July 13, 2021

11:07

MANAUS – The Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA) completes 31 years on Tuesday, 13, ensuring rights of children and adolescents in Brazil. It is the result of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and has been in force since July 1990, when it was instituted by Law 8.069/1990, representing a milestone in the legal protection of boys and girls under 18 years of age. In the Covid-19 pandemic, rights violations were accentuated.

“Each country formulates its law. It is a very high priority and specific term that deals with several crimes and violations against children and teenagers, and also with access to education and family conflicts,” says counselor Francisco Coelho Neto, from the Guardianship Council of Manaus’ South-Central zone.

Among the subjects that the ECA details are the right to life and health; to freedom, respect, and dignity; to family and community life; the right to guardianship, custody, and adoption, and also the rights of children and adolescents in relation to education, culture, sports, and leisure; and to job protection.

Rights violations

The State Department of Justice, Human Rights and Citizenship (Sejusc) released the “Statistical report of the records made by the Amazonas guardianship councils” made in conjunction with the State Council on the Rights of Children and Adolescents (Cedca/AM) and State Reference Center of the Information System for Childhood and Adolescence (Sipia CT/AM). The document indicated that 213 complaints of rights violations against children and adolescents were registered in Amazonas in June this year.

The three most reported crimes were related to violent family environment (9), preventing the child or the adolescent to have access to school (12) and rape of a vulnerable person (11). “Nowadays a lot of rape of minors is happening, especially newborns. Before it was more children 12 and 13 years old. This rate is more committed by relatives such as parents, uncles, cousins. We have fought hard every day and received complaints about this situation,” said Francisco.

Pandemic increased violations

The guardian counselor also highlighted that the pandemic has accentuated other problems involving children and adolescents, besides the rape of the vulnerable, especially suicide and child labor. As for suicide, families have been facing economic problems that aggravate the tension and violence within the homes, resulting in emotional and psychological disorders. Just in the Guardianship Council coordinated by Francisco, about one or two cases are registered per month.

“There is the matter of a lot of abuse, a lot of oppression. The person is unemployed and takes it out on the child. The mother is unemployed and blames the father, or the father is unemployed and blames the mother. This issue of unemployment affects the family a lot. This has increased a lot in the pandemic,” said Francisco.

On the subject of child labor, Francis underlined that children are still victims of mistreatment such as “renting,” when parents promise or give their child to a third party for payment or reward.

“This issue of child labor is a problem every day. Every month we take action, we find these mothers and go to the police station. The mother rents the children for people to take them to the signal. We approach the mother, or whoever we think is the mother, and ask for the birth certificate. If she doesn’t have the certificate, we take her to the police station. If it is found that they are renting and that they are being ill-treated, the person is arrested and the child goes to the shelter housing,” he said.

How to denounce

Reports of violations of the rights of children and adolescents, such as negligence, violence, exploitation, or abuse, can be made through the national 100 hotline. It is also possible to denounce by going directly to the guardianship counselors.

Translation: Bruno Sena