activities on the following topics have been arranged: migration, non-discrimination, domestic violence, childhood and adolescence, the fight against human trafficking, citizens’ security and the rights of persons with different sexual orientations or gender identities. Police working in the northern border area have followed courses for human rights instructors and courses to upgrade their skills and knowledge. The police have emergency protocols for handling domestic and sexual violence cases, as well as for dealing with the victims of gender-based violence, and a rights-based approach is applied in police procedures. 72. The Constitution provides for the implementation of policies to progressively eradicate child labour and establishes special protection against any form of labour or economic exploitation. Several measures, in addition to the removal of financial barriers to education, have been introduced: incentives for enrolling in the education system; fast-track education programmes; occupational training; after-school support; improved primary health care; and awareness-raising about child labour for employers, parents, teachers and local institutions. 73. A national plan for the prevention and progressive eradication of child labour has been drawn up to implement these measures. The plan is linked to the National Plan for Good Living, the policies of the national 10-year plan for the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents and the 2007–2010 social agenda for children and adolescents. 74. Thanks to the joint efforts of civil society and the Government, the provision of health and education services and the promotion of peaceful coexistence, Ecuador was able to declare the eradication of child labour in garbage dumps in 2011. 75. Since 2010, a total of 125,280 children, adolescents, older people and persons with disabilities who had been reduced to begging have benefited from the grants and assistance given to their families by the School Support Centre. 76. Child labour has been reduced by more than half as a result of these actions, falling from 3.8 per cent in 2007 to 1.5 per cent in 2011. The percentage of children and adolescents aged between 5 and 17 who are not in school for financial reasons dropped in the last five years from 61 per cent to 49 per cent nationwide, from 52 per cent to 43 per cent among the Afro-Ecuadorian population, and from 61 per cent to 47 per cent among the indigenous population. 82. Ecuador is carrying out a national plan to eradicate gender-based violence against children, adolescents and women. The plan involves various activities and services, including: a survey of gender-based violence; the transformation of sociocultural patterns; a campaign entitled “React, Ecuador: Machismo is Violence”; special care units in public hospitals; comprehensive care centres; rights-protection centres; and shelters for victims of sexual exploitation and violence. 87. In December 2010, the Government updated the national plan, adopted in 2006, to combat human trafficking, smuggling of migrants, sexual, labour and other forms of exploitation, and prostitution of women, children and adolescents, child pornography and corruption of minors. The update focuses on four areas: prevention, punishment, reparation and international cooperation. 90. The National Council for Children and Adolescents works to eliminate all forms of violence and cruel or degrading treatment, including trafficking. It monitors and processes complaints and organizes training for communities, educational institutions, justice personnel and other agencies. In 2011, several training and technical assistance activities were arranged nationwide. 93. With civil society support, a manual was drawn up on procedures to control and monitor the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents and a briefing document was published on the use of indicators in legal proceedings to determine the situation of children and adolescents, with a special emphasis on trafficking. 7. The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recommended that Ecuador bring domestic law into compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. 8. In 2009, the International Coordination Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Sub-Committee on Accreditation recommended that amendments to the organic law of the Defensoría del Pueblo resolve discrepancies with the revised Constitution and that the Defensoría interact effectively with the United Nations human rights system.19 CRC recommended the creation of a specialized office on child rights within the Defensoría’s Office. 31. CAT was concerned at the high levels of occupancy at most detention facilities and at reports of poor health and hygiene conditions.57 UNCT reported on the failures of the detention system for adolescents. 33. CEDAW remained concerned at the high incidence of violence against women and girls in Ecuador, including domestic and sexual violence. Despite specific legislation and plans, sexual violence and harassment of girls in schools remained rampant. UNCT reported that gender violence was still a public health problem and occurred in a very complex and profound manner among excluded groups and vulnerable people such as indigenous women, women with HIV/AIDS and women with diverse sexual orientation. UNHCR stated that refugee women and children were more vulnerable to gender-based violence, particularly in border areas. 34. CRC was concerned that the National Armed Forces Compulsory Military Service Act did not expressly prohibit the recruitment of children 35. UNCT stated that, despite the efforts made by Ecuador, around 280,000 children and adolescents were still working in 2010. It recommended that the integral strategy of child labour eradication be updated, with a view to a better institutional coordination of the governmental actors involved on that subject. 