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Summary: General overview of Panama's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.
National Laws and Children's Rights Status of the CRC in national law Constitution: Title III of the Constitution of Panama contains a number of rights provisions that apply regardless of age, but also contains a small number of provisions that make specific reference to the rights of children: Legislation: Panama does not have a comprehensive or consolidated Children's Act; rather, legislation relevant to children's rights is found throughout a large number of Acts and Executive Decrees. Relevant legislation includes, but is by no means limited to: Legal Research: Case Law Case Law Research Compliance with the CRC In depth analysis Juvenile justice was another broad area in which the Committee raised significant concerns. The Committee was critical of the State's reduction in the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12 as well as the lack of systematic inspections of detention facilities. Particular concern was raised regarding the deaths of a number of detained children in fires, and the Committee urged the State to investigate these incidents and, where appropriate, prosecute those responsible. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has also raised concerns over the minimum legal age for marriage, which it considered to be both discriminatory and too low. As of 2011, girls could marry at 14 years, and boys at 16 years: The Committee recommended that the minimum age for marriage be set at 18 regardless of sex. Current legal reforms
The Convention on the Rights of the Child was incorporated into Panamanian law by Act No. 15 of 6 November 1990. However, in its 2003 State Report, the State noted that the Convention was not enforced in practice by administrative, political and judicial bodies "owing to an unwillingness to change traditional attitudes, a lack of information and resources and the absence of a real national movement for the rights of the child". The State reported in 2011 that as of 2006, "the Convention as a whole [has been] incorporated into the constitutional corpus", though it is not clear how this functions in practice.
The Legispan website of the National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional) (http://www.asamblea.gob.pa/main/LegispanMenu/Legispan.aspx) maintains a database of Panamanian laws in Spanish, and the Superintendency of Banks of Panama maintains a database of Laws in English (http://www.superbancos.gob.pa/en/laws-and-reg). In addition, the GlobaLex initiative at New York University has published a guide to legal research in Panama (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Panama.htm) and the World Legal Information Institute provides selected links to Panamanian legal resources (http://www.worldlii.org/pa/) as does the U.S. Law library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/panama.php).
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.
The Judicial Document Centre (http://bd.organojudicial.gob.pa/registro.html) publishes decisions of the Supreme Court and appeals courts in Spanish.
As of the 2011 Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the proposed comprehensive law on children's rights had been submitted to the Panamanian Congress, but had not yet been approved. The Committee encouraged the State to take the necessary measures to ensure that a comprehensive Children's Act be introduced that treats children as rights holders rather than objects of protection.
Among the more pressing areas in which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has considered Panamanian legislation to fall short of the principles and provisions of the Convention is in relation to economic exploitation and child labour. In its 2011 Observations, the Committee noted that the Constitution set 14 years as the minimum age for entrance into employment, and that permits could be granted by the State to allow children between the ages of 12 and 14 to work in agriculture and domestic service. The Committee recommended that the State review its law in the area and harmonise relevant legislation with the Convention.
At the time of Panama's 2011 report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, a comprehensive Children's Act had been placed before Congress, but had not yet been enacted.