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Summary: General overview of Timor-Leste's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.
National laws on children's rights Status of the CRC in national law Article 9 of the Constitution of Timor-Leste provides that properly ratified treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, are part of the country's internal legal system. Any domestic rules contrary to the provisions of the Convention are, in principle, invalid and so the Convention would prevail in the event that its provisions contradicted national law. It is not, however, clear whether the Convention has been used in national courts to enforce this legal rule. Constitution: Title II of the Timorese Constitution contains a number of rights provisions that apply regardless of age and a small number of provisions that specifically address the rights of children can be found throughout the Constitution: Legislation: there is no consolidated or comprehensive Children's Code in Timorese law, rather legislation that specifically applies to children can be found in a number of Codes and Laws. Legislation of particular relevance to children includes, but is by no means limited to: Legal Research Case Law Case Law Research Compliance with the CRC In depth analysis Among the issues raised by the Committee that have yet to be addressed in national law, is the legality and practice of corporal punishment. The Committee urged the State to explicitly prohibit such violence in all settings, but despite enacting the Law against Domestic Violence in 2010, prohibition is yet to be achieved in the home, schools, penal institutions and alternative care. By enacting the Penal Code, the State addressed some of the Committee's concerns about juvenile justice, including by raising the minimum age of criminal liability to 16, but it is unclear whether broader concerns have been sufficiently addressed. In 2008, the Committee urged the state to address the extended use of pre-trial detention for children, the detention of children with adults and to introduce restorative justice measures in dealing with children in conflict with the law. The Committee also urged the State to expedite the enactment of juvenile justice legislation, but at the time of writing, such an Act had not been passed. Current legal reform projects
The Constitution is available through the official government website in English, Portuguese and Tetum (http://timor-leste.gov.tl/?cat=37&lang=en). The World Legal Information Institute maintains databases of national directives (http://www.worldlii.org/tp/legis/directives/), regulations (http://www.worldlii.org/tp/legis/consol_reg/), Decrees (http://www.worldlii.org/tp/legis/decree_law/) and Executive Orders in English. The International Labour Organisation website, NATLEX, provides access to a selection of Timorese Legislation in English (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=TMP) In addition, the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/timorleste.php) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/tp/) both provide access to a selection of legal and governmental resources.
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national law that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any online resources that provide access to the case law of Timorese courts.
During its most recent review of the Timor-Leste, in 2008, the Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomed efforts made in the country to bring its domestic laws into compliance with the Convention. The Committee expressed concern, however, at “the apparent lack of a consistent legislative framework in may areas” particularly with regards to juvenile justice and education. The slow pace of legal reform was also a cause of concern and the Committee urged the State to promptly adopt a number of legislative acts, including the draft Civil Code, the Penal Code, the Education Law, the Domestic Violence Law, the Adoption Law and the Custody/Titular law. Since 2008, a number of these pieces of legislation have been enacted (see the legislation section above).
The Committee also highlighted a number of more specific areas of Timorese law that fell short of the Convention in its Concluding Observations of 2008. Since the State last reported, however, the Civil Code, Penal Code and Law against Domestic Violence have all been enacted, dramatically changing the country's legislation. The State has not, however, reported to the Committee since 2008, and so it is not clear whether this new legislation in compatible with the CRC.
The State has reported that it is in the progress of developing a Child's Code as well as a Juvenile Justice Act.