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United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child - States Parties Reports |
UNITED
NATIONS |
|
CRC
|
|
Convention on the Rights of the Child |
Distr. GENERAL CRC/C/51/Add.7 21 June 2002 ENGLISH Original: FRENCH |
COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES
UNDER
ARTICLE 44 OF THE CONVENTION
Initial reports of States parties due in 1997
HAITI
GE.02-42693 (E)
140802 280802
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
Introduction 1 -
8 5
I. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION 9 -
76 6
A. Legislative measures 9 - 13 6
B. Structural and
administrative measures 14 - 18 6
C. Publicizing the Convention 19 -
28 7
D. Strategies for publishing the report 29 -
31 8
E. Definition of the child 32 -
40 9
F. Non-discrimination 41 - 49 10
G. Best interests of the
child 50 - 60 11
H. Child’s right to life, survival and
development 61 - 68 12
I. Respect for the views of the child 69 -
76 13
II. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS 77 - 99 14
A. Name and
nationality 77 - 87 14
B. Preservation of identity 88 -
91 16
C. Public freedoms 92 - 99 16
III. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT
AND ALTERNATIVE CARE 100 - 140 17
A. Parental guidance and
responsibilities 102 - 109 17
B. Separation from parents 110 -
117 18
C. Family reunification 118 - 121 19
D. Illicit
transfer and non-return 122 - 124 20
E. Recovery of maintenance for
the child 125 - 127 20
F. Periodic review of placement 128 -
140 21
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
IV. HEALTH AND WELFARE OF
THE CHILD 141 - 173 22
A. Priorities and objectives 145 -
149 23
B. Standard of living, survival and development
of the child
150 - 152 24
C. Comprehensive care of the child 153 -
158 25
D. Nutritional monitoring and promotion
of breastfeeding
159 - 162 26
E. Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) 163 -
169 26
F. Programmes for the control of diarrhoeal
diseases (CDD)
and acute respiratory
infections (ARI) 170 - 172 27
G. School
health 173 28
V. EDUCATION, LEISURE, RECREATION AND
CULTURAL
ACTIVITIES 174 - 248 28
A. Education 174 -
229 28
1. Educational priorities and objectives 178 -
183 29
2. Overall framework for access to education 184 -
191 30
3. Challenges for the system . 192 - 215 31
4.
General progress achieved 216 - 229 35
B. Leisure, sports, recreation
and cultural activities 230 - 248 36
1. Leisure and recreation
activities 230 - 240 36
2. Cultural and artistic activities 241
- 248 38
CONTENTS (continued)
Paragraphs Page
VI. SPECIAL PROTECTION
MEASURES 249 - 284 39
A. Children in situations of emergency 249 -
261 39
1. Refugee children 249 -251 39
2. Street
children 252 - 255 39
3. Children in domestic service 256 -
261 40
B. Children in conflict with the law 262 -
271 41
C. Child victims of exploitation 272 - 284 42
1.
The labour situation 272 - 275 42
2. Drug victims 276 -
277 42
3. Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse 278
-282 43
4. Theft, sale and abduction of children 283 -
284 43
VII. CONCLUSION 285 - 291 44
Introduction
Background
1. The State of Haiti
ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994. In so doing, it
took a decision to systematically
orient its policies towards the integration
and special protection of children, who now account for 40 per cent of the total
population
of the country.[1]
That choice also involves certain obligations to the United Nations, of which
Haiti is a member.
2. Two years after ratification of the Convention, for
example, States parties must submit to the Committee on the Rights of the Child,
through the United Nations Secretary-General, a report on the measures they have
adopted to give effect to the rights recognized
in the
Convention,[2] obstacles
encountered and progress made, as well as any developments that are
planned.
Aims of the report
3. For the Committee, the reporting process
provides an important opportunity to conduct a comprehensive review of the
various measures
undertaken to harmonize domestic law and policy with the
Convention and to monitor progress made in the enjoyment of the rights in
question. It also helps to encourage and facilitate popular participation and
public scrutiny of government
policies.[3]
4. Although
this report has been prepared to enable the State of Haiti to fulfil its
commitments towards the international community,
its chief interest lies in the
provision of practical data and information that will make it possible to
evaluate government measures,
explain any shortcomings and open up perspectives
for systematic State action in the area of children’s rights.
Methodology and analytical approach
5. The approach adopted in this report is highly
analytical. The basic guiding principle has been the requirement to gain an
understanding
of all factors relating to each measure adopted by the Government
in implementation of the Convention. Generally speaking, therefore,
for each
measure adopted, the aim has been to assess its effectiveness, any constraints
and their causes, future developments and
projects currently under way with a
view to eliminating those constraints and enhancing the general standard of
intervention.
6. The report is divided into six chapters (in addition to
the introduction and conclusion), which have been prepared in accordance
with
the Committee’s general guidelines. Chapter I describes and analyses the
general measures of implementation of the Convention,
including its
incorporation into Haiti’s domestic law, dissemination, the definition of
the child and general principles (non-discrimination,
the child’s best
interests, the right to life and respect for the views of the child).
7. Chapter II provides an analysis and assessment of children’s civil
rights and freedoms in Haiti. Chapter III deals with
the child’s family
environment and alternative care. The next two chapters concern
children’s health, welfare and education,
and leisure and cultural
activities. The sixth and final chapter addresses special protection measures
for children in the areas
of justice, violence and other forms of exploitation
suffered by Haitian children.
8. The conclusion presents the overall
context of Haiti’s implementation of the Convention, summarizes the
progress made since
ratification and the difficulties and obstacles in the way
of State action, and describes the prospects for the systematic implementation
of the Convention.
I. GENERAL MEASURES OF IMPLEMENTATION
A. Legislative measures
9. The State of Haiti
ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in December 1994, thereby
becoming a State party to the Convention,
which it subsequently published in
Le Moniteur, the official gazette of the Republic of Haiti, on 7
July 1995.
10. By these two acts, the Convention was officially
incorporated into Haitian law. According to article 276-2 of the Constitution,
“Once international treaties or agreements are approved and ratified in
the manner stipulated by the Constitution, they become part of the legislation
of the country and abrogate any laws in conflict with them”.
Consequently, all the provisions
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
can be fully invoked before the courts.
11. In addition to this formal
incorporation of the Convention into Haitian law, other specific measures have
been taken to implement
each of the provisions of the Convention. The most
important of the Government’s legislative measures in this regard is the
adoption of the Children’s Code, which is still pending.
12. Draft
legislation was submitted by a parliamentary commission in 1998, but in view of
the importance of the issue, the Government
opted to take time to discuss the
contents with civil society and bring the draft into line with the Convention
itself. A further
obstacle creating additional delay has been the prolonged
absence of a functioning parliament.
13. Legislation to protect minors
has, however, been in place in Haiti for 39 years, although it presents certain
shortcomings in
respect of the Convention. The Constitution, which dates only
from 1987, naturally recognizes the inalienable rights of children.
B. Structural and administrative measures
14. In terms of public policy, children are
generally covered by social policy, one of the State’s major areas of
intervention.
According to articles 260 and 261 of the Constitution, the State
shall provide aid and assistance to children, and this is guaranteed by
law.
15. Thus all State agencies are specifically charged with applying
the Convention in their own respective areas. At the same time,
however, as a
result of the way Government is structured and operates, certain public bodies
have become the cornerstone of State
policy on children’s rights: the
Ministry for Social Affairs and its Social Welfare and Research Institute
(IBESR), the Ministry
of Justice and Public Security, the Ministry for
Education, Youth and Sport, the Ministry of Public Health and Population, the
Ministry
for the Status of Women and Women’s Rights, and the State
Department of Youth, Sport and Community Service.
16. The Ministry for
Social Affairs is responsible for directing the Government’s social
policy, and is thus the natural choice
as coordinating agency for measures to
implement the Convention. A committee comprising representatives of all the
above-mentioned
bodies, a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
a representative of the Haitian Coalition for the Defence of Children’s
Rights, was established in 1997 to identify measures taken to implement the
Convention.
17. This committee also runs a range of activities and
projects such as National Children’s Day and directs the preparation
of
reports on the implementation of the Convention, among other things. The plan
is to make the committee a permanent body that
will be able to monitor
implementation of the various aspects of the Convention.
18. Apart from
the Ministry for the Status of Women and Women’s Rights, all the
government bodies mentioned above predate the
Convention. The Convention
affects them, however, and they have therefore launched programmes and projects
and established internal
units or departments to implement those aspects of the
Convention that concern them specifically. These efforts form an integral
part
of the comprehensive drive to reorganize Haiti’s public administration,
begun by the Government in
1996.[4]
C. Publicizing the Convention
19. One of the Government’s main
priorities in implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been to
introduce
the provisions of the Convention to the Haitian people. In addition
to the publication of the Convention in Le Moniteur, a whole series of
activities have been undertaken to raise people’s awareness of
children’s rights.
20. The project has been ongoing since its
launch in 1998: the organization of the National Children’s Day and
celebrations
to mark the tenth anniversary of the Convention provided an ideal
opportunity for the launch. Radio and television programmes, posters
and
advertisements, graffiti, banners, stickers, etc. are all still being used today
to publicize the Convention.
21. The press has also given full coverage
to the issue of children’s rights. In December 1998, the Ministry
for Education,
Young People and Sport organized a “Media for
Children” day to make journalists aware of the need to contribute to the
development and implementation of the Convention. The same Ministry publishes a
quarterly magazine, L’Éducation en action, which has become
a real forum for dealing with educational issues related to children’s
rights.
22. The Ministry of Justice and Public Security, for its part, organized a
day of action on the subject of justice and support facilities
for minors.
Since August 1999 it has also been publishing a quarterly magazine, La
Magistrature, every issue of which includes an article on juvenile justice
written by the juvenile court judge, who also gives seminars and lectures
at
university.
23. Other initiatives should also be taken into account:
articles by government officials occasionally appear in the country’s
two
main daily newspapers, Le Nouvelliste and Le
Matin.
24. Government efforts are supported by the work of national
non-governmental organizations and international organizations. For
example,
the Convention has been published in French and Creole and competitions have
been organized on themes related to children’s
rights. Also noteworthy is
the work of the Haitian Coalition for the Defence of Children’s Rights,
which has set itself the
task of raising people’s awareness of the
Convention.
25. It is difficult to estimate today what percentage of the
population is really aware of the issue of children’s rights, so
it is
still not possible to say how successful the process of publicizing the
Convention has been.[5]
However, from an analytical viewpoint, it can be agreed that one of the problems
is the concentration in the capital city of the
media that broadcast news of the
activities described above. The problem is exacerbated by the limited reach of
the media, which
generally cover only the metropolitan
region.
26. Another major problem is the lack of a systematic policy to
publicize the Convention, as witnessed by the sporadic nature of most
of these
activities. The effectiveness of the press is evidently limited by the very
high illiteracy rate in the country, while
the nature of the other media used
(banners, graffiti, etc.) also suggests there is a need to assess their
impact.
27. Nevertheless, by incorporating the Convention in the basic
educational curriculum, the Government has made a logical choice to
publicize
children’s rights by targeting children themselves. In this way, the best
possible results may be expected from
awareness-raising
activities.
28. The proposal to make the Inter-Ministerial Committee on
the Rights of the Child a permanent body also offers prospects for the
systematic coordination of efforts to disseminate the Convention, as one of the
Committee’s main tasks will be to rally public
support for
children’s rights. One way forward would be to use the community radio
stations that broadcast almost everywhere,
including the most remote parts of
the country.
D. Strategies for publishing the report
29. A whole range of options has been envisaged
to bring the report to everyone’s attention. Among the strategies for
disseminating
the report are its translation into Creole, its reproduction and
dissemination within civil society, the organization of seminars,
lectures and
radio or television programmes and its systematic publication in the
press.
30. The Government also envisages involving private organizations by
repeating the experiment with the Haitian Coalition for the Defence
of
Children’s Rights, but this time with a wider circle of partners including
not only other organizations providing assistance
to children and families but
also those working in other areas of human rights in general and
children’s rights in particular.
31. It is also understood that
each of the public institutions concerned will inform and motivate its own
partners, if only on the
essential points of interest to them. However, the
most ambitious action will be aimed at the local authorities, which do not yet
appear to have realized that the problem of children’s rights concerns
them. To this end, briefing sessions are planned with
local representatives,
local organizations and the local press. Religious and community leaders will
also be involved.
