Committee on the Rights of the Child

Sixty- ninth session

Summary record of the 1988th (Chamber B) meeting

Held at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, on Tuesday, 19 May 2015, at 3 p.m.

Chairperson:Ms. Winter (Vice-Chairperson)

Contents

Consideration of reports of States parties (continued)

Combined fourth and fifth periodic reports of Mexico

In the absence of the Chairperson, Ms. Winter, Vice-Chairperson, took the Chair.

The meeting was called to order at 3.05 p.m.

Consideration of reports of States parties (continued)

Combined fourth and fifth periodic reports of Mexico (CRC/C/MEX/4-5; CRC/C/MEX/Q/4-5 and Add.1)

At the invitation of the Chairperson, the delegation of Mexico took places at the Committee table.

Mr. Gómez Robledo (Mexico), introducing the combined fourth and fifth periodic reports of Mexico on implementation of the Convention (CRC/C/MEX/4-5, accompanied by an addendum without a symbol, said that cooperation with international human rights bodies was essential to the work of furthering children’s rights in Mexico. The previous year the Rapporteur on the Rights of the Child of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had visited Mexico and his country had worked closely with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to produce a Protocol for Consular Assistance to Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Adolescents, the first of its kind, which aimed to ensure respect for the best interests of the child in consular procedures.

Ms. Vargas Carrillo (Mexico) said that the Government and civil society worked hand in hand to protect children’s rights. Civil society had made important contributions to new legislation and had helped in preparing for the dialogue with the Committee.

There were more than 40 million children and adolescents in Mexico, accounting for nearly one third of the population. Around 12.5 per cent belonged to indigenous groups and nearly 1.7 per cent of under-17-year-olds had some form of disability.

Recent constitutional amendments to strengthen the framework for protection of children’s rights made specific reference to the best interests of the child and to the right of everyone to be registered at birth. However, the most significant legislative advance of the past 25 years had been the publication in December 2014 of the Children’s and Adolescents’ Rights Act. The Act represented a paradigm shift from the existing assistance-based approach to one that recognized children as holders of rights and thus focused on guaranteeing those rights. The Act drew together and coordinated all public policies on children, at the federal, state and municipal levels. It guaranteed children’s involvement in the design and implementation of those policies and laid the foundation for action by the private and social sectors to prevent violations of children’s rights. The Act provided for the establishment of a Federal Office for the Protection of Children and Adolescents to coordinate the work of the child protection offices in each of the 32 federal entities, and for the creation of a National Comprehensive Protection System, under the President of the Republic, to coordinate policy as a whole and promote the children’s rights perspective in development planning. A national programme for the protection of children and an information system to provide disaggregated data and qualitative and quantitative indicators of progress would also be set up.

Numerous other measures had been put in place in recent years, as mentioned in the addendum to the State party’s periodic report and the Government’s written replies to the list of issues (CRC/C/MEX/Q/4-5/Add.1). Child mortality had fallen by 62 per cent between 1990 and 2014 and infant mortality by 60.3 per cent. The number of cases of malnutrition had dropped by 84 per cent between 2000 and 2010.

The school enrolment rate for 3 to 14-year-olds now stood at 94.4 per cent and the recently created maternity insurance scheme, which now covered 6 million women, had helped more than 10,000 children to continue and complete their schooling. In addition, migrant children were now entitled to six months’ medical coverage under the national family development system.

Mr. Moreira Valdéz (Mexico) said that the challenge for the Mexican State, as a federation, was to properly coordinate human rights policy across not only its 32 federal entities, all of which had a high degree of political and budgetary autonomy, but also the municipalities. The Human Rights Commission of the National Conference of Governors was working with the federal Government to identify what tasks fell to the states in that regard, and particularly in respect of implementation of the Children’s and Adolescents’ Rights Act, which required states to set up systems to protect children’s rights and devise public policy. Meetings had taken place with UNICEF, civil society and academia with a view to aligning state legislative frameworks and institutional arrangements with federal law and international standards.

The federal Government had provided states with model legislation in order to expedite implementation of the Act. To date 7 federal entities had legislation in place and 16 had draft legislation in the pipeline. His own state had adopted the federal legislation and was moving towards a more integrated approach in which decision-making authorities coordinated policy on poverty, education, health, justice and security within a single system.

