CRC/C/OPSC/PRY/CO/1
Below is a short summary of the key issues from the CRC's 64th session Concluding Observations for Paraguay for the OPSC. Click on the link above for the full text, and here for the alternative reports submitted by NGOs and the CRC's Concluding Observations for other States it reviewed.
The Committee recommends that particular attention be paid to children at risk of becoming victims and to closely monitor those in vulnerable situation, such as girls, children in extreme poverty, indigenous children, children living in the street and children in residential care.
Child sexual abuse images: Cultural stereotypes that accept the dissemination of pornographic material involving children, especially girls, must be changed.
Adoption: Ninety per cent of adoptions occur outside the established procedures. Measures should also be taken to prevent illegal adoption and the sale of children.
Child sex tourism: Child sex tourism must be incorporated explicitly as a criminal offence and measure must be taken to prevent it, especially in view of the forthcoming sport events to take place in the border regions with Brazil and Argentina.
Child trafficking: Practices such as Criadazgo, whereby children from poor rural areas go to live and work with relatives and family friends in the cities, must be criminalised if the transfer of the child is remunerated or if the child is sexually exploited. Moreover, law-enforcement authorities must be strengthened to detect and prosecute alleged perpetrators.
Access to justice: The Committee recommends that child victims and witnesses be protected through adequate criminal proceedings and that the latter group must have access to compensation for damages and assistance through rehabilitation programmes. Lastly, the national helpline must cover all offences under the OP, be made accessible nationwide and receive further financial and technical resources.
Read more about children’s right to access justice in CRIN’s submission for the 2014 Human Rights Council’s Annual day on the Rights of the Child, and our child-friendly justice toolkit.