E. Definition of the child
32. In Haitian legislation, the child is
referred to as a “minor”. Article 392 of the Haitian Civil Code
defines a minor
as a person of either sex who has not yet reached the age of 18,
which is the age of civil and political majority and matrimonial
capability.
However, a girl who becomes pregnant before reaching the age of majority may
marry the baby’s father provided
that her parents consent or accept
responsibility and that the President of the Republic authorizes the
marriage.[6]
33. Minors
cannot institute legal proceedings or consult a lawyer in their own right. This
responsibility falls to their parents
or, where necessary, their guardian.
However, nothing prevents them from appealing to the Ombudsman, a person
designated by the
Constitution and the law to protect all individuals from all
forms of abuse by the authorities.
34. The Labour Code sets the minimum
age for paid work by children at 15, but hiring requires the authorization of
the Labour Department.
However, according to the Labour Code, a child may enter
domestic service at the age of 12, although this requires the authorization
of
the Social Welfare and Research Institute (IBESR), which no longer grants
authorization as it is against such domestic service
on
principle.
35. The age of criminal majority is set at 16 years. However,
children aged between 13 and 16 who commit crimes and serious offences
are
taken before the Juvenile Court. Only minors who have reached the age of 16 are
taken before the Juvenile Assize Court.
36. Criminal responsibility
(sentencing) and custodial measures (detention) do not, as such, apply to
children. The juvenile court
judge takes a decision, depending on the nature of
the offence or crime committed by the minor, on the protective measure to be
taken
in the best interests of the child. Whatever the judge’s decision,
the measure is restricted to placing offenders in a remand
centre in order to
“protect them from the overcrowded conditions of prisons for adults”
and only concerns children aged
between 13 and 16 (Protection of Minors (Erring
or at Physical or Moral Risk) Act of 7 September 1961).
37. Minors under 13 years of age enjoy exemption from criminal liability as a
matter of principle and are liable only to protective,
assistance, supervisory
and educational measures. If they commit a minor offence, they can be tried by
a police court, but this
court can only issue a reprimand or fine minors who are
over 13 years of age. The Act of 7 September 1961 provides that, in any
case,
the minor can be placed on probation up to the age of 21 (the Act dates from the
time when the age of majority was 21).
38. Haitian legislation does not
define the age of majority in health matters, but paediatric practice sets it at
15 years.
39. At the analytical level, the status of children in Haiti
appears somewhat complicated, if only because the existing civil and
criminal
laws are outdated and because of the lack of effective administrative structures
and procedures.
40. Fortunately, the Government takes the problems of
children today very seriously. Its intention is to delete the chapter dealing
with children in domestic service from the draft Children’s Code. It also
intends to ratify the Convention (No. 138) concerning
Minimum Age for Admission
to Employment of the International Labour Organization and supports the
International Programme on the
Elimination of Child Labour. Of course, the lack
of a parliament delays such actions.
F. Nondiscrimination
41. Haiti is a State party to the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which means
that
the principle of nondiscrimination applies in all areas.
42. Haitian
law makes no distinction between children on the basis of sex, religion, ethnic
origin, race, colour or economic status.
The sole distinction made between
Haitian and foreign children does not affect the enjoyment of, or respect for,
the rights defined
in the provisions of the Convention. According to article 54
of the Constitution, aliens in the territory of the Republic enjoy the same
protection accorded to Haitians under the law.
43. Racial discrimination
is a serious offence punishable under Haitian law under a decree
of 4 February 1981, which defines racial
discrimination as any
distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, skin colour,
descent or national or ethnic
origin which has the purpose of nullifying or
impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of equal human rights.
44. The Civil Code distinguishes between children born in wedlock
(legitimate children) and children born out of wedlock (adulterine
children).
Adulterine children may not, for example, inherit from the father and do not
bear the father’s name. As a result
they have no right to financial
support and therefore no right to maintenance. They are excluded by this
legislation.
45. Such children have also tended to be deprived of a
family environment and the care associated with such an environment by virtue
of
a decreelaw of 22 December 1944, which barred adulterine children from
taking affiliation proceedings. Fortunately, article 262
of the current 1987
Constitution provides for the adoption of a Family Code, which will establish
such affiliation proceedings.
46. Certain discriminatory practices based on
such criteria as skin colour (Blacks/Mulattos), economic status (poor/rich), or
religion
(Catholic/Protestant/Voodoo), can sometimes be observed in Haitian
society. A certain amount of de facto sexual discrimination is
also informally
transmitted to boys and girls in the course of their upbringing. Today,
however, as shown by girls’ school
enrolment rates and the status of women
occupying prominent positions in society, attitudes have changed considerably
and there is
greater awareness of the need to put an end to such discriminatory
practices.
47. The Government, too, is fully aware of these problems.
The decree of 4 February 1981 prohibits all such discrimination,
characterizing
it as a criminal offence. The penalties for such practices range
from fines of up to 25,000 gourdes to three years’
imprisonment.
48. The creation of the Ministry for the Status of Women
and Women’s Rights was a step towards the elimination of sexual
discrimination.
The fact that the Ministry occupies a strategic,
crossdisciplinary position in public policy bears eloquent testimony to the
Government’s
desire to resolve the gender issue in Haitian
society.
49. Lastly, the draft Children’s Code is one of a series
of keystone projects for the elimination of all discriminatory practices
of this
kind affecting children.
G. Best interests of the child
50. The Constitution provides for a range of
rights to be enjoyed by all without distinction. While explicit reference is
not made to children in that
regard, they are formally recognized in articles
260261, which deal with the State’s duty to aid, assist and protect
children.
These articles also recognize that the child is entitled to love,
affection, understanding and moral and material care from the
father and
mother.
51. These constitutional provisions have gone some way to offset
the shortcomings in Haiti’s legislation on children. The principle
of
parental authority,[7] for
example which allows parents to send their children to prison with no judicial
proceedings places undue emphasis on parents’
right to wield
quasidiscretionary power over their children. Such practices are in decline,
however, and very few cases of this
kind are recorded today.
52. The
institutionalization of domestic service through the Labour Code presents
enormous problems with regard to the best interests
of the child. Far from
encouraging their full personal development, this practice tends rather to trap
children in a situation where
they have no rights and are subjected to inhumane
treatment, without regard to health, education or personal
development.
53. It goes without saying that the Government is fully
aware of the issue of children’s rights. Haiti signed a memorandum
of
agreement with the International Labour Organization in 1999, as part of the
International Programme on the Elimination of Child
Labour.
54. The best
interests of the child are safeguarded in juvenile courts through procedures
such as in camera hearings, nonpublication
of certain judgements and
consultations with parents before judgement is passed.
55. The State does
not intervene directly in family life in order to safeguard the best interests
of the child, owing partly to the
opposition of families themselves and partly
to the State’s own lack of resources. Despite that, the Government has
given
a high priority to school attendance during the last five years and
considerable assistance has been given to the private transport
sector
nationwide in order to help schoolchildren, in particular, get to and from
school. The same applies to the school cafeteria
programme and the supply of
equipment (uniforms, books, notebooks, pens and pencils, etc.), chiefly to
children in publicsector schools.
56. Insufficient attention is paid to
areas such as loans, housing and social security as a result of the budget
constraints that
affect all government policy. The areas of adoption,
immigration procedures and institutional care, however, continue to be dealt
with in due and appropriate fashion.
57. Haitian law is clear on the
question of parents’ responsibility for their children’s welfare.
Article 261 of the
Constitution provides that all children are entitled to love,
affection, understanding and moral and material care from their father and
mother.
No legislation has yet been adopted to implement this provision because
of the lack of a parliament.
58. Certain mechanisms are, however, already
in place recovery of maintenance for children from split families, for example.
The
law also provides that assistance may be given to needy families in order to
help parents meet certain obligations. This service
is in theory provided by
the Social Welfare and Research Institute (IBESR), but is in practice duplicated
by the Social Welfare Fund,
which supports only very few families, and only
under extremely limited conditions.
59. State monitoring of institutions
responsible for child health and safety is carried out through publicprivate
partnerships.
60. The principle of the child’s best interests gives
rise to a number of problems in such areas as legislation (absence of
legislation implementing the provisions of the Constitution and the Convention),
human resources (quantitative and qualitative deficiencies), and logistics (not
only as regards inspections
and other visits but also as regards the lack of
care and/or rehabilitation centres in the area of juvenile justice). These
problems
are in addition to the problem of budget resources. These severe
constraints have compelled the Government to make children’s
education a
priority for at least 10 years.
H. Child’s right to life, survival and development
61. The child’s right to life is
guaranteed by both the
Constitution[8] and the law.
The death penalty has been abolished for all cases (Constitution, art. 20);
protection is guaranteed for all children
(Constitution, art. 261); and abortion
by a pregnant woman is punishable by three to nine years’ imprisonment
(Criminal Code,
art. 262). Similarly, any doctors, surgeons, pharmacists or
other health officials who facilitate abortion shall be liable to longterm
hard
labour (Criminal Code, art. 2611).
62. Administrative structures exist to ensure the child’s integration
in an environment that can guarantee his survival and
normal development. The
IBESR provides two such essential services: the Prenuptial Certificate Service,
whose aim is to encourage
marriage and provide couples with marital advice; and
the PreNatal and Maternal and Child Health Service, whose task is to take any
medical or social measures to ensure that the mothertobe has adequate health,
social and economic conditions during pregnancy and
can give birth to a healthy
child, and also that both mother and child up to adolescence enjoy a decent
standard of living conducive
to normal development, by establishing
crèches, nurseries, daycare centres and kindergartens, among other
things.[9]
63. The State
itself has no care centres for children. The reason for that is its obvious
lack of resources, particularly financial
resources. Nevertheless, it has a
strategy to encourage and coordinate nonpublicsector actions in this area.
According to the IBESR’s
January 2000 report, there are 46 Staterecognized
care centres for children. In each centre, 20 per cent of capacity is allocated
to the State for placement of children in difficult
circumstances.
64. Children require, for their survival, physical and
moral protection and care that will ensure their harmonious development. It
is
the responsibility of the parents or legal guardians to provide children with
the living conditions necessary to their development.
Haitian law, however,
provides various forms of aid to parents or needy
families[10] who are unable
to provide for the basic needs of their children, or to children who are
deprived of their parents for one reason
or another.
65. One example of
this is the survivor’s benefit paid to legitimate or illegitimate children
of deceased civil servants. They
receive this benefit as long as they are
minors, and beyond, provided they are enrolled in a higher education
institution, or indefinitely
in cases of total
incapacity.[11] The same
applies to children of employees, through the National OldAge Insurance
Office.[12]
66. The
Employment, Sickness and Maternity Accident Insurance provides support to
dependent minors of employees, subject to payment
of a supplementary
premium.[13]
67. Thus,
there is a legislative and institutional framework for the support of children
of civil servants and employees. The same
does not apply to the far more needy
children whose parents fall into neither of those categories. Despite the
explicit terms of
its mandate to support needy families through subsidies, the
IBESR lacks the resources to care for these groups of children. Since
1991,
however, such families have been the responsibility of the Social Welfare
Fund.
68. The establishment of a social security system is one of the
recommendations of the National Commission for Administrative Reform,
but as
long as governments do not make it one of their own priorities there is no
guarantee that it will ever be implemented.
I. Respect for the views of the child
69. The Constitution recognizes and guarantees
every person’s right to freedom of expression on any matter, by any means
he chooses (art. 28).
Domestic law does not recognize this right specifically
to children, as is also the case with other civil liberties.
70. In practice,
there are a number of administrative procedures that bear witness to the
Government’s desire to respect children’s
views. Separation from
parents, for example, is never a decision guided purely by the objective
interests of the child, but usually
occurs with the agreement and consent of the
child in particular. The IBESR and the juvenile court take account of
children’s
preferences in this regard.
71. The Ministry for Social
Affairs listens closely to children’s views as part of its “Assembly
Points” project.
It is not the Ministry that decides on the career choice
of the children enrolled in the project but the children themselves who
choose
the activities that interest them.
72. The authorities have no means of
monitoring the application of, or respect for, this principle, however,
particularly within the
family environment. It is thus impossible to properly
evaluate the extent to which children actually exercise their right to
participate
in decisions that affect them.
73. The situation is no less
problematic in schools. According to a United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) survey, more than
50 per cent of children report difficulties in
expressing their opinion at school or at
home.[14]
74. In
judicial and administrative terms, according to Haitian law, the child is a
minor under the responsibility of the parents or
legally appointed guardians.
