CRC/C/PAN/CO/3-4
(c)
Take into consideration the special requirements and linguistic needs of
children with disabilities, indigenous and migrant children, and other children in
situations of vulnerability.
D.
Civil rights and freedoms (arts. 7, 8, 13-17, 19 and 37 (a) of the
Convention)
Birth registration
39.
The Committee welcomes the State party’s efforts to improve birth registration
through national birth registration campaigns, improvements to the birth registration system
and legislative reforms in 2006 and 2007. It also appreciates the State party commitment to
the universal periodic review in 2010 (A/HRC/16/6, paras. 68.28, 68.28 and 68.29), in this
respect. The Committee however notes that in remote parts of the country, indigenous
children, children born to refugee parents and children of migrants still are not registered, a
concern which was highlighted by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination in 2010 (CERD/C/PAN/CO/15-20, para. 12).
40.
The Committee recommends that the State party continue to implement special
measures, including the provision of information in indigenous languages, greater
access to registry services and more sensitization and training on nationality law for
registry officials, with the view to ensuring that children born in remote areas,
including indigenous children, refugee children and children of migrants parents are
duly registered at birth.
Freedom of association and peaceful assembly
41.
The Committee is strongly concerned that curfews for children have been put into
place in three major Panamanian cities, which in 2010 alone resulted in the detention of
5,148 children, many of whom were simply found in the street during curfew hours. These
children may spend the night in detention if their parents or guardian are not informed or
pay the established US$ 50 fine and not retrieve them. The Committee is particularly
concerned that this measure is criminalizing children and further aggravates negative public
perception about adolescents, especially if Afro-Panamanian or coming from low-income
neighbourhoods.
42.
The Committee is of the strong view that curfew measures targeted at children
go against the provisions set forth in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and
recommends that these be immediately lifted.
Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
43.
The Committee expresses its deep concern at the recurrent cases of fires in juvenile
detention centres, including two incidents in the Tocumen detention centre, one on 7
November 2009 resulting in the death of one detained child and another on 9 January 2011
which resulted in the death of five juvenile detainees. A later incident in Arco Iris on June
2011, resulted in 15 children being burned. Moreover, the Committee expresses deep
concern at the manner in which the police responded during the fires and at reports on the
use of tear-gas canisters in detention facilities. The Committee notes that investigations
have been opened on the first case mentioned but it is concerned that adolescents are being
investigated along with guards and security personnel, thus risking further victimization of
children who have been detained in extremely poor conditions.
44.
8
The Committee recommends that the State party: