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Summary: This report extracts mentions of children's rights issues in the reports of the UN Special Procedures. This does not include reports of child specific Special Procedures, such as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, which are available as separate reports. Scroll to: Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children ---------- Report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak (A/HRC/13/39/Add.2) Country visit: 21 – 27 March 2009 Report published: 21 December 2009 Mr. Nowak identified the following concerns: Ill-treatment in Detention: The Special Rapporteur was particularly concerned that he found evidence of regular beatings of minors in police custody and as a form of punishment at juvenile detention centres, in particular at Las Piedras and Las Puertas. He also received consistent information that during riots and rebellions, beatings and collective punishments were fairly common at all the juvenile facilities he visited. (para 38) The situation of juveniles in detention is alarming. The Code on Childhood and Adolescence of 2004 (CNA) provides for a specialized judicial system for children between the ages of 13 and 18 years. According to CNA, deprivation of liberty shall only be used as a measure of last resort and for the shortest period possible. Furthermore, it foresees a number of safeguards with regard to arrest and detention of juvenile detainees, such as: immediately informing the parents or legal guardians after arrest; informing a judge of the arrest and detention of a minor within two hours; a maximum period of police custody of 12 hours; and a mandatory medical examination before any transfer. While in principle the safeguards were respected, the Special Rapporteur was very concerned about consistent allegations received from the majority of minors interviewed that they were subjected to beatings and other ill-treatment by the police after their medical examinations were performed. (para 57) The Observer Committee for Adolescents Deprived of their Liberty was established through article 211 CNA to monitor the situation and conditions of the detention facilities for adolescents. (para 58) The juveniles detained in maximum security facilities in Colonia Berro or in the closed regime of the transfer centre Las Puertas, located in Montevideo, are held in extremely poor conditions. The system of detention is based on a punitive approach. For the most part, juveniles have no opportunities for education, work or any other rehabilitative activity, and the boys are locked up for up to 22 hours a day in their cells. In Las Puertas, the patio for the closed wing was covered by a roof, limiting their access to sunlight. The sanitary conditions in these centres are also very poor. There are no toilets in the cells, sometimes forcing the detainees to wait for hours for a social worker to let them go to the toilet. At the Piedras Home, the detainees have to relieve themselves in bottles and plastic bags, which they throw out of the window, resulting in a repulsive smell around the building. A few of the minors interviewed stated that they had to kick the doors and “bark like dogs” in order to get any attention from the guards. One positive aspect is that those detainees who behave well are allowed to have a television in their cell. (para 60) At least half of the detainees are drug users. In addition, most detainees are given anti-anxiety (sedative) medication and sleeping pills, based on a 10-minute psychiatric evaluation. Sedatives are often used as substitution therapy. At Las Puertas, the Special Rapporteur noticed pieces of fabric hanging from the bars above the door. When he asked what they were, he was told that several detainees had tried to hang themselves using pieces of fabric, and the fabric that remained tied to the bars indicated the number of juveniles who had tried to commit suicide in each cell. The majority of the juveniles in detention had their arms and chests covered with marks of cuts which were self-inflicted in order to get attention from social workers and medical staff. (para 61) The Special Rapporteur was informed that whenever there are riots or rebellions in the juvenile detention facilities, the guards leave the premises and the Special Operations Police Group (GEO) enters the institution in order to quell the violence. This practice is worrying, as the Special Rapporteur received numerous, consistent allegations of beatings, shooting with rubber bullets and collective punishments as a result. For the most part, those juveniles who were able to escape after the riots or rebellions were re-apprehended in a matter of days. Some of them were again subjected to ill-treatment as punishment for their breakout. Most of the juveniles interviewed by the Special Rapporteur expressed their fear of reprisals if they complain of ill-treatment. As a result, few formal complaints are made. (para 62) Chronic understaffing and lack of economic resources are among the many problems faced by INAU in administering and managing the juvenile detention facilities. A number of the social workers indicated that they were commonly obliged to cover shifts with less than half of the required persons, due to the large number of staff who are on sick leave. In some cases, the juveniles cannot go out to the courtyard because there are not enough guards to ensure everyone’s safety. In addition, social workers do not receive formal training before they start working. The Special Rapporteur noted that there was a great degree of mutual respect between the juveniles in detention and the female social workers. (para 65) The Special Rapporteur is however seriously concerned about the greater vulnerability of minors to ill-treatment in police stations and consistent allegations of beatings after arrest, as well as the seemingly excessive use of force and collective punishment after riots and rebellions in detention facilities for minors. In addition, he is worried about the conditions of detention in these centres and the punitive approach of the administration of justice system for juvenile offenders, giving minors no opportunities