There are, however, a number of mechanisms that allow children to request the
help of the State, through
the IBESR (by phoning 133), if they are
subjected to illtreatment within the family. Children are not barred from
applying to the
Office of the Ombudsman, since the Ombudsman is required to
protect any individual against all forms of abuse of public
office.
75. The greatest obstacle in the way of respect for the views of
the child remains the lack of any tradition of tolerance in general
within
Haitian society, a problem that becomes particularly acute when children need to
be allowed to express themselves or participate
in decisions affecting them.
According to the UNICEF survey, the situation is better in the more welltodo
strata of society and
worse among disadvantaged groups.
76. The State has
made great efforts to solve this problem. Its overall strategy has been based
on training and awarenessraising
among the various professions that deal with
children. Actions taken include the entire campaign around the Convention
itself, lecturediscussions
by the juvenile court judge at the University, the
introduction of a module on child law into the curriculum of the
Magistrates’
College, and the inclusion of the Convention in the basic
education curriculum and therefore also in the teacher training
curriculum.
II. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
A. Name and nationality
77. Haitian legislation
is naturally consistent with the principle of the right of the child to have a
name and to acquire Haitian
nationality.
78. With regard to nationality,
article 11 of the Constitution stipulates: “Any person born of a
Haitian father or Haitian mother who at the time of the birth had never
renounced their
nationality possesses Haitian nationality.” Haitian
nationality may also be acquired by nationalization.
79. Article 49 of
the Civil Code provides for the granting of Haitian nationality to abandoned or
stateless children. It stipulates
that children born in Haiti of unknown
parents or of parents whose nationality has not been established shall acquire
Haitian nationality
by virtue of the notification of birth made to the civil
registrar.
80. The surname acquired by the child depends on the type of
filiation. In the case of legitimate filiation (within wedlock), the
child
naturally bears the name of the father. In the case of natural filiation
(unmarried parents), the child bears the name of
the parent who recognizes him
or her first; if both do so at the same time, custom favours the father’s
name.
81. Children born of adulterous relationships are not permitted to
bear the name of their father if he is living in wedlock with another
woman,
while a child born to an adulterous woman can only bear the name of her husband,
except in the case of repudiation of paternity,
which opens the way to divorce
proceedings. The child may then take the mother’s maiden name or may be
acknowledged by the
true father.
82. In the case of adoptive filiation,
the surname of the adoptive parent is joined to the child’s surname. A
child adopted
by a couple takes the name of the husband and a child adopted by a
woman only bears the woman’s maiden name.
83. Abandoned children
undergo an administrative procedure leading to their adoption.
84. The
greatest problem facing children with regard to their surname and first name
remains the drawing-up of civil registration
documents. The birth certificate
is normally based on a notification made by one of the child’s parents to
the civil registrar.
This notification of birth may even be made belatedly.
However, it is necessary to point out certain difficulties that arise from
the
distribution of registry offices: they are very few in number and in regions
remote from the towns they are non-existent. Moreover,
the centralization of
registry offices in the towns often makes them inaccessible to people living in
rural areas,[15] who, even if
they are aware of the need to register the birth, will not normally leave their
work to go to the town to attend to
this formality.
85. Collaboration
between Church and State has helped to make up for this weakness of the system.
At the time of the child’s
baptism, a highly regarded tradition, the
administrative services of the parish attend to the notification and the issue
of the child’s
birth certificate.
86. By its decree of
16 May 1995, the Government granted everyone whose birth had not been
registered the opportunity for a period
of five years to do so without needing
to follow the normal procedure of late registration. It is impossible at
present to determine
how many people are still not registered at the registry
offices. This situation is worsening with the everincreasing
number of children who are born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents
living there without proper papers and who consequently
have neither Dominican
nationality nor Haitian nationality, which in any case most of the parents
reject.
87. The best prospect for solving this problem of identity is
offered by the Act of 4 April 1996 on the organization of the
territorial
unit of section communale. In article 19,
paragraph 18, it instructs the governing council of the section
communale to receive provisional notifications of birth and to see that they
are properly and regularly registered with the competent civil
registrar.
B. Preservation of identity
88. The principle of identity as defined in the
Convention is not in conflict with Haitian legislation. Name and nationality
are
already guaranteed by law and by the related administrative measures. The
same applies to family identity.
89. The Constitution lays on the State
the obligation to protect the family, which it regards as the basis of society.
It even proposes the adoption
of a family code in order to ensure that the
family’s rights are protected and respected and to define the procedures
for determining
paternity.
90. One of the problems connected with the
principle of preservation of identity concerns the search for the original
parents in cases
of inter-country adoption. Obviously, when a Haitian child is
adopted by a foreigner, he or she does not automatically lose the
nationality of
origin, but a problem arises if the child wishes to find the original
parents.
91. In cases of adoption agreed to by the original parents, it
is perfectly simple to trace them. However, in the case of an abandoned
child
it is impossible for the IBESR to trace the parents because abandonment of a
child is an offence under Haitian criminal law.
C. Public freedoms
92. Haiti’s laws make no specific reference to
children as regards public freedoms, but the Constitution, for example,
recognizes these freedoms and guarantees them for all. The only restrictions on
their enjoyment relate to the safeguard
of national security and public
security.
93. Freedom of expression is a matter of course. It is
the ever-increasing private media (radio, television, newspapers), which
incidentally are encouraged,
which offer children the greatest opportunities to
express themselves, while recreational programmes are broadcast from time to
time
on Haiti’s national television and radio channels.
94. As
regards the right to seek and receive information, the State focuses its efforts
on matters related to schooling. Every year
it distributes schoolbooks free of
charge to children in the public sector and exempts imported schoolbooks from
customs duties.
95. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion is
not restricted either. In practice, however, children always adopt the religion
of their parents.
96. Freedom of association and of peaceful assembly
is mainly practised through the students’ associations, which incidentally
are very active, including involvement in the periodic
political crises that
have affected Haitian schools since 1986. The only restrictions relate to
considerations of national security
or public security.
97. The exercise
of these freedoms presents a number of problems for Haiti’s political and
legislative value systems. The Constitution grants political rights only to
citizens aged 18 years and over. Similarly, on account of the principle of the
exemption of the
child from liability in civil and criminal matters, civil
responsibility rests with the parents. The great question here is the
feasibility in practice of the idea of holding the parents responsible for acts
that they are completely unable to prohibit or control.
98. All in all,
the respect for the privacy of children and their right to peaceful
association presents a major practical difficulty in Haitian legislation.
For the time being, Haitian society is not abandoning the principle
of parental
authority, at any rate as regards aspects relating to the exercise of control
over criminal acts by children.
99. With regard to the right not to be
subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment, it should
be pointed out that Haiti is a party to the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Nevertheless, cases of ill-treatment are still recorded in society and
particularly affect children working as servants and children
living with
step-parents. To combat this situation, the IBESR has set up “SOS
TIMOUN”. This is a telephone line, No.
133, that enables children in
difficulties or even witnesses to ask the State to intervene.
III. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND ALTERNATIVE CARE
100. For the Haitian State the family represents
an institution of the utmost importance in regard to the rights of the child:
it
is the first environment that the child enters. The Constitution regards it
as the basis of society. The State protects the family and guarantees its
rights. A family code is to be drafted to
reinforce these rights. The courts
and the public institutions for the defence and protection of the rights of the
family must be
accessible, free of charge, even in the very smallest territorial
unit (articles 259-262 of the 1987 Constitution). Nevertheless, it is the
responsibility of the IBESR to provide the means for granting this protection to
the family and child.
101. As things are at present, these legislative
provisions are difficult to apply on account of the non-existent or inadequate
organization
of the relevant facilities. The activities of the IBESR are thus
very limited with regard to the protection available for families
and the
practical monitoring of the way of life of children within families.
A. Parental guidance and responsibilities
102. The family is the natural environment for
the growth, development and fulfilment of the child. The Haitian Constitution
recognizes the child’s right to love, affection, understanding and moral
and material care from the father and mother.
103. The Haitian Civil Code
establishes the responsibility of parents towards the child. The decree of 12
December 1960 lays upon
parents or any person in charge of children the
obligation to feed them, send them to school and provide them with leisure,
mental
development, the right to express themselves and equal treatment at home
and in the community. Under the Criminal Code, any person
who abandons or
neglects a child in his or her charge is liable to imprisonment. This penalty
varies according to the result of
the act and the status of the person towards
the
child.[16]
104. There
is no restriction on parents or persons responsible for a child with regard to
their duty towards the child. They are
free to choose the type of education the
child receives, except for any teaching liable to impair normal
development.
105. No parent or person in charge of a child is authorized
to ill-treat the child. Cases of illtreatment, rape or any form of violence
against children are punishable by law.
106. The IBESR is the instrument
available to the State for monitoring the life of children within their
families. Unfortunately,
the Institute has only very limited means for putting
into effect the legislative or treaty recommendations, a responsibility assigned
to the Minors Protection Service of the Institute. Such activities require vast
human, material, financial and information-related
resources.
107. Through its Prenatal and Maternal and Child Health
Service, the IBESR exercises some degree of supervision over families, with
regard to their state of physical and mental health, and over mothers-to-be, in
particular by helping them to give birth to healthy
children. It provides
training for pregnant women in hygiene and social and economic
matters.
108. Under the regulations, this Service also has to provide
decent living conditions for the mother and for the child up to the age
of
adolescence and ensure the normal development of the child through the
establishment of crèches, nurseries, day-care centres,
kindergartens and
other
facilities.[17]
109. In
practice, the measures do not cover all families throughout the country, but are
concentrated in the capital. Even there,
only a tiny minority who attend at the
IBESR are able to benefit from them, as the Institute does not have sufficient
resources to
reach out to families.
B. Separation from parents
110. The separation of a child from the parents
is always an extreme solution adopted by the judicial authorities and/or the
IBESR
in the best interests of the child. It is resorted to when there is proof
of ill-treatment, serious crimes, rape or a conflict resulting
from
reprehensible behaviour by a parent towards a child. Whenever possible, a
family counsellor takes part in the consultations
and the child is then
entrusted to a boarding school, a foster family, a rehabilitation centre or
residential centre, as
appropriate.[18]
111. On the other hand, there are other separation situations that do not
arise out of a judicial or administrative decision. For
example, many parents
put their children into domestic service with other families. In practice, this
is a desperate solution adopted
by needy families, generally from rural areas,
in the hope that the child will benefit from some degree of education or greater
wellbeing,
or even some rise in social status.
112. Despite the existence
of laws regulating domestic service, children in this situation are subjected to
inhuman treatment, in
flagrant breach of the rights of the child. The national
authorities are aware of this situation and are working on legislative
and
administrative measures that will ensure the physical integrity and the dignity
of these children. The draft children’s
code is one such
measure.
113. There are also very many cases on record of children
entrusted to close relatives when the father or mother are obliged to migrate,
mainly for economic reasons. The converse also occurs when parents living
abroad send their children back to Haiti for a variety
of
reasons.
114. The most difficult cases of separation of children from
their parents are those that occur following a divorce or the imprisonment
of
one of the parents. Normally, the law does not prohibit contacts or relations
with the parent or parents, except in circumstances
where the best interests of
the child are invoked (parent who is mentally retarded, of dubious morality, who
has committed rape on
the child’s person, etc.).
115. In the case
of divorce, the law generally gives custody of the children to the mother. The
visiting time of the other parent
is fixed by judicial decision and enables the
child to remain in contact with that parent. However, the speed with which the
courts,
in interim relief proceedings, decide on the custody of the child means
that the best interests of the child and the wishes of the
child are not always
taken into account.
116. Separation because of the imprisonment of a
parent is naturally harmful to the child. However, prisoners and their
relatives
are able to remain in contact with each other, either by means of
visits or by correspondence. For this purpose, the Prison Social
Service has
been set up within the IBESR, with the task of providing support for both
prisoners and their families.
117. Separation on account of exile,
expulsion or deportation is in all cases an infringement of the right to
security. Haitian legislation
refutes these practices inasmuch as article 41 of
the Constitution stipulates: “No person of Haitian nationality may be
deported or forced to leave the national territory for any reason
...”.
C. Family reunification
118. Family reunification is regarded by the
State in the most favourable light in that it enables children to return to
their natural
environment, which is their family. However, in the case of
families separated as a result of the parents leaving for another country,
family reunification follows the regular procedures of emigration, with regard
to Haiti, and immigration, with regard to the host
country.
