PANAMA: Children's Rights in UN Treaty Body Reports

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Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of all UN Treaty Bodies and their follow-up procedures. This does not include the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child which are available here: http://www.crin.org/resources/treaties/index.asp

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UN Human Rights Committee

CCPR/C/PAN/CO/3

Last reported: 24 and 25 March 2008
Concluding Observations adopted: 3 April 2008

  • Birth registration: The Committee, while taking note of the efforts made by the State party to register all births, regrets the fact that some persons still remain unregistered, especially in rural areas and indigenous communities (arts. 16, 24 and 27).

    The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen the necessary programme and budgetary measures and take into consideration the good practices of other countries in this area in order to ensure the registration of all births and other vital details related to civil status throughout its national territory as well as the registration of all adults. (paragraph 19)

  • Child labour: The Committee notes with concern that, despite the fact that the Constitution prohibits persons under the age of 14 years from working, including as domestic workers, and despite legislative measures to prohibit the worst forms of child labour, the rate of child labour in the country continues to be high (arts. 8 and 24).

    The State party should adopt urgent measures in order to ensure the full application of the law aimed at eradicating child labour, such as the establishment of an effective inspection system. The State party should also ensure that all school-age children receive a full education. (paragraph 20)

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UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Last reported 13 - 31 August 2001

No report available

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UN Committee against Torture

Last reported 4-22 May 1998

No report available

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UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

CEDAW/C/PAN/CO/7

Last reported: 1 February 2010
Concluding Observations adopted: Not stated

  • Visibility of the Convention and Optional Protocol: While noting the progress achieved by the State party in strengthening gender equality and women's rights in Panama, particularly by enacting anti-discrimination legislation, the Committee regrets the insufficient information provided on women's use of existing complaints mechanisms and the insufficient knowledge of the Convention and the Optional Protocol among all branches of the Government, the judiciary, law enforcement officers and women themselves. (paragraph 14)

    The Committee calls upon the State party to undertake all necessary measures to ensure that the provisions of the Convention are sufficiently known and applied by all branches of Government and the judiciary as a framework for all laws, court decisions and policies on gender equality and the advancement of women. It recommends that the State party raise awareness of the Convention among women themselves, particularly rural and indigenous women. The Committee also recommends that the State party make the Convention an integral part of the legal education of public officers, to ensure that the spirit, objectives and provisions of the Convention become well known and regularly used in judicial processes. It further recommends that the State party take all appropriate measures to make the provisions of the Convention and the Optional Protocol part of the educational system, at all levels and available in the different indigenous languages, so that they are accessible to all women and girls. (paragraph 15)

  • Violence against women: The Committee also notes with concern that girls are unprotected from corporal punishment and abuse when such conduct is considered to represent a disciplinary measure. (paragraph 28)

    The Committee, in line with the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, urges the State party to include in its legislation the prohibition of all forms of corporal punishment of children, particularly of girls. It also recommends that the State party raise awareness of the negative consequences of disciplinary measures on the psychosocial development of girls. (paragraph 29)

  • Trafficking and sexual exploitation: The Committee, while welcoming the efforts made by the State party to investigate the factors, fundamental causes and repercussions associated with trafficking in persons and the exploitation of female prostitution, notes with concern the large number of trafficked women and girls in the State party and the very low number of perpetrators who have been prosecuted and punished. The Committee regrets a lack of data from the State party regarding trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and girls and is concerned about the comprehensiveness of the new legal framework and its implementation. (paragraph 30)

    The Committee calls on the State party to intensify its efforts to combat all forms of trafficking in women and girls. It also calls on the State party to collect and analyse data from the police and international sources, prosecute and punish traffickers, ensure the protection of the human rights of trafficked women and girls and provide for their rehabilitation. The Committee further calls on the State party to ensure that trafficked women and girls receive adequate support so that they are able to testify without fear against their traffickers. It encourages the State party to develop awareness-raising programmes, widen research on the root causes of trafficking, provide comprehensive training to, inter alia, judges, lawyers, criminal justice officers, health-care providers and law enforcement officials in all matters concerning sexual exploitation and trafficking, and strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation with neighbouring States. The State party is requested to report on the implementation of the new legislation on trafficking, especially with respect to the prosecution of traffickers. (paragraph 31)

  • Education: The Committee is concerned at the large number of girls who drop out of school as a result of early pregnancies and at the lack of surveys or studies relating to this problem. It also regrets that, although there is a legal provision (Law No. 29) mandating the continuation of education for girls during and after pregnancy, there is no effective mechanism in place to ensure compliance with this law. (paragraph 36)

    The Committee recommends that the State party carry out studies or surveys to analyse the main causes of early pregnancies in the country and implement programmes or plans to promote the continuation of studies for girls who become pregnant. It also recommends that a strategy for monitoring compliance with Law No. 29 be implemented in the short term to make it easier for pregnant girls to complete their schooling. (paragraph 37)

  • Health: The Committee is concerned at the State party's insufficient recognition and protection of women's sexual health and reproductive rights, in particular with regard to the delay in the debate over draft law No. 442 on sexual and reproductive health. It regrets the lack of access to information on health-care services provided to adolescent girls, particularly in rural areas, as well as the high number of early pregnancies. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned at the lack of a holistic and life-cycle approach to the health of women in the State party. (paragraph 40)

