INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION: Report on 134th session

Submitted by crinadmin on Tue, 07/04/2009 - 05:53

The Inter-American Court confirms obligation to prohibit all corporal punishment. Read more here.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) held its 134th session from 16-27 March 2009. This year marks the Commission's 50th anniversary.

Hearings concerning child rights presented at the recent session included: the juvenile justice system in Argentina, feminicide in Guatemala, and immigration detention centres in the USA.

The Commission's child rights rapporteurship also reported on its activities, including the launch of its own website – see more below.

The next session will take place from 16-25 July 2009.

Juvenile justice in Argentina

Argentina's general ombudsperson urged the government to reform the penal system for children and to put an end to life imprisonment. The issue has been debated in Congress for several years but no consensus has ever been reached.

Estela Marín Martínez, who presented the hearing, declared that Argentina owed a “debt” to its young people dating back to before the military dictatorship. The country has demonstrated a “constant incapacity” to comply with international human rights standards, she said...

“Since we first presented our demand in 2002, State representatives have agreed with us, but they haven't complied with the solutions they themselves have proposed”, she added.

Marín recalled that in 2005, the government had promulgated an “excellent law” for the protection of children and adolescents. However, the law has not been implemented in many provinces and others had even passed laws suspending its use.

All informal efforts made by the ombudsperson to resolve the situation amicably had been unfruitful, for this reason they felt obliged to seek mediation, explained Marín, who highlighted the need for a “proper training of State authorities” to translate proposals into action.

The growing climate of insecurity in Argentina has exacerbated the situation of young people in conflict with the law. Young people are blamed for the problem to the point where the governor of Buenos Aires, Daniel Scioli, has proposed lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 14.

“If this is the only serious proposal being made by politicians, we are going down the wrong road. We are forgetting that prison must be the last resort”, warned Marín.

According to the ombudsperson's office, many of the minors held in institutions are there for petty crimes, with fewer procedural guarantees available to them than for adults.

Furthermore, sentences for minors have become harsher over the last few years, and the possibility of parole has been restricted.

The Argentinian State's representative at the hearing, Silvia Fernández, Director General for Human Rights at the Chancellory, said that the government had taken note of the ombudsperson's petitions...

“It is not that there is no will, it is that there is no consensus”, she said, committing to pass on to the government the proposal to transfer young people held in maximum security units to other types of centres...

[Source: Soitu.es/ EFE]

Feminicide and impunity in Guatemala

Guatemala was criticised for its failure to properly investigate the murder of María Isabel Véliz Franco at the Inter-American Commission last week.The Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) and the Red de la No Violencia contra las Mujeres de Guatemala (The Network of Non-Violence against Women in Guatemala), denounced the State for the lack of due diligence and failure to exhaust all avenues of investigation in the case.

On 16 December 2001, Rosa Franco reported the disappearance of her daughter María Isabel Véliz Franco, 15, to the Guatemalan authorities. However, sufficient efforts were not undertaken to determine her location. On 18 of December her body was found, showing different marks of abuse. Since then, her mother has requested clarification of the facts and that the those responsible be brought to justice. To date, this has not happened.

During the hearing, the petitioning organisations presented the expert opinion of Guatemalan lawyer Claudia Paz, who evaluated the investigation's compliance with due diligence standards. In her analysis, the expert criticised the handling of evidence and the delay in the practice of due diligence. She revealed also the ...and discrimination during the investigation .....

Rosa Franco described how the treatment she had received by the Guatemalan authorities had affected her and her family and the situation of insecurity that they face as a result of their efforts to seek justice.

This case is a reflection of the impunity which is standard for cases of violence murders of women and girls in Guatemala...Paz explained that these cases are not treated as priorities for authorities in charge of the investigations, who try to blame the women themselves for their behaviour or saying they had links to gangs or criminal activity.

In response, the State recognised the structural weaknesses in the justice system, which representatives said were the cause of impunity in the case of María Isabel Veliz Franco. They also paid tribute to the importance of the work of victims and human rights organisations in pushing for progress to improve access to justice in Guatemala.

The petitioning organisations requested the Inter-American Commission to issue as soon as possible its final statement on the international responsibility of the State of Guatemala for the violations committed against María Isabel Veliz Franco and her family and recommend the adoption of effective measures of reparation for the violations and to attend to the serious situation of violence against women and feminicide in Guatemala.

[Source: CEJIL]

USA: Detention and deportation policies

The negative impact of US immigration detention and deportation policies on children was highlighted in a hearing presented by the Transnational Legal Clinic, University of Pennsylvania Law School / Immigration Clinic, University of Texas School of Law
See materials on this here: http://dueprocesshearing.homestead.com

Additional materials were re-submitted on the rights of children and families from an October 2007 hearing, coordinated by Michelle Brane at the Women’s Commission for Refugees and others.
Read these here: http://www.crin.org/resources/infodetail.asp?id=15196

Individual case updates

In December 2008, the State of Brazil presented information on compliance with the friendly settlement agreement in the "Case of Emasculated Children of Maranhão". Those responsible for the torture and murder of 28 boys have been tried and punished, and symbolic reparations were made through the unveiling of a plaque that identified the victims and stated:

“The pain of having lost them imposes on us the commitment to guarantee absolute priority and complete protection for all children and adolescents.”

Material reparations were also made to 27 families of the victims, and the State complied with the recommendations on measures to avoid recurrence of such events by implementing programmes to prevent sexual violence against children and adolescents and by building and furnishing schools in Maranhão.

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.