119. The
Haitian State has no objection to children rejoining their parents living abroad
or establishing contact with them. However,
no bilateral agreements have
actually been signed with other countries to facilitate family reunification.
There are only some declarations
of principle between Haiti and the Dominican
Republic regarding the repatriation of Haitian children living across the border
with
their families.
120. Foreign children are granted visas by the
Haitian State for the purpose of family reunification without difficulty.
However,
in compliance with the principle of compulsory accompaniment recently
adopted by the Ministry for Social Affairs, a child leaving
or returning to the
country must be accompanied by a properly authorized person. This measure has
been adopted to prevent trafficking
in children and illicit transfer. The
authorities have not recorded any case of a request for asylum by a foreign
child.
121. Article 41-1 of the Constitution stipulates that: “No
Haitian needs a visa to leave or return to the country.” It thus
recognizes the right to freedom
of movement.
D. Illicit transfer and non-return
122. The illicit
transfer and non-return of children normally come under the heading of
de facto family reunification. These are
very often acts that escape the
notice of the Haitian National Immigration Service and seek to circumvent the
immigration procedures
of other countries, which the parents consider too
lengthy.
123. Other cases of illicit emigration are thought to concern
the practices of child theft or trafficking in Haitian children abroad.
No case
of this has been recorded, but the rumours have led the Ministry for Social
Affairs to prevent any travel by Haitian children
to a foreign country unless
accompanied by a parent or another duly responsible person.
124. When
illegally emigrating children are intercepted by the immigration authorities of
another country and repatriated to Haiti,
the National Office of Migration
attends to their supervision and reintegration.
E. Recovery of maintenance for the child
125. Divorces
give rise to situations in which the children are most often separated from
their fathers, who must provide them with
financial assistance to guarantee
their survival and development. This assistance is very often fixed by a court
decision, except
in cases of amicable settlement.
126. The decree of
4 September 1983 established the arrangements for the award of
maintenance and imposes a penalty of imprisonment
on any parent who shirks this
responsibility towards his or her children. A large number of court judgements
are made to oblige
parents to make maintenance payments to their children. When
the parents are abroad, the procedure involves the consulate of the
country
where they are living.
127. There is no problem from the administrative or legal viewpoints in
recovering the maintenance for the child. The complications
in this matter
relate to a number of practical problems, such as unemployment or the fact that
the parents have no permanent address.
Generally speaking, parents who have
custody of their children are unaware of the children’s rights to
maintenance.
F. Periodic review of placement
128. Under Haitian law,
every child who is the victim of ill-treatment within the family is entitled to
alternative protection consisting
of placement in a residential centre, a
boarding school, a rehabilitation centre or a foster family.
129. With
the closure of the public centres, the children for which the IBESR takes
responsibility are entrusted to private social
institutions which must first
obtain an official permit from the IBESR.
130. This placement is
periodically reviewed by the IBESR through its Prenatal and Maternal and Child
Health Service and its Social
Support Service. The inspectors of the latter
Service, on showing their identification card, are authorized to:
− Visit any children’s home under the supervision of the IBESR without prior warning;
− Consult any book, register or document that the institution has to keep under the general regulations and verify its compliance with the legal requirements;
− Carry out any examination, check and investigation necessary to ensure that the internal regulations of the institution are being complied with.
131. These are activities that existed prior to the
Convention. Admittedly they are not implemented in an optimum manner, but they
do allow some degree of supervision to be exercised over children’s homes
and all other social institutions for the care of
children.
132. The
IBESR services suffer from a lack of human and logistical resources, which
limits the activities of the inspectors. Attention
is also drawn to the problem
that their activities are confined to the area of the capital city on account of
the relatively low
level of the Institute’s budget and the nonexistence of
any policy master plan for children.
Adoption
133. Adoption is an act provided for by law and
is the subject of a set of procedures. The adoption service of the IBESR is
responsible
for examining all requests for adoption and for completing the
necessary formalities. The State authorizes adoption whenever it
permits the
best interests of the child to be safeguarded. Generally speaking, its great
practical value lies in the fact that it
ensures the child the care necessary
for harmonious development.
134. There is currently a very strong upward trend in adoption of children by
foreigners, compared with the rather small number of
intrafamily adoptions
(within the national framework). For the period 1994-1999, the adoption service
of the IBESR recorded 338
cases of intrafamily adoption as against 2,097
adoptions abroad. Adoptions at the national level concern the age group from 10
to
15 years, whereas those registered abroad concern the age group from 1 to 3
years.
135. Adoption is governed by the decree of 4 April
1974.[19] It creates a legal
bond between a person and a child who is not that person’s biological
child analogous to the bond resulting
from paternity and filiation. It is
authorized in respect of persons under 16 years of age whenever it is based on
reasonable grounds
that present real and definite advantages for the adoptee.
The adopter must be over 35 years of age; there must be an age difference
of 19
years between adopter and adoptee. If the adoptee is the child of one of the
spouses, the minimum age difference is fixed
at 10 years; in eligible cases, the
President of the Republic grants a dispensation reducing this
period.
136. The adopters must have neither children nor descendants at
the time of the adoption. Adoption produces the same rights and the
same
obligations as those deriving from natural and legitimate
filiation.
137. The process of adoption presents no difficulty with
regard to the legal procedures. However, the adoption service faces two
essential problems: supervision abroad, which could be carried out by the
consulates of Haiti, and the search for the biological
parents of abandoned
children.
138. In the case of adoptions agreed to by the biological
parents, this search presents no problems. However, in the case of an abandoned
child, the process reaches a stalemate under present conditions in that the
IBESR can only issue appeals for the child to be claimed,
to which there is
never any response.
139. The abandonment of children is an increasing
phenomenon nowadays. The explanation for this problem must be sought in the
negative
attitude of society, which looks upon a woman who abandons her child as
an unnatural mother and the most important aspect the economic
incapacity of
these mothers to provide for their children. In some cases the abandoned child
is probably an unwanted child.
140. Under the Criminal Code abandonment
is punishable as a crime. If the child is abandoned at a hospital, a
certificate of abandonment
is issued before the IBESR takes charge of the child.
In the case of abandonment in the street, a document of abandonment is drawn
up
by a justice of the peace.
IV. HEALTH AND WELFARE OF THE CHILD
141. As a major area of State policy, health in
Haiti is part of the social and cultural integration sector. According to the
Constitution, “The State has an absolute obligation to guarantee the right
to life and health of all citizens.”
142. Specific legislation on
child health does not appear to be very extensive. It deals in particular with
breastfeeding (12 weeks’
maternity leave, a 30-minute break during the
working day, etc.).[20] A
prison sentence passed on a pregnant woman may be suspended in order to protect
the unborn child; the same applies if the convicted
woman is breastfeeding a
child aged less than six
months.[21]
143. In
strategic and administrative terms, the State body responsible for the
organization and operation of Haiti’s health
system is the Ministry of
Public Health and Population (MSPP). This is a centralized body with 10 central
directorates and 10 decentralized
departmental directorates with offices at the
district level.
144. Like many other sectors, the health sector is
following the overall trend of reform as part of the process of modernizing the
State. A range of draft legislation has been prepared and awaits adoption by
Parliament. It includes a draft organization Act for
the Ministry, a framework
Act on hospitals and pharmacies and an Act on the marketing of breast milk
substitutes. Their adoption
will bring about the much-needed modernization of
structures and legislation in this area.
A. Priorities and objectives
145. The Ministry of Public Health and
Population has three main objectives with regard to the Convention:
− To improve Haitian children’s health status;
− To reduce child morbidity and mortality due to infectious and vaccine-preventable diseases;
− To involve the community in action to protect and promote child and adolescent health.
146. Priorities include the provision of
integrated good-quality health care for children; control of diarrhoeal diseases
and acute
respiratory infections; monitoring of growth; prevention of anaemia,
xerophthalmia and goitre; promotion of comprehensive health
in adolescents;
prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in young people; prevention
of mother-child transmission of HIV/AIDS;
eradication of poliomyelitis and
elimination of measles; monitoring of neonatal tetanus and meningococcaemia;
sensitization of the
population; development of multisectoral cooperation,
etc.
147. The Ministry has created a Child Health Service to coordinate
these aims, with the support of the nutrition, school health and
reproductive
health services, among others. A National Strategy for Comprehensive Child Care
(1997-2000) and annual operating plans
have also been drawn up.
148. A
number of similar programmes and projects have been carried out, covering, for
example, integrated management of childhood
illness (IMCI); the revival of
school health care; distribution of essential drugs; local production of
iodinated salts; control
of diarrhoeal diseases and acute respiratory
infections; promotion of breastfeeding and baby-friendly hospitals; sentinel
surveillance;
introduction of new vaccines in the national immunization
programme; and implementation of a national health communication
strategy.
149. One of the weak points of the National Strategy for
Comprehensive Child Care is that it does not cover a large number of children
who are in need of special care, notably children with disabilities. At present
Haiti cannot be said to have a clear policy on disabled
children. However, the
State encourages and provides financial support to the private institutions that
care for them. These are
meagre contributions, however, and in no way meet
their enormous need for services of all kinds. Six recommendations were
nevertheless
made to the Government by a “Symposium on the
integration/reintegration of persons with disabilities”, held in early
December 1999 under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, the Faculty of
Human Sciences and Quisqueya University:
− Prevention of disability through immunization, nutrition, early detection and timely intervention, in order to minimize the risk of disability;
− Sensitization of all health workers in hospitals to the concept of early intervention;
− Creation of medical rehabilitation departments in major hospitals;
− Access to all health services for all categories of disabilities;
− Subsidies for artificial limbs and medical treatment or specialist services;
− Subsidies for medicines, particularly those to be taken on a permanent basis, as in cases of epilepsy.[22]
B. Standard of living, survival and development of the child
150. The main priority of the National Strategy for
Comprehensive Child Care (1997-2000) is the reduction of child morbidity and
mortality.
The plan is defined as a programme of simultaneous management of a
range of diseases that consistently occur together and are the
cause of child
morbidity and mortality, particularly in the under-fives.
151. Around
138,000 children aged under five die every year. Sixty per cent of those who
survive do not grow or develop
normally.[23] Generally
speaking, the causes of death among children aged between one month and five
years are conditions such as diarrhoea (2628
per cent), acute
respiratory infections (20 per cent) and malnutrition (32 per
cent).[24]
152. These
data notwithstanding, progress has been made in reducing child mortality, which
has fallen from 150 per 1,000 to 74 per
1,000 over the last 20 years. The
sharpest decline was noted between 1987 and
1993.[25]
C. Comprehensive care of the child
153. The Government is not insensitive to the
diseases that threaten Haiti’s children or to which they fall prey. The
Ministry
of Public Health and Population has included the National Strategy for
Comprehensive Child Care in the minimum package of services
that should be
available at all levels of care. In 1997, Haiti joined the group of countries
working with the Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO)/WHO, UNICEF and
the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop a
concerted approach
to implementation of the Integrated Management of Childhood
Illness project (IMCI), as a component of the Comprehensive Child Care
strategy.
154. Implementation of IMCI in Haiti is based on the following
three components:
(a) Enhancement of health workers’ skills
through the development and dissemination of norms, standards and guidelines on
the
integrated treatment of cases, and activities to promote their application:
the Ministry of Public Health and Population has requested
and obtained support
for the strengthening of the health system, through bilateral cooperation. A
programme on child health communication
is being developed with PAHO/WHO and 246
workers have been trained, of whom 61 are themselves trainers and 185 are
service providers
in five health departments;
(b) Improvement of the
health system, which is essential for the effective treatment of childhood
diseases: this component has received
drugs and equipment through bilateral and
multilateral cooperation;
(c) Improvement of practices within families
and communities, with the support of the Health Communication Unit, which has
designed
and developed information and communication materials.
155. The
regional Healthy Child Initiative was launched in Haiti on National
Children’s Day in June 2000. The challenge is
to reduce deaths among
children aged under five by around 8,000 by December 2002.
156. The
above-mentioned activities are now going on, with a view to testing and
implementation of each component of IMCI. The norms
and standards are already
available and were evaluated in March 1998. Since September 1997, Ministry
staff at both the central and
the intermediate levels have taken part in
international workshops to enable them to act as facilitators in future
trainer-training
sessions. The first phases of adaptation of the generic
IMCI material to local conditions are complete.
157. Monitoring
reports show an overall improvement in the health of Haiti’s children,
which is to be expected as a result of
the expansion and systematization of
service provision. The report of the third survey on morbidity, mortality and
use of services
(EMMUS III) currently being prepared should confirm
this.