for rehabilitation. (para 99) Contact with Families in Detainment:The system of family visits was deemed fairly liberal by the Special Rapporteur. Families can visit a few times a week, and are allowed to stay for several hours. Unfortunately, this positive aspect is undermined by the fact that visitors, including women and children, are subjected to very intrusive inspections, including body cavity searches, when they visit their family members in prison, violating their human dignity. An additional complaint received from many detainees was that their families were unable to visit them, since many of them came from locations far from Montevideo, where the larger prisons are located. (para 51) Concerning visits, visiting hours seemed to vary between facilities, although in general, families could visit for several hours a week, meaning the detainees could spend a few additional hours outside. Nevertheless, visiting restrictions are the most common sanction for violence or riots, and as a result, the juveniles sometimes spend more than a month without receiving any visitors. In addition, the remote location of Colonia Berro makes it difficult for families to visit their children, although some buses for visitors are regularly organized. (para 63) With regard to phone calls, juveniles are allowed to make one two-and-a-half minute call twice a week. A social worker always listens to the conversations, giving the detainee no privacy to speak freely. (para 64) The Special Rapporteur, referring to the observations and recommendations made by the Committee on Rights of the Child and other bodies, organizations and institutions, urges the Government to reform the administration of justice for juvenile offenders. He stresses that deprivation of liberty of children should be used as a measure of last resort and detention facilities need to comply with international standards. He further recommends providing specific training for social workers and law enforcement officials assigned to juvenile detention facilities. In addition, he wishes to underline the importance of establishing a rehabilitative juvenile justice system allowing detained minors to be in contact with their families and friends and providing them with meaningful activities as well as educational programmes. He therefore invites the Government to reflect on a possible replacement of Colonia Berro by detention centres located geographically closer to the communities and families of detained juveniles and providing for a modern approach to juvenile crime prevention and rehabilitation. (para 66) Detained Mothers: An additional concern was the fact that the existing facilities are not adequate for children who are living with their detained mothers. Although the women are free to move around in the prison during the day, they are locked up at night, and have to call for one of the guards to open the cell when they need to use the bathroom. The Special Rapporteur therefore recommends the establishment of special facilities for the accommodation of female prisoners with their children. (para 70) The plan consists of transferring 550 detainees from COMCAR to Punta de Rieles, a refurbished military facility. An additional 150 detainees would be transferred to a prefabricated facility near La Tablada and 256 would be transferred to Maldonado. A new module would be created in Libertad to house 360 detainees from Las Latas. Detainees with psychiatric illnesses and severe drug addictions would be transferred to one of the pavilions of the Carlos Rossi Colony, and those prisoners over 60 years old, as well as those who have 48-hour transitional leave would be transferred to a more open facility. Another priority will be transferring 30 women whose children live with them in prison to a separate facility. The Special Rapporteur acknowledges the measures undertaken by the Government to implement his preliminary recommendations; however, he would like to stress the immediate need to close “Las Latas” and transfer all its detainees to another facility. (para 84) Criminal Justice Policy: The Government indicated that the Technical Institute for Juvenile Rehabilitation, which was the body in charge of the implementation of judicial measures for juvenile offences, was restructured and is now called the “Implementation System for Measures for Juvenile Offenders”. Jointly with INAU, this body has developed the structure for a “Programme for Measures for the Non Deprivation of Liberty on a Communitarian Basis” as a means to reduce the number of cases of deprivation of liberty. By 31 July 2009, 262 juveniles from all over the country were part of the public system of implementation of non-deprivation of liberty measures and the joint system. The total number of juveniles deprived of liberty is 276. (para 67) Many, if not all, of the problems faced by the penitentiary system and the juvenile justice system are a direct result of the lack of a comprehensive criminal justice policy. More than 8,000 persons are currently deprived of their liberty in Uruguay, a rate of 251 per 100,000. This figure makes Uruguay one of the countries in the region with the highest number of persons deprived of their liberty per capita although Uruguay has one of the lowest crime rates in Latin America. (para 77) Reform of the administration of criminal justice system: (...) (e) Ensure that deprivation of liberty for juveniles is only used as a measure of last resort and that the use of pretrial detention is minimized. (…) (q) Develop a modern juvenile justice system aimed at the prevention of crime and the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders; and (r) Introduce drug-substitute programmes in juvenile detention facilities. (…) (para 105) ---------------------------------------- Report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children Country visit: 13 – 17 February 2010 Not available. ---------------------------------------- Report by the UN Independent Expert on Water and Sanitation Country visit: 13 – 17 February 2012 Not available. ---------------------------------------- Visits accepted
Please note that the language may have been edited in places for the purpose of clarity