Mr. Cardona Llorens (Country Rapporteur) said that he wondered how, given the degree of autonomy enjoyed by its various federal entities and the municipalities, Mexico would be able to ensure equality for all children across the country. Implementation of the new Act was required in all states and deadlines had been set: what would happen if a state failed to implement the legislation by the set date? He wondered whether the State party was considering ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on a communications procedure.

The Act did not have a section on financing and he wondered what budget there was for its implementation. Moreover, budgets having already been set, how were states expected to create new budget lines for the protection of children and adolescents? In the federal budget only 1 per cent was set aside for protection policies and there were no resources for participation: what would be done to correct that? Corruption and diversion of funds were realities in Mexico, yet as he understood it there were no penalties for corruption. What plans were there for measures to prevent, detect and punish corruption?

Notwithstanding the anti-discrimination provisions of the law, many vulnerable children suffered de facto discrimination because of their sex, the region of the country they lived in, or other grounds. What active policies were there to eliminate the real barriers faced by vulnerable groups? He would appreciate disaggregated statistics showing numbers of girl victims of femicide, and also on the numbers of children who were victims of traffic accidents.

He would like to know what resources had been allocated to implementation of the new constitutional provision regarding the best interests of the child. Were there specific protocols on the evaluation of the best interests of the child in particular areas such as migration and adoption?

With regard to civil rights and the right to an identity, he wondered what active policies were in place to ensure proper birth registration in rural areas and to safeguard the interests of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) children. Child marriage still occurred in some states and the age of marriage was still not the same for boys and girls everywhere. Moreover, the law on statutory rape still permitted the rapist to avoid prosecution if he married the girl, which further exacerbated the problem of early marriage. He would like to know what policies were in place to prevent early marriage, harmonize legislation on the age of marriage and remove the option of marriage in cases of statutory rape.

Ms. Oviedo Fierro (Country Rapporteur) said that, in order to make the new Act work, it was very important to capitalize on the broad support it had received from all social sectors. The system was required to begin operating 180 days after promulgation of the Act, i.e., on 3 June 2015. She wondered when the new secretariat would begin its coordination work in order to meet that deadline. She welcomed the fact that the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy was to be responsible for monitoring implementation of the Act: the assignment of the task to such a senior body demonstrated the importance the Government attached to the legislation. She would like to know if due account would be taken of the experience of the existing monitoring committees.

She wondered whether the protection programme and the information system would be in place in time and whether civil society was involved in setting them up. How would the child protection offices make the switch from the old assistance-based approach to the new rights-based approach? What steps were envisaged to ensure that the Act was duly publicized and that appropriate training was given? Would civil society, and indeed children and adolescents themselves, be involved in training and how would it be organized?

Cooperation with civil society in general needed to be consolidated. Had any thought been given to setting up bipartite committees to monitor the implementation of the Committee’s recommendations, for example?

The State party report did not contain many references to participation by children in civil life. She had talked to a number of children in Mexico, who had said that they were eager for greater and wider participation. Indeed, articles 125 and 127 of the Children’s and Adolescents’ Rights Act emphasized the need for children to participate and she wondered how the State party would achieve that aim. Lastly, she requested the delegation to clarify the circumstances of the death of José Luis Tehuatle, an indigenous boy killed in the course of a demonstration involving adult protesters.

Ms. Parsi said that, although it was prohibited under the Constitution of Mexico, and in spite of reforms in 2011, torture was still systematically practised by the security forces throughout the country. She requested the delegation to explain whether the federal Criminal Code and the state criminal codes had been harmonized to ensure that the criminalization of torture or cruel treatment was in line with international human rights standards. She asked what measures had been taken to prevent and punish torture in detention centres for adolescents in conflict with the law. She also wondered when the proposals by the Public Security Council that cases of torture should be investigated and that the staff of legal institutions should be trained were likely to be approved.

The Committee welcomed the adoption of the Children’s and Adolescents’ Rights Act, which required that anyone dealing with children should refrain from corporal punishment. With the adoption of the Act, Mexico had undertaken an important commitment to combating violence against children and corporal punishment, which was humiliating and detrimental to the psychological development of children. It was in the family and in schools, however, that the greatest number of cases of violence against children took place and she asked whether the State party planned to explicitly prohibit and punish corporal punishment in the family, schools and institutions. It seemed that the authorities intervened only in extreme cases. She wondered how the State party was changing the mentality of the public and how it was improving inter-institutional coordination to prevent, monitor and intervene in such cases. She also asked what programmes had been adopted to promote positive, non-violent education. Lastly, she asked whether the telephone lines operated by the Complaints and Public Assistance Centre were available to children to make direct complaints to the authorities about cases of corporal punishment and other forms of physical or mental abuse. She also wondered whether the telephone lines were accessible throughout the country.

Ms. Ayoubi Idrissi said that she commended the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission but wondered whether the State party had made every possible effort to address the recommendation by the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights that the Commission should comply more fully with the Paris Principles in relation to independence and impartiality. With regard to complaints lodged by children with the Commission, she requested further details of the kind of violation involved and how many complaints were made. She wondered whether the State party could make the complaints mechanism more accessible and ensure that it was available to vulnerable children, street children and migrant children.

The State party had commendably brought its definition of a child into line with article 1 of the Convention. However, she would welcome more detail on the age at which a person could form or join an association, including a religious association, or change his or her religion, consent to adoption or gain access to medical care without parental consent. In that connection, 14 and 16 seemed a low age at which to allow marriage. She would prefer to see State laws harmonized at the age of 18 for marriage.

With regard to torture, she asked whether any investigations had been carried out and whether the criminalization of torture had been harmonized in the various federal and state criminal codes. She also wished to know whether there was a statute of limitations. It was important that children should be able to complain without fear of reprisal, in the interests of combating impunity. The Committee had been given information on sexual violence against children, especially girls, but it appeared that such cases had resulted in few convictions. She urged the State party to adopt a standardized information system, in which such incidents were disaggregated by age, sex and the nature of the violation. Lastly, she asked whether the State party would set up a mechanism for providing victims of such violence with practical assistance in paying medical and legal costs and with psychological assistance.

The meeting was suspended at 4.10 p.m. and resumed at 4.45 p.m.

Mr. G ó mez Robledo (Mexico) said that the Government faced enormous challenges in ensuring compliance with the Children’s and Adolescents’ Rights Act. In response to the question from Mr. Cardona Llorens as to whether Mexico intended to accede to the Optional Protocol on a communications procedure, he said that the Government was currently going through the necessary consultation process. Under the constitutional reforms of 2011, international treaties were considered to be on a par with the Constitution, and therefore wider consultations were required than in the past. There was also a debate in the Congress as to whether legislation should be harmonized with international standards before or after accession to a given convention. For example, it had been decided to adopt the appropriate legislation before acceding to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), but sometimes the process was reversed. As for the question of participation in judicial proceedings, that was covered by article 83 of the Act, which gave children and adolescents the right to lodge a complaint and participate in trials. Children were naturally also covered by the Support System for Victims of Human Trafficking and Extreme Gender Violence. As for the Protocol for Consular Assistance to Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Adolescents, which had been prepared with support from UNICEF, the Government had approved a budget of US$ 17 million, which gave the large number of Mexican consulates — around 50 in the United States of America alone, in addition to some 10 in Canada and others in Central and South America — the means to provide legal advice to young migrants, including those who might face a death sentence. The budget would need to be increased, but the Government was proud of its consular expertise and had shared its experience with other countries.

Mr. Moreira Valdéz (Mexico) said that, since state laws did not necessarily follow federal laws, it was difficult to ensure that legislation was uniform across the country. The Government had, however, prepared a model law that aimed to avoid inconsistencies between state and federal law. As for the minimum age of marriage, once the model law had been adopted throughout the country, it would be possible to introduce subsidiary legislation to raise the minimum age to 18. By the same token, unacceptable exceptions currently in place could also be removed. With regard to corporal punishment, he said that there was a significant body of legislation at local level criminalizing corporal punishment, on the same footing as domestic violence. The perpetrator of such action could be imprisoned or fined. As for the question of budgets, much obviously depended on a state’s ability to collect revenue. A state needed to juggle federal funds, state revenue and municipal taxes. Following his discussions within the National Conference of Governors, he would let the Committee know what decisions had been reached for the 2016 budget.