158. Financial constraints impede this process to some extent, however.
Those who implement the programme best are those who have
received training.
Conversely, those who have not had such training hold back the rate of progress.
The lack of financial resources
prevents training programmes from being
developed: international commitments towards Haiti are honoured only in part
(donations)
and the absence of a Parliament does not help, and indeed represents
a further constraint on, the Government’s loans procedures.
D. Nutritional monitoring and promotion of breastfeeding
159. In 1994, the Ministry of Public Health and
Population, with the continual cooperation of PAHO/WHO and UNICEF, took the
initiative
in launching a new programme to promote, protect and support
breastfeeding. A national campaign to promote exclusive breastfeeding
for the
first six months of life was launched in August 1995 with a view to increasing
the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding
from 0.6 per cent to
30 per cent by 1997. Less than a year after the launch of the
programme, 32.7 per cent of the country’s
hospitals in seven
departments had already joined the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. Over
2,000 health service providers had
been trained and over 1,000 campaigners were
advocating the practice of breastfeeding in various
communities.
160. This approach has yielded promising results: in areas
where promotion, protection and support measures were implemented to ensure
a
50 per cent reduction in infant mortality, hospitalization for
severe dehydration has dropped sharply, in some cases to zero, and infant
malnutrition is practically non-existent.
This means that about 10,000 infant
deaths are being avoided every year, and that the prevalence of malnutrition is
dropping significantly.
161. In their effort to improve coordination, the
Ministry and its partners have established teams of departmental trainers. Some
structures, such as the National Breastfeeding
Committee,[26] need to
be given new impetus. Other objectives include monitoring new babyfriendly
hospitals, seeking media coverage and mobilizing more baby-friendly
hospitals. Seven baby-friendly hospitals are currently being
evaluated.
162. The new national nutrition policy, which advocates
breastfeeding as one of the main strategies for improving nutritional status,
will help achieve the objective of 30 per cent prevalence of exclusive
breastfeeding for the first six months of
life.[27] In addition to
monitoring the infant’s growth, the new health record card will make it
possible to follow the baby’s
psychomotor development.
E. Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI)
163. Immunization coverage remains low. This
can be attributed to many factors, for example, lack of daily immunization
activities
in many health centres, a reduction in the number of community
immunization activities (community immunization days), and difficulties
encountered at the local level (health centres and health posts) in obtaining
supplies.
164. According to the EMMUS-II report, mentioned above, immunization coverage
rates for children 12-23 months of age were as follows:
BCG
73 per cent, DPT 41 per cent,
measles
48 per cent. The rates for fully immunized children (that
is, those who had received the BCG vaccine, the measles vaccine, three
doses of DPT and the polio vaccine, excluding polio-0)
were 30.2 per cent for children 12-23 months old and
18.7 per cent for children
less than a year old. One in five children
aged 12-23 months and one in four children under 1 year of age had not received
any vaccination.
165. By 1999, national immunization coverage for
one-year-olds was 85.5 per cent
for BCG, 81.4 per cent for measles, 66.1 per cent
for DPT-3 and 59.6 per cent for polio-3. The fact that the average
rate for various vaccines now exceeds 50 per cent is encouraging.
The
national objective is to reach and maintain immunization coverage of over
80 per cent for BCG, polio, DPT-3 and measles vaccines
in children
under one year of age and for tetanus toxoid among pregnant women by December
2000.
166. No cases of measles were registered in Haiti from 1995 until
March 2000, when several cases were recorded in one of the health
departments,
and the epidemic gained ground. It is estimated that since the 1995 campaign,
the number of people susceptible to measles
has grown rapidly, with an estimated
total of over 600,000 children under the age of 5 not having been immunized.
This is largely
due to the low immunization coverage (around
30 per cent) attained through routine vaccination activities since the
campaign. This
measles outbreak prompted the Ministry to use a house-to-house
vaccination strategy in schools and community clinics.
167. It is
important to remember that a lack of measles cases is not equivalent to
eradication of measles. Thus, speedy immunization
of children under five years
of age against measles is a high priority. Immunizing at least
95 per cent of those at risk would close
the “vaccination
gap” which developed after the anti-measles campaign.
168. However,
these activities have to take EPI circumstances and priorities into account.
They are being carefully prepared to help
relaunch the programme in general, and
could include other vaccines apart from measles, which are considered equally
important by
the Government and all the contributors to health, including, in
particular, families and communities.
169. EPI was evaluated in
March-April 2000. The report includes a five-year action plan for which
resources are being mobilized.
The national EPI will soon include vaccines that
have been available up to now in private practice (German measles, hepatitis B,
etc.). Other important measures undertaken by the Ministry include installation
and maintenance of a cold chain (training of technicians,
provision of
equipment, etc.) and review of EPI standards (to be followed by their
publication), etc.
F. Programmes for the control of diarrhoeal diseases (CDD)
and
acute respiratory infections (ARI)
170. In Haiti,
diarrhoeal diseases, ARI and malnutrition are the main causes of infant
morbidity and mortality. According to data
of the paediatric service at the
Haiti State University Hospital, the main causes of admission in 1995 were
premature birth (23 per
cent), pneumonia
(16 per cent), malnutrition (8 per cent), meningitis (8
per cent), typhoid fever (6 per cent), and gastroenteritis (5
per cent). In 1996, pneumonia topped the list, accounting for 19.3
per cent of paediatric hospitalizations, but the figure went down to only
12 per cent in 1997.
171. Studies conducted in the rehydration ward
of the Haiti State University Hospital since 1982 demonstrate that these
conditions
tend to occur concurrently in the same child.
172. During the
last 20 years, specific vertical programmes, such as control of diarrhoeal
diseases, control of acute respiratory
infections, monitoring of growth, and
EPI, have yielded positive results in terms of morbidity and mortality due to
the conditions
concerned. The remarkable drop in infant mortality between 1987
and 1994 can no doubt be mainly attributed to the success of the
fight against
diarrhoeal diseases and to EPI. Progress has been made in oral rehydration
therapy and the social marketing of oral
rehydration solution enjoys Ministry
support. The challenge of today is to build on these achievements, by
incorporating them into
childhood illness management
(IMCI).[28]
G. School health
173. Health in Haiti’s schools is a
priority for the Ministries of Health and Education under the National Programme
on Comprehensive
Health for Adolescents and Young People. Three main aspects
are: management of young people’s sexual health by means of prevention
(through information and education) and treatment of STDs, immunization of
students (by introducing a vaccination card), and nutrition
(by setting up the
National School Cafeteria Programme). These programmes are proceeding
successfully.
V. EDUCATION, LEISURE, RECREATION AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
A. Education
174. The Haitian State
recognizes and guarantees the right of all children to education. The
Constitution provides for education for all (art. 32 (2)), for which the State
itself and local government are responsible (art. 32 (1)). In
addition, Haiti
has signed a number of international conventions or declarations, including the
World Declaration on Education for
All, the resolution adopted by the Ministers
of Education of the Caribbean and Central America within the framework of the
Major
Project in the Field of Education in Latin America and the Dakar Framework
for Action (“Education For All: Meeting Our Collective
Commitments”).
175. Since 1987, a considerable and uninterrupted
effort has been made in the education sector. However, the chronically unstable
political situation has always prevented the Government from acting on
recommendations and fulfilling all its obligations towards
the nation in
educational matters.
176. Since December 1993, the Government has been
relentlessly pursuing its work on a national education plan intended to draw up,
in partnership with teachers, civil society and the business world, the broad
outlines of an educational system and to identify ways
to put them effectively
into practice.
177. The first version of the national education plan was
produced in 1996 but it was only in 1998 that it was officially published
by the Ministry for Education, Young People and Sport, as the “National
Education and Training Plan”. The Plan sets
out the Government’s
policies and priorities for the next 10 years and describes the objectives,
strategy, priority programmes
and main projects that will serve as the basis for
the State’s action in the field of education.
1. Educational priorities and objectives
178. The National Education and Training Plan
defines four priority areas for State action, namely: access, quality,
governance and
effective outside
links.[29]
179. With
regard to access to education, the Government’s objective is to increase
supply. Increasing the number of places
in State schools is part of efforts to
achieve access for all 611year-olds by 2010. A policy of positive
discrimination favours
rural areas, where new State schools are set up and
support is given to local self-help initiatives to increase the number of school
places.
180. With regard to the quality of education, the Government
hopes to meet its objectives by improving the education provided for
pupils in
both State and private sectors by emphasizing the knowledge, methods and values
they need to acquire.
181. With regard to effective outside links, the
Government intends to promote cooperation between schools and industry by
adapting
courses to industry’s and the country’s needs, focusing on
productivity and providing technical and vocational training
that responds to
the needs of the productive sectors and offers employment
prospects.
182. With regard to governance, the Government wants to
enhance the effectiveness of management in the educational sector, strengthen
the institutional capacity of the Education Ministry by means of
decentralization and devolution strategies applied to the Ministry
itself and
the educational system as a whole, and open schools to their communities by
setting up mechanisms for community involvement
in shaping school
life.
183. More specifically, the major objectives of the National Plan
for Education and Training are
to:[30]
− Improve the quality of education, especially primary education;
− Promote a policy to increase resources for apprenticeships;
− Increase and rationalize the number of places in primary schools;
− Revise the curriculum and rationalize the courses on offer in secondary schools;
− Coordinate measures to support the overall development of young children;
− Boost vocational and technical training to support technological innovation and efforts to better match work and training, etc.
2. Overall framework for access to education
184. The data presented in 1998 showed there
were at least 9,558 primary schools (first and second cycles of basic
education), as
compared with 1,179 schools providing third-cycle and secondary
education. The State sector accounts for 11 per cent of these two
figures,
while the private sector accounts for about 89 per
cent.[31]
185. At the
pre-school level, according to data from the Ministry’s Planning
Department, there ere 431 State-run centres in
1998 (compared with 210 in
1993/94), all of which were attached to primary schools. The private sector had
6,211 centres in 2000,
compared with 1,018 in
1993/94.[32]
186. There
are 1.4 million pupils in primary schools (in 1998 there were 341,076, of
whom 52 per cent were girls and 48 per cent boys).
Girls make up 40
per cent of this number, and boys 60 per cent. There are 41,170 primary-school
teachers, of whom 33 per cent are
female and 67 per cent
male.[33]
187. At the
secondary and third-cycle levels, according to the same 1998 data, there
were 1,170 schools for a total of 172,053 pupils
between 12 and 18 years of
age (in 1998 this increased to
327,978).[34]
188. These
figures reveal the very high participation of the private sector, i.e. parents,
in investment in education. This is explained
by the very strong demand for
education, which can only partly be met by the public sector. However, this
apparent imbalance does
not convey a full picture of the State’s efforts
to revitalize the sector.
189. In fact, the budgetary allocation for the
Ministry of Education amounted to about 10 per cent of the
overall State budget in
1996/97, behind that of the Ministry of Public Works,
Transport and Communications (22.99 per cent), the Ministry of Public Health
and
Population (10.55 per cent) and the Ministry of State Intervention (10.15 per
cent).[35] In 2000,
according to data from the Ministry, the budget allocated to education
represented 22 per cent of the national budget.
190. The data on
school-attendance rates give a far better picture of the overall impetus of
State intervention. In the period 19941998,
the net school-attendance rate for
children between 6 and 11 years of age was 6.7 per cent, as compared with
3.13 per cent following
the coup d’état. If a longer-term view is
taken, it will be seen that during the last 20 years the rise in the gross
school-attendance rate for the same age group was 72 per cent, for a net
schoolattendance rate of 30 per cent.
191. The trend is the same at the
pre-school level: the gross school-attendance rate rose from 19.7 per cent
in 1990 to 64.3 per
cent in 1998, a rise of 44.6 per cent. The rate in
secondary education is 5.8 per
cent.[36]
3. Challenges for the system
(a) Quality and internal efficacy
192. In 1995 the level
of training and qualification of teaching staff was generally low. Studies on a
sample of 2,000 teachers in
the private and disadvantaged primary education
sector showed that their level of attainment was below that corresponding to the
third cycle of basic
education.[37] In 1998 only
10 per cent of primary schoolteachers had attended teacher training
college.[38] This situation
naturally affects the internal capacity of the system and gives rise to major
problems of wastage. The following
table[39] shows the flow
rates for students in primary education in 1997:
Flow rate
|
1st year
|
2nd year
|
3rd year
|
4th year
|
5th year
|
6th year
|
Promotion to higher class (%)
|
65.7
|
70.0
|
71.4
|
68.8
|
77.8
|
65.9
|
Repeat year (%)
|
18.7
|
18.2
|
18.7
|
16.3
|
14
|
16
|
Drop out (%)
|
15.6
|
11.8
|
9.9
|
14.9
|
8.2
|
18.1
|
193. There is a similar problem of quality at the secondary level.
According to data going back to 1990, only 366 out of 2,747 secondary
schoolteachers held a diploma in education, 500 had a university degree, while
1,315 only had the secondary schoolleaving certificate.