36. In 2010, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery reported that she had received information about the lending or renting of children for small amounts of money. Children would be “used” as street vendors and farm workers; in other cases they would be placed in domestic servitude or smuggled to neighbouring countries for forced labour activities, sexual exploitation and mendicity. CRC was concerned that many young children performed harmful work, including forced labour, and that many of them did not attend school. 37. The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery encouraged the State to consider child work in the streets as one of the worst forms of child labour. 38. CRC recommended that Ecuador introduce legislation prohibiting corporal punishment in all settings, including in the family, schools and all places of deprivation of liberty. 39. CRC remained concerned at the high number of children trafficked internationally as well as within the country, from border and Central Highland areas to urban centres, for commercial sexual exploitation and for domestic servitude, forced begging, and forced labour in mines and other hazardous work. 47. CRC welcomed that the 2008 Constitution introduced a specialized system of justice for children that established that deprivation of liberty was exceptional and that children would be detained separately from adults. However, CRC was concerned that the drafting of the Code on Criminal Guarantees was moving away from a specialized system of justice for children; that an appropriate system for juvenile justice was still not in place; and that there were reports that children were still held in detention together with adults. UNCT was concerned by initiatives to reduce the age of criminal accountability to 16 years, against international law and the constitution. 48. CRC was concerned at the continuation of the legal minimum age for contracting marriage for girls at 12 and for boys at 14. It recommended setting the minimum age for girls and for boys at 18 years. 49. CRC recommended that Ecuador ensure compliance with the principle of the best interests of the child and the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption at all stages of the adoption procedure. 74. CEDAW remained concerned at the high rate of pregnancy among teenage and young women, particularly in rural areas, as well as at the high incidence of maternal mortality. It welcomed the Free Maternity Care Act, though resources were lacking for its full implementation. CRC recommended that Ecuador strengthen its measures to promote access to reproductive health services for adolescents. 76. CRC recommended that Ecuador improve the quality of education and take all measures to ensure that children complete primary and secondary school by addressing the reasons behind the non-completion of schooling. CEDAW encouraged Ecuador to strengthen its efforts to eradicate illiteracy, in particular among rural women speaking indigenous languages. It further called upon Ecuador to strengthen its efforts to provide an educational environment free from discrimination and violence. 80. CRC recommended that Ecuador take all necessary measures to protect the rights of children with disabilities, including access to education and providing resources for parents to be able to care for their children. 88. CEDAW was concerned about the situation of migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women, as they were exposed to abusive work and living conditions and gender-based violence. It was also concerned that many unregistered and undocumented refugee women remained vulnerable to refoulement. CAT recommended that Ecuador ensure that thorough investigations be carried out into abuses committed against refugees and asylum- seekers, in particular women and girls. 89. UNCT reported that the magnitude and scope of the migration phenomena required the creation of legal and institutional mechanisms to protect children in need, especially when parents stopped sending remittances to children left behind. 90. CMW was concerned by cases of children of Ecuadorians residing abroad who had not obtained Ecuadorian identity documents or who were not registered and had been denied entry to Ecuador. 91. UNHCR reported that refugees and asylum-seekers continued to face problems with regard to the birth registration of their children born in Ecuador. 94. CRC recommended that Ecuador adopt legislative or other measures to protect asylum-seeking and refugee children, in particular those who were unaccompanied or separated. Summary of Stakeholders' Information 4. With regard to recommendation No. 3, the Service had received information on the State’s efforts to eradicate child labour, especially in garbage dumps. The Service pointed out that the State worked through a series of institutions (the National Institute for Children and the Family, the Child Development Fund, the Child Rescue Operation programme and the Directorate of Comprehensive Care for Children and Adolescents) in coordination with NGOs. The Service added that minors continued to be employed in mines in northern and southern Ecuador and that nothing had been done to stamp out that practice. 11. With regard to recommendation No. 10, the Service took note of constitutional progress and the drafting of inclusive public policy. Nevertheless, it had found that legislative reform was lagging behind constitutional and international standards and that the incidence of human trafficking continued to be high. There had been cases of indigenous children and adolescents being exploited for work or forced to beg. 16. COSCE indicated that the Constitution upheld children’s rights and the principle of their best interest, protecting them against all forms of labour and economic exploitation, and prohibiting children of less than 15 years of age from working. 