Paraguayan NGO, the Coordinating Committee for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, has expressed concern over the candidacy of Mercedes Britez de Buzó for the position of the country's Ombudsperson.

Britez de Buzó was brought before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) last year in a case against Paraguay for ordering round-ups of street children in the year 2000 in Asunción, the nation's capital city. The case was admitted on 6 March 2008, and the Paraguayan State, which recognises responsibility, has agreed to participate in a friendly settlement of the case between the parties concerned.

The round-ups, which were ordered by Britéz de Buzó in Asunción in November 2000 while she was Sixth Duty Judge of First Instance in Juvenile Protection and Correctional Matters, led to the deprivation of liberty of 69 children found living on the street. During the sweeps, dozens of children were detained and separated from their families “in an abrupt and violent manner” and transferred to public and private halfway houses, many of which were not in a position to receive and maintain them adequately.

The case against Britéz de Buzó was presented before the IACHR on 8 December 2000 by the Coordinating Committee for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) and the Tekojoja Foundation.

Admitted by the IACHR in March last year, the case establishes an important precedent for children's rights in the country.

Extract from the report on the admissibility of the case by the IACHR:

“the IACHR concludes in this report that the case is admissible, since it satisfies the requirements provided in Article 46 of the American Convention. The Inter-American Commission therefore decides to inform the parties of the decision and to continue its analysis of the merits regarding the alleged violations of the rights of the child (Article 19), the right to protection of the family (Article 17), the right of everyone to personal liberty (Article 7), to physical integrity (Article 5), to the protection of honor and dignity (Article 11), to freedom of movement (Article 22), to judicial guarantees (Article 8), and to judicial protection (Article 25) recognised in the American Convention.”

Read more here: http://www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/2008eng/Paraguay12359.eng.htm

Further information

• Campaign on child rights appointments: The future of child rights - in whose hands? 
• Global report on status offences (CRIN, October 2009)
• Ombudspersons for children: Ibero-American network created (22 November 2007)
• News page on child rights and the Inter-American Commission
• More on child rights in Paraguay

Previous News release items

• 06/10/2009: UNITED STATES: Supreme Court judgement due on life without parole for children
• 06/10/2009: BURMA/MYANMAR: Girls sent to jail, CRC ignored
• 06/10/2009: THAILAND: Standards of Care for Refugee Boarding houses on the Thai-Burma Border
• 05/10/2009: ZIMBABWE: Virgins forced into marriage to ‘appease’ evil spirits
• 02/10/2009: DISCRIMINATION: New toolkit on children's rights and non-discrimination

Organisation Contact Details:

Coordinadora por los Derechos de la Infancia y la Adolescencia - CDIA
Brasil 455 entre 25 de Mayo y Cerro Corá
Asunción
Tel: (595 21) 227-061
Email: comunicacion@cdia.org.py; cdia@cdia.org.py
Website:

Last updated 03/08/2011 07:33:48

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