This lack of
qualifications is largely accounted for by the fact that, in an education market
where need or demand is very high
and supply is very limited, business
considerations often take precedence over minimum standards of
quality.[40]
194. The
internal success rate in secondary education also illustrates the degree of
wastage. Out of 288 students entering the seventh
year of basic education
only 164 successfully completed the ninth year; the others are reported to have
abandoned their studies.
Moreover, less than a quarter of the initial cohort
studying for the baccalaureate II diploma reach the end of the
course.[41]
195. For
example, in 1996 the 69,555 sixth-grade students in the country as a whole
achieved a success rate of only 60.4 per cent,
while the figure for
the ninth grade was 16.3 per cent. For the baccalaureate I
and II the success rates were 6.8 per cent and
22.67
per cent respectively
in 1998.[42]
196. The
weakness of the system of inspection or supervision established by the State is
one of the major factors accounting for the
low quality of education in Haiti.
Examination of the criteria of students-toteacher ratio, schoolstoinspector
ratio and teacherstoinspector
ratio shows that in the country as a whole there
are not enough inspectors for the routine supervision of schools (one inspector
for 31 schools) and of teachers (one inspector for
117 teachers).[43]
(b) Implementation of the process
197. In 1995 the Government undertook to
standardize the basic education curriculum. It did so in response both to the
concern for
non-discrimination and to the principle of good governance, which
requires that all schools in the country, except those serving
the foreign
communities, should follow and apply the official curriculum of the Ministry of
Education.
198. However, this attempt at standardization was hampered by
the lack of supporting measures to ensure a smooth transition from one
grade or
course to another. For example, in the new secondary education a child
completing the ninth grade should be able to choose
between the academic option
and the vocational option. However, although planned, this has not been put
into effect on account of
a number of stumbling blocks.
199. Apart from
the lack of resources of all kinds, implementation has come up against the need
to take into account the aspirations
of society as a whole, which demands
high-quality education adapted to the requirements of modern times. To meet
these aspirations
it has been necessary to spend time on designing an adequate
project. Activities to this end are currently in progress, including
the
establishment of the National Commission for Curricula and technical groups for
each discipline.
(c) Governance
200. The governance of Haiti’s educational
system is the responsibility of the Ministry for National Education, Youth and
Sport.
This centralized structure is assisted by 10 departmental
directorates for the purposes of territorial devolution. Before the drafting
of
the National Education and Training Plan, however, there were problems regarding
coordination, clarity of procedures, extreme
centralization, supervision and
training.
201. The technical diagnosis made prior to the Plan points out,
for example, that the departmental directorates have very little impact
on the
organization and operation of teaching establishments since they lack adequate
human and financial resources to carry out
their tasks of control, management,
supervision, training and educational support. The same problem was encountered
with the State
University Board of Education, the National Institute for
Vocational Training and other government
institutions.[44]
202. All
the necessary answers have not yet been found to these questions. However, the
process on which the State has embarked with
its National Educational and
Training Plan is proceeding with that in view. During the period 1996-1998, a
number of initiatives
were taken with a view to making the governance aspect
operational. These include:
− Preparation of a draft Guiding Principles for Education Act, currently awaiting parliamentary approval, which is intended to provide the legal framework for the various activities envisaged in the Plan;
− Preparation of a draft organizational act on the restructuring of the Ministry;
− Establishment of a master plan, implementation of which will lead to more rational management of the resources mobilized;
− Resumption of the routine collection of data on the operation and development of the educational system at the pre-school, primary and secondary levels;
− Launch of the Support Programme for Strengthening the Governance of the Haitian Educational System;
− Strengthening of the departmental directorates;
− Establishment of the Training Centre for Educational Staff and of the Training Centre for Primary Schoolteachers, etc.
203. Nevertheless, this process is suffering the
repercussions of the economic and financial crisis which is limiting Government
interventions.
The new Parliament will need to pass new budgetary laws and
allocate greater resources in keeping with the Government’s ambitions
for
education.
(d) The curriculum issue: problems of implementation
204. There are two problems regarding the
curriculum. The first is that there are very few or no teachers trained to
provide instruction
in certain subjects, including introduction to technologies
and to production activities, physical and sports education and artistic
education, which are taught only in a few schools in the capital and the largest
provincial cities. This results in a two-tier schooling
system, both from the
viewpoint of the quality of the teaching provided and from the viewpoint of the
implementation of the curriculum.
205. The second problem concerns the
curricula currently in use, which present difficulties with regard to the
definition of exit
profiles, content and skills relating to the training of the
new man as the basis of the new Haitian education. Accordingly, the
Ministry is
currently preparing a white paper on the Haitian school curriculum. Teacher
training remains one of the State’s
priorities. With the opening of the
Training Centre for Primary Schoolteachers the gaps should gradually be filled.
(e) Vocational training
206. Vocational and technical training is facing
a whole series of problems that are impeding its development. In particular
there
is its inadequacy in terms of market demand. The verdict of businesses is
unequivocal: out of every 1,000 workers employed, only
6 have received
occupational training leading to a diploma, and even that is not evidence of
genuine mastery of a particular skill.
This is why technical staff from abroad
are eagerly sought after by Haitian
businesses.[45] Another
problem is the proliferation of private training centres not subject to any
supervision, since society mistakenly regards
such training as an alternative
for those unable to succeed at conventional academic subjects.
207. The
National Institute of Vocational Training, an Education Ministry body
responsible for defining, guiding and managing the
State’s policy on
vocational training, has no resources for taking action. However, like all the
other sectors, it is benefiting
from the overall trend for reform of the Haitian
educational system.
208. In 1998 the Ministry designed and drafted a
project for the reform of the vocational training system, which is currently
being
implemented. The overall objective is to modernize the structure and
design of the system by strengthening its governance, improving
the quality and
efficacy of training, providing wider and fairer access,
etc.
209. Studies, research and consultations are currently under way in
order to define the standards and practices for technical and
vocational
training in Haiti.
(f) The problem of children with disabilities
210. Only 1.7 per cent of the
120,000 children of school age with disabilities are currently attending
special schools. This is partly
explained by the lack of trained staff, but it
has to be confessed that up to 1993 the problems of disabled children did not
figure
among the priorities of the Ministry of Education; that is why the few
centres that exist belong to the private sector. Moreover,
ignorance concerning
this topic leads society to invest very little in disabled
children.
211. Nowadays the interest taken by the State is very clear.
In 1993 the Ministry set up the Commission on Educational Adaptation
and Social
Support, the task of which is to facilitate the schooling and integration of
children with disabilities and also to assist
students who are disadvantaged by
the educational system.
212. The year 1994 saw the first meaningful
measures, such as the integration of disabled children into the educational
system and
access for such children to the official baccalaureate examinations
and to university. Since then, in partnership with the Haitian
Society for Aid
to the Blind, the Ministry has been engaged in integrating visually handicapped
children into normal classes. This
programme is proceeding
smoothly.
213. From 1997 to 1999 the Ministry, in partnership with the
Special Education Centre, drew up a curriculum for the mildly mentally
handicapped in order to integrate them into State schools. A group of educators
who would be working with these children were given
special training in
educational psychology.
214. A symposium on the integration/reintegration
of persons with disabilities was held
on 2 and 3 December 1999 under the sponsorship
of the
Ministry of Education, the Faculty of Human Sciences and Quisqueya University.
In the field of education and vocational training
some pertinent recommendations
were made to the Ministry regarding access, supervision, special training of
educators and participation
by the nonpublic sectors in the decisionmaking
processes. The non-public sectors are already the most important providers of
assistance
to disabled persons in Haiti.
215. The Haitian State has not yet defined a national policy on special
education, but it is firmly committed to this. Some steps
in this direction
have been taken, through bilateral cooperation. Another move towards this is
the draft Guiding Principles for
Education Act, which lays down the rules for
providing equal opportunities for disabled persons.
4. General progress achieved
216. In relative terms, bearing in mind the
limited means available and the overall context of reform of the Haitian
educational system,
action by the State has provided solutions to a number of
problems affecting the system.
217. The Ministry has set up a pilot unit
for the National Education and Training Plan which is currently operating
in the central
plateau, with the aim of getting 47,143 children aged
between 6 and 12 years to attend school. Completion of the first
part of the
unit’s task has provided access for 17,000 children, with
the creation of 372 new classrooms. Everything has already been
put in
place so that by September 2000 all children in the central plateau will be
attending school. This experiment should enable
the State to pursue its
objective of school attendance by all children throughout the country by the
year 2004.
218. The Quality Control Department and the Department of
Higher Education and Scientific Research have also been set up within the
Ministry in order to strengthen the capacity of the system.
219. The
Educational Support Programme in Haiti is being conducted through bilateral
cooperation.
220. The opening of the first training centre for primary
schoolteachers (CFEF) in 1999 and the gradual conversion of the teacher
training
colleges into CFEFs bear witness to the concern of the Ministry to train
effective schoolteachers who are capable of working
systematically in the
classrooms.
221. The problem of overage children is receiving special
attention. With the support of bilateral cooperation, the Ministry is currently
developing a fouryear curriculum for over-age children in primary education.
This programme is now being tried out in the central
plateau.
222. The
creation of the National Commission for the Education of Girls and the National
Commission for the Development of Infants
are initiatives undertaken by the
Ministry in order to put in place all the necessary structures for eliminating
all forms of discrimination,
on the one hand, and for providing education
for all the country’s children, on the other hand.
223. The
National School Cafeteria Programme introduced in 1997 provides a hot meal every
day for some 105,000 primary schoolchildren
in the State
sector.
224. Every year the Ministry grants a subsidy and distributes
hundreds of thousands of school uniforms and school materials of all
kinds to
the children.
225. As regards governance it should be pointed out that,
besides the reforms already reported, the Ministry has undertaken its own
decentralization by transferring some responsibilities and autonomy to the
departmental directorates. Likewise, in view of the importance
of the nonState
sector in Haitian education, the National Partnership Commission was set up in
December 1999. Through this Commission
the Ministry is keen to develop
networks linking the various partners and/or operators in order to re-establish
its leadership in
governance of the education sector.
226. The
Partnership Commission, scheduled to be transformed into an Office of
Partnership under its own proposals, is continuing
the practice of collaborating
with non-State operators that was initiated as soon as the National Education
and Training Plan was
drawn up.
227. Despite the weaknesses that still
afflict the Haitian educational system, there is no cause to doubt the
Government’s determination
to meet the requirements of the system.
Nevertheless, budgetary difficulties stand in the way of taking appropriate
action to deal
with all the problems.
228. The lack of human, material
and information resources would appear to be associated with the relatively low
budget allocated
to education. In the 1996-1997 financial year the funds
allocated to the Ministry of Education represented 9.35 per cent of
the
national budget, or 41.58 per cent of the total allocation
for the social and cultural
sector,[46] whereas for
the 19992000 financial year they amounted to 22 per cent of the
State budget. This demonstrates the importance attached
to educating the
country’s children and young people.
229. On the other hand, it
must be pointed out that failure to respect international commitments towards
Haiti is a constraint upon
the Government’s actions. Paragraph 17 of
the Dakar Framework for Action adopted in April 2000 stipulates that
“where
these processes ... are in place ... each partner
will contribute according to its comparative advantage in support of the
national
[education-for-all] plans to ensure that resource gaps are
filled”.[4]
B. Leisure, sports, recreation and cultural activities
1. Leisure and recreation activities
230. Haitian
legislation has no specific provisions concerning leisure, sports and recreation
activities for children. Attention
is drawn, however, to article 325 of
the Rural Code of 1963 which obliges every section communale to assign an
area of 150 x 150 m for leisure activities. Nevertheless, even
if the legislation does not specify the right of children
to leisure in the
manner set forth in article 31 of the Convention, this right is a
traditional practice.