17. Plan International (PI) acknowledged the progress made in terms of special protection incorporated in the Code of Children and Adolescents. It added that the criminal code was modified in 2010 to include the criminalization of violations of the child’s sexual integrity — including violations committed by the military or police officers — and the recruitment of girls, boys and adolescents into the armed forces or armed groups. 20. PI highlighted the adoption of the “Plan Nacional del Buen Vivir” (2009–2013), the National 10 Year Plan for the Integral Protection of Children and Adolescents, the 2008 Plan for the Eradication of Sexual Crimes in Education and the Plan for the Prevention of Teenage Pregnancies. 21. COSCE expressed concern about the transformation of the National Council for Children and Adolescents into the National Council for Equality before a law on equality had been passed. It recommended maintaining a differentiated approach to protection, allocating funds from the budget and establishing the national councils for equality. 22. JS2 welcomed the 2010 Government initiatives undertaken in collaboration with the “Instituto Nacional para la Infancia y la Familia” to promote a campaign against child labour and maltreatment. 26. JS2 acknowledged the “Plan nacional de Lucha Contra el Racismo y la Discriminación” (2008–2009), aimed at strengthening the development of the communities, supporting their integration and improving the conditions of Afro-Ecuadorian women. However, JS2 remained concerned by the facto racism and discrimination, especially against children. JS2 recommended the adoption of measures to guarantee all basic services and the adoption of policies and programmes of development that take into account cultural specificities. 30. IHRC stated that children on the streets were highly vulnerable to violence, sexual and economic exploitation, noting that Ecuador was a destination for human trafficking of children and commercial sex tourism. 31. COSCE noted that children and adolescents in Ecuador were especially vulnerable to trafficking, which was carried out to various ends. 32. JS2 noted that the majority of child labourers came from Afro-Ecuadorian families. JS2 observed the involvement of gangs in child labour and further noted that children were forced to work and gave a large portion of their earnings to exploiters, namely their relatives or those who control the work in the streets. Children who did not obey were subjected to violence and ill-treatment. 33. IHRC added that child labour was the most significant problem facing Ecuadorian youth, especially indigenous youth. It added that children frequently worked at banana plantations, flower farms, garbage dumps or in the streets vending goods. IHRC recommended stiffening penalties for businesses employing children. 34. PI noted that violence against children within the family continued to be an unacknowledged reality that had not yet been adequately addressed by any public policy. It made recommendations to fight domestic violence and sexual abuse against children. 35. Global Initiative to end all Corporal Punishment of Children (GIEACPC) stated that no recommendation on corporal punishment was made during the past UPR review. Currently, as in 2008, children may lawfully be subjected to corporal punishment in the home as well as in institutions and as a sentence for crime in traditional justice systems. GIEACPC recalled relevant recommendations made by the Committee against Torture (2010) and the Human Rights Committee (2009). 41. COSCE expressed its concern about proposals to reduce the age of criminal responsibility to 16 years and recommended that the Criminal Code be reformed in line with international standards and the Constitution. 42. PI reported that, despite the existence of alternative measures, detention of adolescents was widely used, having a great impact on their development. It recommended the implementation of socio-educational measures to ensure that detention was used as an exception. 43. COSCE expressed concern about violations of the right of children to an identity through the refusal to register the birth of children born to foreign parents unless proof was provided that the mother had been resident in Ecuador at the time of conception. Such cases were most common in the northern border provinces. PI added that the violation of the right to birth registration generated violations of the rights to education affecting indigenous, afro-descendant and migrants. Even though there were governmental programmes aimed at the universalization of birth registration, there were still administrative and geographic gaps to be filled. 60. Reporting that 10 per cent of maternal deaths occurred among adolescent mothers, PI recommended that the Government increase its efforts to ensure that sexual education was included in school curricula. 62. JS2 regretted that many children from poor families, predominantly Afro- Ecuadorian and indigenous, left school to work. With respect to girls, it noted that school dropout rates increased due to early pregnancies. 64. COSCE stated that migrant children suffered discrimination with regard to the right to education and highlighted the Government’s failure to act in that area and the absence of differentiated care. The State had invested a great deal of money in the construction of Millennium Education Units and COSCE recommended that it tune public policy to the needs of the most vulnerable social groups, especially in border areas. 74. Asylum Access Ecuador (AAE) noted that the State had not achieved the articulation of laws and protocols to offer effective protection to refugees and asylum- seekers. AAE added that there was not a reliable system of registration, particularly for unaccompanied minors, in relation to the refugee-seeking process, and various deportations of persons in need of international protection were undertaken violating the principle of non-refoulement. AAE stated that it had verified a persistent culture of sexual violence against refugee women in Ecuador, with insufficient responses from the State.