Mr. Sepúlveda Iguínez (Mexico) said that the National Comprehensive Protection System was indeed a watershed: previously, government activity had been piecemeal, but efforts were being made to coordinate all aspects of protection for children. The Ministry of Internal Affairs had produced a road map setting out how the System should be implemented, including the establishment of an executive secretariat, which would drive the rest of the process forward. The secretariat’s budget was currently being settled and guidelines would be established. The Ministry possessed the relevant data but needed to apply quantitative and qualitative indicators in order to disaggregate the data and therefore make it possible to produce better policy decisions. The National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy would oversee the procedure.

The Government attached great importance to the prevention of torture, especially in places of detention. To that end, it had carried out a survey of the impact of violence on children, who, it should be remembered, could not only be the victims of crime but also coopted into participating in crime. As a result, a policy had been adopted that had reduced violence significantly. As for the question of the LGBTI community, the Government’s human rights policy gave priority to the protection of that community against discrimination. Meetings had been held with LGBTI representatives to ensure that members of the community, especially young people, could obtain access to justice.

Ms. García Gómez (Mexico) said that Mexico was well on the way to establishing a system to combat corruption. Following approval by 23 state congresses, the new system would provide for the proper auditing of federal resources, whatever body they were used by, whether political parties, trade unions or state authorities. An administrative court to deal with serious cases of corruption would be established. As for the minimum age of marriage, she said that, as of 30 April 2015, following an amendment to the Civil Code, minors could not marry, even with the permission of their parents. With regard to torture, she said that, on 29 April 2015, the senate had agreed an amendment to the Constitution whereby the Congress could adopt legislation establishing minimum penalties for torture and other cruel treatment.

Ms. Morales Garza (Mexico) said that human rights must underpin all public policy, including the right to education for all. All models and programmes therefore took account of human rights in order to ensure that schools were free of violence and showed awareness of the gender perspective. The Government believed in affirmative action for vulnerable groups, which meant respect for the linguistic and cultural rights of indigenous peoples: programmes were available in 53 languages across the country. Secondly, a gender balance for the allocation of grants should be observed, particularly given recent research showing that females performed better at the secondary and tertiary education levels. As for participation in inclusive education, one third of indigenous schools received direct funding, which enabled them to make their own decisions and follow their own culture. The Government had a national strategy to combat teenage pregnancy and it had adopted a sectoral agenda to deal with violence in schools, which would depend on the proper training of teachers. As for children’s participation in civil society, Mexico had a children’s parliament and school assemblies were regularly held.

Ms. Oviedo Fierro said that, although the Committee was interested in action taken, it attached particular importance to how the participation of children would be ensured under the Children’s and Adolescents’ Rights Act which would form the basis of a new society. She had high hopes for the future of Mexico. She requested the delegation to send the Committee a copy of the road map that had been produced.

Mr. Cardona Llorens said that there was little point in enacting legislation if resources were inadequate. He commended the budget allocated to the Protocol for Consular Assistance to Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Adolescents — and he presumed that the funds provided by UNICEF were in addition to that sum — but he doubted whether it would be sufficient for the thousands of children who needed assistance, including those from other South American countries passing through Mexico. With regard to corporal punishment, he understood that it was prohibited by law, but he had been informed that it could be and sometimes was used for corrective purposes in institutions. He also wondered what the point was of a federal law relating to such issues as the age of majority for committing rape and other crimes, if it did not apply in all the country’s 32 states.

Ms. Ayoubi Idrissi requested the delegation to provide specific answers to the Committee’s questions concerning torture in places of detention and ill-treatment in psychiatric institutions. She asked what was done to protect vulnerable people in such cases.

The Chairperson said that, when the Committee requested specific information, it hoped that the delegation could say that, in a given area, a specific number of investigations had been conducted, which had led to a specific number of convictions and the imposition of specific penalties.

