Latin American and Caribbean region launches Call to Action to end the placement of children under three years of age in institutions

Tue, 22 Oct 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Date: 22 October 2013

On the 22nd October 2013, a new regional campaign in the Latin American and Caribbean region was launched to end the placement of children under three years of age in institutions.

On the 22^nd October 2013, three Latin American presidents (Costa Rica, Honduras and Paraguay) gave their support to a new regional campaign in the Latin American and Caribbean region launched to end the placement of children under three years of age in institutions. This ‘Call to action’ is led by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the Latin American and Caribbean Chapter of the Global Movement for Children (MMI-CLAC), the Latin American Foster Care Network (RELAF), the United Nations’ Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children, and UNICEF. The campaign launch took place in Panama City and was presided by the president of the Republic of Costa Rica. A separate launch is due to take place in the Caribbean region. A UNICEF brief on the call to action is available in English.

Although there is a serious lack of official data disaggregated by age, the little information that is available demonstrates the seriousness of the problem for girls and boys in the region: it is estimated that more than 240,000 children live in institutions. The ‘Call to action’ recommends that States in the region implement immediate reforms to child protection systems, including the enactment of legislation to limit the placement of children under three years of age in residential care institutions, with rare exceptions for such placements for a pre-determined and very limited period of time; the allocation of sufficient resources to support vulnerable families and develop specific programmes to avoid the separation of children from their families, the development and implementation of alternative family-based care programmes for girls, boys and adolescents at risk of being deprived of living in a family environment, particularly for those under three years of age who are not in the care of their parents.

A communication campaign in Spanish and a website was also launched to support the call to action, entitled “hablapormi”/"speak for me", which features two powerful videos, including a message by UNICEF LAC and the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children, Marta Santos Pais. To view the message in English, please click here. For the website in English, please visit www.speakupforme.org

For the campaign website in Spanish, please visit: http://www.hablapormi.org/

For the video “hablapormi” / “speak for me” in Spanish, please click here
For the video "Parle En Mon Nom" (French), please click here.

For the Video "Fale por Mim" (Portuguese), please click here

Last updated: 1 February 2014