Monday 21 May 2012 - 14.30 p.m. - 18.00 p.m
The following recommendations were accepted by Ecuador:
A - 134.1. Ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child related to individual complaints (Chile); Consider an early ratification of the newest international HR instrument –the third OP to CRC on a communication procedure (Slovakia);
A - 135.10. Continue the policies that made the progress in terms of special protection of children incorporated in the Code of Children and Adolescents (Iran);
A - 135.14. Continue promoting the active and effective participation of women at all decision levels (Morocco); Continue to combat all forms of discrimination against women (Djibouti);Strengthen legal protection for women and ensure gender equality and non-discrimination (Iraq);.Continue efforts to tackle gender discrimination, particularly in the areas of education and employment (Myanmar);Increase public awareness about the prohibition of gender discrimination, in particular in the areas of education and employment (Slovenia);
A - 135.20. Reduce maternal and child mortality in rural and urban areas, through specific plans on sanitary assistance to pregnant women and during the post-natal period (Holy See);
A - 135.21. Increase measures to prevent the “loan or rental of children” for sexual exploitation, carrying out forced labour activities and begging, as recommended by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (Uruguay); Introduce legislation to prohibit corporal punishment in all areas, including in the family, school and all places of deprivation of liberty, taking into account general comment No. 8 of the Committee (Uruguay);
A - 135.22. Take steps to prohibit corporal punishment of children in all settings (Slovenia); Pursue their policies to combat child labour and ill-treatment of children in all its forms (Djibouti); Take appropriate legislative measures to ban violence against children, including corporal punishment (France); Introduce and enforce legislation prohibiting corporal punishment of children in all settings, including in the family, schools and all places of deprivation of liberty (Liechtenstein);
A - 135.23. Continue efforts to eliminate child labour to attain an harmonic development of children in a spirit of socio-cultural and an environment of protection and well-being. (Dominican Republic);Continue its efforts to eradicate child labour and further enhance the protection of the rights of the child (Singapore);Exert its utmost efforts to eradicate the persistent widespread phenomenon of child labour (Slovakia);Redouble efforts to eliminate child labour (Slovenia);Further strategies in cooperation with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to eradicate child labour (Australia); Continue its efforts aimed at eliminating child labour and ensuring an education with dignity and of quality for Ecuadorian children and adolescents (Venezuela);
A - 135.26. Strengthen its efforts to promote and protect the rights of women prisoners, pregnant women prisoners and children born in prison, especially in accordance with the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders, otherwise known as the “Bangkok Rules” (Thailand);
A - 135.27. Strengthening efforts to address trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and sexual violence (South Africa); Further reinforce efforts to combat human trafficking and to protect victims of such crime, especially women and children (Sri Lanka); Step up its further efforts to combat trafficking in persons including continue the practice of developing national plans of actions and other strategies in this area (Belarus);
A - 135.33. Strengthen its efforts to achieve universal birth registration, including by establishing permanent and automated birth registration services in all pre-and post natal healthcare institutions. These services should be accessible to all people throughout the whole country, including in rural areas (Finland); Take actions to achieve universal birth registration (Mexico); Take targeted measures to address the situation of girls and the challenge of ensuring the accessibility to registration for indigenous peoples and people of African descent as well as for migrant families. The right of every child to a name and nationality should be guaranteed (Finland);
A - 135.35. Set the minimum age for contracting marriage at 18 years for girls and boys (Turkey);
A - 135.48. Continue its efforts in combating poverty, and in improving the levels of education and health of its people (Singapore);
A - 135.53. Strengthen measures to address teenage pregnancy, promoting access to reproductive health services including sexual and reproductive health education, as well as counselling services and health care adapted to young people (Uruguay);
A - 135.55. Take further steps to improve the quality of education and take all measures to ensure that children complete primary and secondary school by addressing the reasons behind the non- completion of schooling (Egypt); Ensure continuous progress in addressing the right to education (Indonesia); Continue adopting measures to strength inter-cultural education and human rights education (Mexico);Pursue its efforts reforming the education system as it is an important element in minimizing poverty (Palestine); Develop a mechanism to gather statistics on education of indigenous groups (Slovenia); Further elaborate and integrate a gender perspective in the national education system (Sweden);
A - 135.56. Continue to work on the implementation of policies that guarantee respect of the rights of persons with disabilities (Venezuela); Keep on efforts, both on legal and procedural grounds, to ensure full respect and protection for the rights of persons with disabilities, including access to education and providing resources in that regard (Egypt);
A - 135.57. Adopt special measures for the realisation of collective rights of indigenous peoples and the adoption of mechanisms to ensure their right to be consulted (Hungary); Undertake effective measures to further strengthen the existing mechanisms for consultation with the indigenous population on issues which have an impact on the economic and social aspects of the indigenous population (Malaysia); Continue to improve the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples, in particular the respect of their cultural and linguistic diversity, and further think about programmes and policies for indigenous peoples, particularly focusing on women and children (Morocco); Institutionalize the right to consultation of the indigenous population and involve civil society and indigenous groups in the elaboration of a functioning consultation mechanism in line with Ecuador’s commitments under ILO-Convention 169 (Norway);
No recommendations were rejected
No recommendations were left pending