    The Committee urges the State party to take the necessary steps to overcome the stalemate surrounding draft law No. 442 and to promulgate it as soon as possible. The Committee also urges the State party to improve family planning and reproductive health programmes and policies designed to give women and adolescent girls, in particular in rural areas, effective access to information on health-care services, including reproductive health-care services and contraception, in accordance with the Committee's general recommendation No. 24 on women and health and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The Committee also recommends that the State party step up its efforts to incorporate age-appropriate sex education in school curricula and organize information campaigns aimed at preventing teenage pregnancies. It further recommends that the State party undertake a holistic and life-cycle approach to women's health that includes an intercultural focus. (paragraph 41)

  • Infant mortality: The Committee notes with concern the high rate of maternal mortality in the State party, caused mainly by the lack of provision of appropriate medical care, in particular to rural and indigenous women and adolescents girls. The Committee is further concerned that, owing to difficulties in enforcing existing legislation in the State party, many women are unable to obtain a legal abortion and are therefore forced to resort to an illegal abortion. The Committee is also concerned at the lack of programmes that include measures to raise victims' awareness of the importance of seeking medical treatment after a sexual assault and reporting the incident. (paragraph 42)

    The Committee urges the State party to improve access to health services for all women and in particular for the most vulnerable groups of women, such as indigenous, Afro- and Asian-descendant women. It also urges the State party to adopt without delay effective measures to resolve the problem of the high rate of maternal mortality by guaranteeing adequate prenatal, childbirth, and post-natal care and ensuring access to health-care facilities and medical assistance provided by trained workers in all parts of the country, particularly in rural areas. The Committee urges the State party to adopt regulations aimed at enforcing existing legislation on women's right to abortion and to give women access to high-quality services for the treatment of complications resulting from unsafe abortions. It invites the Ministry of Health to undertake a thorough investigation or study of unsafe abortions and their impact on women's health, in particular those resulting in maternal mortality, which will serve as the basis for legislative and policy action. It also urges the State party to facilitate a national dialogue on women's right to reproductive health, including on the consequences of restrictive abortion laws. It further recommends that the State party establish programmes that include measures aimed at raising victims' awareness of the importance of seeking medical treatment after an assault and reporting the incident. (paragraph 43)

  • HIV and AIDS: The Committee regrets the lack of information available on the issue of HIV/AIDS, as well as on the apparent feminisation of the disease in the State party, particularly among rural and indigenous women and girls. (paragraph 44)

    The Committee calls on the State party to address the spread of HIV/AIDS, including as a result of the power differential between women and men, which often prevents women from insisting on safe and responsible sex practices. It encourages the State party to strengthen its efforts to raise awareness and educate women and girls about ways of protecting themselves from HIV/AIDS, particularly in rural areas. The Committee also urges the State party to ensure that women and girls are accorded equal rights and access to HIV/AIDS detection and related health-care and social services. The Committee requests the State party to provide information and gender- disaggregated data on the issue of HIV/AIDS in its next periodic report. (paragraph 45)

  • Family relations: The Committee is very concerned that the Civil Code continues to contain provisions that discriminate against women in the area of family relations, in particular with respect to the minimum age of marriage. The Committee regrets that the State party has not yet modified the very low minimum age of marriage, which continues to be set at 14 for girls and 16 for boys, in contradiction with article 16, paragraph 2, of the Convention, the Committee's general recommendation No. 21 and article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is also concerned that the equal sharing of marital property upon divorce relates only to tangible property (movable and immovable) and does not include intangible property such as pension and savings funds. (paragraph 50)

    In line with the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child in its concluding observations on Panama at its thirty-sixth session (CRC/C/15/Add.233), the Committee calls upon the State party to eliminate discriminatory legal provisions in matters relating to family and marriage in order to bring its legislation into line with the Convention. In particular, the Committee urges the State party to raise the minimum age of marriage for both men and women to 18, in line with article 16, paragraph 2, of the Convention, the Committee's general recommendation No. 21 and article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It also recommends that the State party take the necessary legislative measures to recognize intangible property, such as pension and savings funds, as part of marital property. (paragraph 51)

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UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

CERD/C/PAN/15-20

Last reported: 1 and 2 March 2010
Concluding Observations adopted: 11 March 2010

  • Indigenous children: The Committee expresses its serious concern about the information received that, despite the existence of the indigenous region as an entity, with provision for self-government and communal ownership of land by indigenous peoples, there are some indigenous communities that have not obtained a region or entity of similar status; this is illustrated by the exclusion of some Ngobe and Emberá communities and the fact that the Bri Bri and Naso communities have been denied such an entity. The Committee also draws attention to the failure to register children born in the indigenous regions. The Committee further wishes to express its concern at the very low standard of living in the indigenous regions, such as the area of Darién where there is poor access to basic services and to governmental poverty-elimination policies.

    The Committee recommends that the State party finalize the procedures still pending to ensure that all Panamanian indigenous communities secure a region or entity of similar status. It also urges the State party to do its utmost to ensure that its governmental poverty-elimination policies are effective throughout the country, and in particular in the indigenous regions. (paragraph 12)

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UN Committee on Migrant Workers

No report available

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UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

No report available

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UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances

No report available

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