Enforcement of the ECA through Community Councils
In order to ensure that the children’s rights contained within the Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA) are enforced, the ECA specifies that councils will be created in order to ensure that children’s rights are observed in practice.
Article 88 of the ECA establishes parameters for the creation “municipal, state, and national councils … which will be deliberative and controlling entities of actions at all levels.” Futhermore, Article 131 explains that “the Council of Guardianship is a permanent and autonomous, nonjurisdictional entity, charged by society to see to the observance of the rights of the child and adolescent as defined in [the ECA].”
According to Brazil’s report to UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, by 1999 a national council, state councils, and 3,348 municipal councils had been created promoting the observance of children’s rights in 72% of Brazilian cities.
However, although these councils are in place, there still exists a vast discrepancy between rights guaranteed by the ECA and the rights that are currently enjoyed by Brazil’s children. For example, it is estimated that more than 23% of children and adolescents in Brazil, approximately 14 million, still have their rights absolutely denied. As well, it had been estimated that by the end of 2004, councils for the defense of children’s rights were lacking in close to 30% of Brazil’s cities.
Furthermore, according to an article from 2005 on Viva Rio’s Comunidade Segura website, www.comunidadesegura.org, the existing councils were lacking the basic funding needed to provide their services to the community. Essentials such as salaries, office space, and equipment such as telephones and computers could not be covered seriously affecting the ability of these councils to function effectively. As well, the councils have been cited for not having a monitoring mechanism in place to ensure they are working effectively to guarantee children’s rights.
In order to bolster the implementation of the ECA, councils must be created where needed, adequately funded, and effectively monitored so they may become a beneficial intervention for ensuring children’s rights are observed in Brazil.
Further Reading:
Brazil’s 2003 state party report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child regarding the progress achieved in establishing community councils.
Brazil’s submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (pdf)
A report by the Government of Canada regarding the current state of child rights in Brazil.
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
2004 report from the Brazilian NGO National Association of Defense Centers for the Rights of the Child and Adolescent (ANCED) regarding the effectiveness of Community Councils.
A story from the Comunidade Segura website regarding some of the issues that have plagued the effectiveness of the community councils, in Portuguese.
Comunidade Segura: What the community councils are lacking