231. Leisure, sports and recreation activities come
under the authority of the State Department for Youth, Sport and Community
Service
(SEJSSC). This is one of the most dynamic sectors in the country today,
even though the schools are not always properly equipped
to enable the children
to play during the day.
232. Despite its limited resources, the SEJSSC has been involved since 1997
in carrying out a group of activities that bear witness
to its desire to cater
for young people.[48] The
National Football Academy trains children aged 7 to 12 years; physical and
sports education at school and the National School
for Sporting Talent offer
further permanent facilities for the development of sport and physical
education.
233. The OPERATION 2006 project is taking shape with the
organization of a series of activities or competitions throughout the various
sports regions of the country, with the aim of discovering talented young
footballers who receive long-term training from the SEJSSC
in an attempt to
raise the level of Haitian football. Training is not confined to the sports
discipline, for the youngsters continue
their normal schooling. This experiment
is currently being conducted at the Croix-des-Bouquets ranch.
234. Since
1995 the SEJSSC has organized regular “summer camps of excellence”.
These 21day camps held at the SEJSSC training
centre at Croix-des-Bouquets
are attended by children aged 12 to 15 years, who are invited on the basis
of academic performance.
They come from all communes of the country. This
opportunity for expression, exchanges, creation and learning is conducive to
social
integration and the discovery of hidden talents.
235. Moreover,
with the aim of promoting intercultural exchanges and strengthening the bonds of
fraternity and solidarity between
young people of different countries, the
SEJSSC organized two international summer camps at Croix-des-Bouquets in 1998
and 1999 for
children aged 12 to 17 years from Cuba, the Dominican
Republic, Quebec (Canada), Guadeloupe, Martinique and Haiti.
236. School
tournaments are also organized each year in various disciplines, while other
sporting and recreational activities such
as neighbourhood contests are
conducted throughout the year. Organized leisure activities in schools,
although carried out on a
relatively small scale, enable the children not only
to develop their knowledge or to incorporate the concepts they have learned
but
also, and above all, to give expression to their creativity and natural
talents.
237. However, it is by no means easy for the SEJSSC to carry out
these activities. It remains a centralized institution that promotes
public
participation at the local level, where its work is mainly in the hands of the
“multiplier agents for change”
and the accredited instructors in
each of the country’s communes.
238. The problem of human
resources, as regards both numbers and training, limits the extent of the
SEJSSC’s activities. However,
attention is drawn to the importance of
bilateral cooperation, which grants fellowships for training abroad to young
Haitian sports
instructors or coaches.
239. The other obstacle to the
institution’s operation is the perpetual budgetary issue. The available
resources do not allow
it to operate in an optimum or even satisfactory manner.
Here again, international cooperation has a cardinal role to play.
240. Infrastructure is also lacking. There is only one stadium meeting the minimum requirements of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA); the sports grounds in the communes have no facilities at all and their capacity is very limited; only the metropolitan region has two sports centres, again with no facilities. Because of this situation young people organize neighbourhood activities wherever they find any space available, sometimes in the middle of the road.
2. Cultural and artistic activities
241. The cultural and
artistic sector falls within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture. This
Ministry, which was established
only recently, has not yet defined any
systematic project for children.
242. The diagnosis and the master
plan[4] drawn up for this
sector bear witness both to some centralization of recreational and cultural
activities (there are very few cinemas,
cultural centres or recreational
centres) in Port-au-Prince and to a marginalization of art in
general.
243. Very little is therefore being done to develop this sector,
mainly on account of the low level of State involvement and the absence
of
artistic education and training. Neither the central Government nor the local
authorities have yet managed to fulfil their strategic
role of organizing
cultural life. It is true that the Ministry of Culture has only been in
existence for five years and the local
authorities are not operational. This
means that the sector is still seeking to build itself up. A very insignificant
level of
support for creative activities, still confined to the metropolitan
area, is provided in response to requests submitted by the beneficiaries,
in
other words by professionals.
244. The only regulations and legislation
that exist are the laws on the operation of the media, emphasizing the
obligation to provide
information of cultural, educational and moral value.
Here again, however, no control is exercised, with the result that the most
violent, the most shocking and indecent things can be heard and read. The radio
stations confined themselves mainly, indeed almost
exclusively, to the
broadcasting of dance music.
245. Within the school system, on the other
hand, there is a primary education module entitled “artistic
education”.
Obviously its content is designed to develop the
children’s taste for art and their creativity. However, as indicated
above,
it is not implemented. Some schools in Haiti voluntarily give lessons in
drawing and musical theory. Only a few schools (three
altogether) in the
capital give lessons in art.
246. The future prospects are set out in the
master plan for culture drawn up by the Ministry in February 1999. Indeed,
the education-training-communication
component is the second priority after
legal and institutional strengthening. At this level of the hierarchy of
priorities, cultural
action sets out to boost and revitalize the national
culture and to identify and design educational, training and communications
activities that will permit the implementation of the master plan.
247. The democratization of culture is one of the aims and objectives of the
master plan, which sets out to give citizens the means
to achieve their full
dignity as human beings: the creation of values is based on the free expression
of cultural activities. Indeed,
without the guarantee of access to culture for
all, no national culture can take shape and develop.
248. The major
difficulty facing the Ministry of Culture lies in its structural weaknesses and
in the unavailability of resources
of all kinds for effective action. It will
be necessary to wait until Parliament passes the laws on the organization and
operation
of this Ministry and votes its budgetary allocation to enable it to
carry out its policy on culture. The Ministry will also need
to pay specific
attention to the cultural rights of children recognized by the Convention.
There is an increasing need to educate
children in this area.
VI. SPECIAL PROTECTION MEASURES
A. Children in situations of emergency
1. Refugee
children
249. The
Government has recorded no cases of refugee children in Haiti. However, this
issue is specifically provided for by the Constitution. It is governed by two
constitutional provisions: the first concerns the right of asylum, which is
granted to political refugees
(art. 157), and the second concerns the right
of foreigners on the territory of the Republic to enjoy the same protection as
that
accorded to nationals under the law.
250. Haitian laws make little
reference to the rights of children within the political domain, but it is
safe to state that minors
who are refugees or children of refugees enjoy the
right to protection. The Haitian State has the obligation to guarantee such
protection:
the National Office of Migration is the State body with
responsibility for supervising and providing aid and assistance to refugees
and
for integrating them into their community.
251. Apart from the structural
and procedural weaknesses, however, some decisions on the placement of foreign
children taken by the
juvenile court, even if they do not concern refugee
children, clearly show the interest taken by Haitian justice in protecting this
category of children. For example, according to information supplied by the
juvenile court, some American children are provisionally
placed with foster
families or under the regime of non-custodial supervision.
2. Street children
252. Street children in
Haiti represent a very vulnerable category from the social, health and
educational viewpoints. According
to
estimates[50] they numbered
between 1,500 and 2,000 in 1991. These children, who live entirely in the
streets, come from very disadvantaged families
living in slums. Because of
their situation they are unable to go to school and are obliged to seek an
occupation during the day
that will provide money for their
survival.[51] Nowadays their
number is believed to be 300 per cent higher. Their average age is
put at between 10
and 14 years.[52]
253. The
street children live in deplorably unhygienic conditions: they eat little and
irregularly, they suffer from headaches, fatigue,
insomnia and anxiety, and they
are particularly exposed to tuberculosis, anaemia, skin diseases and sexually
transmitted diseases
(STDs). Many of them take drugs and engage in
prostitution.[53]
254. There
are no special State centres for the supervision and care of these children.
They are served by all the State institutions.
Some non-State institutions,
including the Cornell Geshkio centre for the prevention of AIDS and other
STDs and the Maison Arc-en-Ciel,
provide health services for these children and
for AIDS orphans by means of a mobile clinic.
255. The number of street
children is expected to increase on account of the growing pauperizaton in the
country and the continuous
migration to urban areas. The Ministry of Social
Affairs has just instituted “assembly points” to care for these
children
and provide them with living conditions that can guarantee them a
normal living environment in accordance with the provisions of
the Convention.
The first of these has already been in operation in Port-au-Prince for two
months. It is planned to set up others
throughout the country.
3. Children in domestic service
256. A child in domestic service lives in a
household made up of people who are not members of the child’s natural
family.
He or she performs all kinds of services for these host families,
without remuneration and under conditions close to slavery imposed
by the master
or mistress. In return this child, with no wage, has to make do with lodging,
shelter and cast-off
clothes.[54]
257. The
Labour Code recommends that host families provide the child with decent food and
lodging, together with 10 hours of rest
each day and one day off per week. They
should also provide access to education, health care and leisure.
Unfortunately, none of
these recommendations are followed by the host families,
which makes the life of children in this position extremely
difficult.
258. Children in domestic service frequently suffer from
shingles, typhoid fever, gastroenteritis, parasitic diseases, vitamin A
deficiency,
acute respiratory infections, tuberculosis, meningitis, malaria,
conjunctivitis, urinary infections, mycoses, STDs and increasingly
from
AIDS.[55]
259. Domestic
servitude is a practice condemned by the public authorities. Formerly a permit
had to be obtained from the IBESR in
order to employ or take a child in domestic
service. Nowadays the Institute objects de facto by not issuing any permits.
Clearly
it does not have the resources to exercise supervision over the living
conditions experienced by these children.
260. The idea of the State
adopting restrictive measures to prohibit domestic servitude has the advantage
that it is straightforward
with regard to the Convention. However, such
measures would have no effect at all unless accompanied by supplementary
measures to
enable parents to meet certain everyday requirements, because the
families that place their children in domestic service do so because
they lack
the means to meet the children’s needs. As a result, domestic service
often seems to them like a step up the social
ladder.
261. The public
authorities are considering ways of making Haitian society more aware of this
problem. It has already been suggested
that domestic service should not be
included in the Labour Code that Parliament is due to adopt shortly.
B. Children in conflict with the law
Administration of juvenile justice
262. The
administration of juvenile justice is governed by the Act of 7 September 1961
and the decree of 20 November
1961.[5] The juvenile court
has been established within the jurisdiction of each appeal court since 1961. A
juvenile court judge is assigned
to each civil court (there are 15 such courts
throughout the country); there is also provision for examining magistrates and
government
commissioners. Moreover, there is a juvenile assize court that hears
cases concerning crimes committed by minors who have reached
the age of 16;
those under 16 are tried by the juvenile court.
263. The law has now
put an end to the former procedures whereby minors arrested for a serious
offence or a crime were referred to
the criminal courts of general
jurisdiction.
264. Nevertheless, Haitian legislation establishes the
principle of exemption from criminal liability of minors under 13 years of
age,
and sets the age of criminal majority at about 16 years. Between 13 and 16
years a minor who has committed a minor offence
will be liable to a simple
reprimand or a fine. A minor who has committed a serious offence or a crime
will be punishable by an
educational measure or, if appropriate, by a criminal
sentence, whereby the juvenile court has discretion, by a reasoned decision,
to
reject the mitigating excuse of minority.
265. Article 51 of the Criminal
Code stipulates, however, that when the circumstances of the case or the
personality of the accused
minor so require, mitigated responsibility may be
recognized. In this case, the minor may receive a sentence of eight years of
treatment
in a State corrective education centre or a maximum of three years in
a specialized professional centre.
266. In the case of a serious offence
or crime, the juvenile court will take measures for the protection, supervision
or education
of children under 11 years of age.
267. In no case will the
minor be subjected to corporal or ignominious punishment or to inhuman or
degrading treatment. The death
penalty has been abolished in all cases by the
Constitution (art. 20).
268. In practice there are difficulties in
implementing the administration of juvenile justice. First of all, there is
only one juvenile
court and only three examining magistrates for minors have
been appointed for the entire country. Furthermore, the IBESR, which
assists
the juvenile court in monitoring placement in re-education and resettlement
centres, has no means of taking action: there
is no remand home and no centre
for protection in general, because in respect of criminal law the minor benefits
as a priority from
the principle of exemption from liability. In respect of a
minor the juvenile court can only take measures of supervision, placement
and
reparation.
269. Because of the lack of remand homes for child offenders,
the authorities generally have to keep them in detention centres. This
practice
violates domestic law on the subject and also article 37, paragraphs (b), (c)
and (d) of the Convention. It is also a highly
unsuitable measure in that the
prison environment provides no protection whatsoever for the minor, because it
lacks any facilities
for the care and supervision of children.
270. On
leaving prison the minors return to their natural environments (family or
street, for example) or are entrusted to the IBESR
to find a hostel for
resettlement or rehabilitation.