Mr. Valdés Trejo (Mexico), turning to the questions on health asked by Mr. Cardona Llorens and the issues of traffic police and infant mortality, said that traffic accidents were the primary cause of death among children and young persons and were often alcohol-related. A number of practical accident-prevention guides had been drawn up. The Health Act had recently been overhauled to include provisions on alcohol abuse, its impact on young persons and children and the prohibition of the consumption of alcohol by children. Educational programmes on health and social issues linked to alcohol had been set up targeting minors and other vulnerable groups.

Over the past few years, infant mortality had fallen to 13 deaths per 1,000 live births thanks to neonatal screening, neonatal reanimation, the issuing of regulations on the prevention and monitoring of birth defects and the harmonization of neonatal procedures at the federal and local levels. A programme for the prevention and monitoring of diarrhoeal diseases and respiratory illnesses had been launched and had played a significant role in reducing the infant mortality rate. A number of basic hygiene, dehydration-prevention, staff-training and vitamin-distribution programmes had been set up.

As to the question asked by Ms. Ayoubi Idrissi on access to health care by unaccompanied children, children and young persons aged 10 to 19 years could seek medical assistance without parental supervision.

Mr. Valera Piedras (Mexico), turning to the question on policies relating to vulnerable and indigenous populations asked by Mr. Cardona Llorens, said that the Government had strengthened its social development policy by bringing together 19 federal bodies to work on the National Crusade against Hunger, a campaign that focused on over 1,000 municipalities home to vulnerable and indigenous groups. Over 734,000 SINHAMBRE (Hunger-free) cards had been distributed, enabling their holders to acquire basic foodstuffs. A social inclusion programme entitled PROSPERA had been set up which reached out to a large number of indigenous communities, and grants had been allocated to young persons members of those communities. More than 5,000 community kitchens had been set up, mainly in areas with large indigenous populations. Impact studies had shown that the above-mentioned programmes enabled indigenous persons and women to remain in education for longer and improved young women’s job prospects.

Mr. Cervera Rivero (Mexico), turning to the questions asked by Mr. Cardona Llorens and Ms. Oviedo Fierro on specific protocols for the assessment of the best interests of the child in cases of divorce and custody, said that the concept of the best interests of the child was reflected in domestic legislation, public policies and legal procedures. The Supreme Court of Justice had established a protocol under which minors involved in legal proceedings enjoyed special treatment, could not be interrogated and must be provided with information on the legal proceedings in question prior to their initiation and on the impact of any rulings handed down. A number of judges had been trained in the implementation of the legislation arising from the Convention and the Inter-American Convention on the International Return of Children. Judges ruling on custody or divorce cases made sure to take into account article 11 of the Convention and the opinions and situations of the children involved, in order to ensure that they were not used as bargaining chips by their parents.

Ms. Colchero Aragónes (Mexico) said that torture had been established as a grave violation of human rights under the Constitution and a general law on torture would be introduced to bring together the various relevant existing pieces of legislation and align them with the Convention. A protocol on the handling of torture cases had been established for members of the judiciary. A number of significant rulings had been issued and case law established on the exclusion of evidence and confessions obtained through torture, the ex-officio initiation of investigations and the duty of public officials to denounce torture. A number of convictions handed down on the basis of confessions obtained through torture were being re-examined. A protocol on the handling of investigations was currently being reviewed by a number of domestic and international experts and bodies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross. That protocol was partly based on the soon-to-be introduced adversarial criminal justice system, under which prosecutors must publicly justify any evidence collected and any accusations made against defendants.

Ms. Cárdenas Miranda (Mexico) said that steps had been taken at the legislative level to establish the right of all to have their birth registered. Over 1 million births had been registered as part of an ongoing national campaign backed by UNICEF. Registration could also be carried out abroad at Mexican consulates throughout the world. A Federal Office for the Protection of Children and Adolescents had been set up and the system of state procurators for the defence of the rights of the child and the family would be reorganized at the local level to provide protection for and, where necessary, restore, the rights of children and register Child Development Assistance Centres. The network of disseminators of State and Municipal Schemes for the Comprehensive Development of the Family and State Schemes for the Comprehensive Development of the Family had been expanded considerably.