271. Action by the public authorities to
solve these problems is inevitably very sporadic on account of the limitations
on resources
of all kinds. However, the concern of the Government to tackle
them is evident in the establishment of the Interministerial Commission
on the
Rights of the Child, which has the task of drawing up a strategy for the control
of juvenile delinquency in Haiti. The reform
of the IBESR by providing it with
new means of action and the reform of the prison system are already being
undertaken as a result
of the recommendations of the National Commission for
Administrative Reform. All these efforts can be expected to lead to an
improvement
in the administration of juvenile justice.
C. Child victims of exploitation
1. The labour situation
272. The age at which children may enter paid
employment is fixed at 15 years by the Labour Code, but a permit must be
obtained from
the Labour Department of the Ministry of Social Affairs before any
child is employed.
273. Children in paid employment are covered by the
provisions of the Labour Code, which protects them against the misdeeds of
employers.
The Labour Tribunal is empowered to settle any dispute between
employers and employees.
274. Children who are victims of exploitation in
their working conditions receive no special care or rehabilitation from the
State.
Some private institutions such as the Foyer Maurice Sixto look after
children in domestic service in collaboration with the State,
although some
families are systematically opposed to this.
275. It goes without saying
that the State does not have the resources to take immediate action to end this
unhealthy situation of
child labour and lack of rehabilitation facilities.
However, the Government has already taken some steps and supported the ILO
resolution
recommending the elimination of child labour.
2. Drug victims
276. The illicit use
of narcotic drugs is a serious offence under Haitian law. A minor who is a
victim of this situation should normally
receive medical and social care under
the supervision of a panel of physicians, within the family if he or she is
recognized as an
occasional user. A minor who is a drug addict will undergo
detoxification treatment and then return to the family if he or
she is under 16 years of age. Above that age minors are referred to the
Government Procurator’s Office and are treated, prosecuted
and tried.
Here again there are the same problems of resources for the care of the children
and the State is unable to deal with
them despite all the legislative
provisions.
277. In the case of minors trafficking in drugs, protective
measures are adopted on their behalf (supervision, placement and reparation)
if
they are under 16 years of age. Minors over 16 years of age are liable to a
penalty ranging from 3 to 15 years’ penal detention
and a fine ranging
from 250,000 to 2 million gourdes. In the case of import, export, transit,
production and illicit manufacture,
the trafficker is punishable by penal
detention from 5 to 20 years and a fine ranging from 500,000 to 10 million
gourdes.
3. Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse
278. Haitian legislation refers to rape,
indecent assault and corruption of a minor. These acts are crimes punishable in
accordance
with criminal law, that is, with the penalty of
imprisonment.
279. However, there are aggravating circumstances when
these acts are committed on the person of a child. The perpetrators are then
liable to a penalty of forced labour for a period ranging from 3 to 15 years.
When such acts are committed by persons holding authority
over the victim, the
penalty is a sentence to forced labour for life.
280. There is a lack of
information on child prostitution and the possibility of sexual tourism in
Haiti. However, in order to protect
children against such practices, criminal
law recognizes the serious offence of incitement of minors to immorality in
respect of
“anyone who infringes morals by inciting, encouraging or
habitually facilitating the immorality or corruption of young people
of either
sex under the age of 18
years”.[57] This
offence is punishable by imprisonment from six months to two
years.
281. Children who are victims of such practices should receive
special support for the purposes of their rehabilitation and resettlement.
Here
the courts lay the responsibility upon the perpetrator of the acts for ensuring
that adequate care is provided for the victims.
The IBESR is the State
structure responsible for assisting such children. As things are at present,
however, the lack of resources
hampers the Institute in its activities on their
behalf.
282. There is also a lack of information on child victims of
AIDS. These children receive treatment in all health centres. If they
are
orphans, they are taken care of at their own request by the IBESR, which places
them in reception centres (in particular, the
Maison Arc-en-ciel).
4. Theft, sale and abduction of children
283. The abduction and receiving of a child,
concealment of the birth of a child, the substitution of one child for another
and the
attribution of a child to a woman who is not the biological mother are
crimes punishable by
imprisonment.[58] It is a
crime if a child is abducted with concealment of the child’s real
identity; if the child’s identity is preserved,
the crime is simply
described as abduction of a
minor.[59]
284. Indications of the sale and trafficking of organs of Haitian
children abroad have motivated the Government to adopt measures
to control and,
if necessary, prohibit the departure of Haitian children abroad in the company
of persons other than their father
and mother. In appropriate cases, a permit
signed by the Minister of Social Affairs must be obtained from the IBESR in
order to
permit the child to travel with another person or an air
hostess.
VII. CONCLUSION
285. The accession of the Haitian State to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child has not sufficed to ensure the
implementation
of the Convention. Application has suffered from the
repercussions of political developments characterized by instability on the
one
hand and attempts at administrative reform on the other.
286. In 1995
Haiti was just emerging from a lengthy crisis caused by the military coup
d’état of 1991. On the return
to constitutional rule in the last
quarter of 1994 the Government of the Republic, which was concerned with
restoring order, had
little opportunity to confront the problems of all kinds
that were awaiting it. The change of government in 1995 only led to the
postponement of some policies already initiated.
287. The new Government
that came into office early in 1996 continued the work of its predecessor, which
consisted of putting public
affairs in order. It then embarked upon an
extensive programme of State modernization and in particular set up the National
Commission
for Administrative Reform, one of the major tasks of which was to
redefine the objectives of the State.
288. The Commission submitted its
reports in 1998. From then until the present time it has been working with the
various State institutions
in order to put its recommendations into operation.
In 1999 a new institutional crisis arose when Parliament was dissolved. The
absence of a Parliament cast a shadow over the political and administrative
landscape because for a very long period it prevented
the formation of a new
Government. It then fell to the resigning Government to continue for more than
a year to deal with everyday
business.
289. This context of political
turbulence has never enabled the successive governments to integrate all the
provisions of the Convention
systematically into the State strategies. In the
traditional activities of the State in the social domain, concerned with the
welfare
of all, especially the Haitian child, the application of the Convention
has always been watered down.
290. Nevertheless, the advances or
achievements recorded since the ratification of the Convention illustrate and
strengthen the position
of the Haitian State, which can be seen to be closely
involved in building the destiny of the country’s children.
291. At
the present time there is a widespread desire in the country to bring the issue
of the rights of the Haitian child to the
forefront, naturally with the support
of the Convention. Excellent results must be expected in the years to come in
view of the
determination shown on this issue by the State.
Notes
[1] Haitian Institute of Statistics and Computing (IHSI), Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Haiti, 1999. According to IHSI figures, the 0-14-year age group accounted for 40 per cent of the population in 1999 and the 15-64-year age group for 56.2 per cent of the population.
[2] Convention on the Rights of the Child, art. 44.
[3] General guidelines regarding the form and content of initial reports to be submitted by States parties under article 44, paragraph 1 (a), of the Convention, adopted by the Committee at its 22nd meeting (first session) on 15 October 1991.
[4] The National Commission for Administrative Reform was established by the President in 1996. It published a summary report in 1998, entitled “Administrative reform in Haiti”, in which it makes highly relevant recommendations to the Government.
[5] “The voice of boys, girls and young people in Latin America and the Caribbean” is the title of a survey carried out in 1999 by Time Research for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). According to the survey, carried out on a sample of 287 children from all over the country, 70 per cent of the children in Haiti say they know very little or nothing about children’s rights (p. 10).
[6] In practice, things do not happen like this: people marry without taking this authorization into account or requesting it.
[7] Decree of 8 October 1982, art. 15.
[8] The State has an absolute obligation to guarantee the right to life and health of all citizens (Constitution, art. 19).
[9] Decree of 24 November 1983 on the organization and operation of the IBESR, arts. 123124, Le Moniteur No. 82.
[10] Ibid., art. 127, on aid and assistance to needy families.
[11] Act of 20 August 1967 on the reorganization of the Ministry of Social Affairs; decree of 15 September 1988 on the civil retirement pension.
[12] Decree of 4 December 1983.
[13] Decree of 18 February 1975.
[14] Time Research group, op. cit., pp. 1417.
[15] Haiti has 133 communes.
[16] Criminal Code, arts.
249-2, 254-2, 297 to
299.
[17] Decree of 24
November 1983, op. cit., art. 127 (Service for Aid and Assistance to Needy
Families), Le Moniteur No. 82.
[18] Decree of 4 December 1983 on the Act organizing the Ministry of Social Affairs, arts. 138144.
[19] Le Moniteur No. 32, 18 April 1974.
[20] Labour Code, arts. 320 and 331.
[21] Act of 14 September 1953.
[22] Symposium on the integration/reintegration of persons with disabilities. Port-au-Prince, 23 December 1999.
[23] Ministry of Public Health and Population, joint country report. Report of the health group, March 2000, p. 6.
[24] Haitian Child Institute/DHS, Haiti: Survey on Morbidity, Mortality and Use of Services (EMMUS II), 1994-1995, pp. 166-171.
[25] National Strategy for Comprehensive Child Care, citing EMMUS II.
[26] World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated annually across the country.
[27] Ministry of Public Health and Population/PAHO/WHO, Health situation analysis, 1998, updated in 1999, Port-au-Prince, 1999, p. 100.
[28] MSPP, National Strategy for Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (1997-2000).
[29] Ministry for Education, Young People and Sport, National Education and Training Plan, Portau-Prince, May 2000, pp. 4857.
[30] Ibid., pp. 5868.
[31] Ministry for Education, Young People and Sports, Planning and External Cooperation Department, Statistical Yearbook on Primary and Secondary Schools in Haiti, Port-au-Prince, June 1998.
[32] Data for 2000 were supplied by the Planning Department of the Ministry for Education, Young People and Sport, and have not yet been published.
[33] No data are available on secondary-school teachers.
[34] Ministry for
Education, Young People and Sport, Common Country Assessment, Educational
Sector, March 2000.
[35]
General budget of the Republic of Haiti, Le Moniteur No. 43, 5 June
1997.
[36] Ministry for Education, Young People and Sport, Common Country Assessment, op. cit.
[37] EDUCAT SA/PNE 2004, Technical diagnosis of the Haitian education sector, preliminary version, August 1995, p. 120.
[38] Ministry for Education, Young People and Sport, Common Country Assessment, op. cit., p. 12.
[39] Ibid., p. 24.
[40] Ministry for Education, Young People and Sport, National Education and Training Plan, op. cit., p. 23.
[41] Ibid., p. 24.
[42] Ministry for Education, Young People and Sport, Common Country Assessment,, op. cit., pp. 13-14.
[43] Ibid., p. 13.
[44] Ministry for Education, Young People and Sport, National Education and Training Plan, op. cit., pp. 30-32.
[45] Ibid., p. 24.
[46] General budget of
the Republic of Haiti, 1996-1997 financial year.
47
Dakar Framework for Action, Education for All: Meeting our Collective
Commitments. Text adopted by the World Education Forum.
Dakar, 26-28 April
2000.
[48] The SEJSSC does not
deal with infants. Its literature refers to children aged 7 years and
over.
49 Carline Legros, Review of cultural facilities
in the departments. Sectoral diagnosis. Ministry of Culture, Port-au-Prince,
January
1999; Ministry of Culture, Master plan for culture, PortauPrince,
January 1999.
[50] IBESR/UNICEF, Children in difficulties. Situation analysis, Port-au-Prince, 1991.
[51] Marine Bernier and
Franςoise Ponticq, Planning of interventions based on the patterns of
social and economic organization of
children and young people living and working
on the streets in Haiti, including those living from prostitution, Quisqueya
University,
PortauPrince, 1999, p. 8.
[52] Ibid., p. 25.
[53] Ministry of Public Health and Population/PAHO/WHO, Analysis of the health situation, Haiti 1998, with update in 1999, PortauPrince.
[54] IPSOFA/UNICEF. Rèstavèk: children working as domestic servants in Haiti, UNICEF, Portau-Prince, 1998, p. 7.
[55] Ministry of Public
Health and Population/PAHO/WHO, op. cit., p. 59; 1999, p.
58.
56 Act of 7 September 1961 on minors in relation
to criminal law and the special juvenile courts. Le Moniteur No. 94 of 2
September 1961; decree of 20 November 1961 establishing the juvenile court.
Le Moniteur No. 108
[57] Criminal Code, art. 282.
[58] Ibid., art. 294.
[59] Ibid., art.
300.
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