Ms. Parsi asked what measures the State party had taken to identify vulnerable families and help them to provide and care for their children in line with the new Children’s and Adolescents’ Rights Act, whether the PROSPERA social inclusion programme covered the whole population, how the State party ensured that children were able to remain in contact with their imprisoned parents, what was being done with regard to children over the age of 6 living with their mothers in detention facilities, what had been done to develop a network of foster families and residential homes for children deprived of their family environment, what progress had been made in harmonizing the childcare systems in the various states and setting up an effective mechanism for the monitoring of private and state childcare institutions and whether an action plan had been drawn up relating to the creation of a register of social assistance centres. She also asked how many children were currently deprived of their family environment and what their current situation was, whether there were plans to increase the budget for minors without parental care, what had been done to ensure greater integration and coordination between the units responsible for managing childcare institutions, what progress had been made in determining the best interests of unaccompanied child migrants and child asylum seekers, whether any statistical data were available on the number of family reunifications involving countries of origin and destination organized by the Mexican authorities, how recently introduced legislation prohibiting private adoptions was being implemented and whether the relevant domestic legislation had been amended to bring it into line with both the Convention and the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption. She asked how the Government intended to implement the National Programme for Equality and Non-Discrimination (Pronaind) 2014–2018. Lastly, she asked what steps would be taken to ensure that all children in Mexico had equal access to quality education and when that goal would be achieved.

Ms. Oviedo Fierro said that the delegation had still not answered the questions put to it on participation of and coordination with civil society, the case of José Luis Tehuatle and the changing role of child protection offices. She also asked how the Protocol for Consular Assistance to Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Adolescents would be implemented and whether the necessary institutional regulations and budget were in place. As to internal migration, she asked what the Mexican Government was doing to protect the approximately half a million children of agricultural day labourers and to fulfil its regional commitments relating to the humanitarian crisis in Central America.

She asked whether any agreements had been concluded with the United States of America on the protection of Mexican children. She requested updated information on child pornography, sex tourism and the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in the State party and asked what was being done to tackle not only those issues but also the trafficking of children for the purposes of labour. She also asked what measures had been taken to address the problem of child abuse perpetrated by members of the clergy.

Lastly, she enquired what legislation was in place to regulate the involvement of minors in bullfighting. There were a number of schools in the State party where children could learn to be bullfighters and children often either participated in or were spectators at bullfights. She asked whether there were any plans to prohibit persons under the age of 18 from attending such events.

Mr. Cardona Llorens said that he was concerned at the high level of abandonment of children with disabilities and their institutionalization, the fact that they had only limited access to justice and the low level of participation of such children in matters directly affecting them. He asked whether any protocols had been introduced for the registration, monitoring and oversight of conditions in shelters and institutions for children with disabilities. Turning to education, he asked what had been done to make mainstream schools and curricula more accessible and inclusive for children with disabilities. He said that televised fund-raising events stigmatized children with disabilities.

He requested more information on children’s access to the various health-care systems in the State party, in particular with regard to children of unemployed parents and immigrant children. He asked what was being done to promote breastfeeding and asked for disaggregated data on the number of children with psychosocial disabilities. He enquired whether any awareness-raising campaigns were being run in schools on the prevention of drug use, whether there were any preventive policies in place relating to infant mortality and adolescent pregnancy and what the situation was regarding access to reproductive and sexual health services. He requested data on the impact of the different state abortion policies on maternal mortality rates among adolescents and asked what was being done to reduce the rate of infant mortality, in particular in rural areas and regions with large indigenous communities.

He asked what measures had been taken to address child poverty in the State party and to prevent companies from purchasing pesticides that had been banned in the United States of America and that had been linked to cancer, leukaemia and birth defects, how much progress had been made in preparing a protocol on the protection of child victims and witnesses and what measures had been taken to regulate surrogate motherhood and prevent the sale of infants. Lastly, turning to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, he asked what was being done to prevent the recruitment of children by armed criminal groups and whether any measures had been taken relating to military academies and to identify and protect child victims of armed conflict from neighbouring countries.

The meeting rose at 6.10 p.m.