CRC/C/PAN/CO/3-4
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), World Health
Organization (WHO), International Labour Office (ILO), United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), as well as NGO partners.
E.
Family environment and alternative care (arts. 5; 18, paras. 1-2; 9-11;
19-21; 25; 27, para. 4; and 39 of the Convention)
Children deprived of a family environment
48.
The Committee takes note of the establishment of a Shelter Supervision and
Monitoring Unit within SENNIAF with the view to ensuring that children placed in shelters
and other institutions are provided with full support for their welfare and development.
However, the Committee is concerned at the high and growing numbers of children placed
in alternative-care institutions in the State party, showing a negative trend towards
unnecessary institutionalization of children, rather than searching for family-based
modalities.
49.
The Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary steps to
ensure that the number of children institutionalized decreases and that alternatives
for family-based modalities are explored and developed further. It recommends that
all children in alternative care, whether in families or institutions, have access to basic
health and appropriate education. The Committee further recommends that the State
party allocate sufficient resources to the Shelter Supervision and Monitoring Unit for
it to perform its monitoring and supervisory mandate adequately as well as to provide
training to those responsible of executing its mandate on the provisions of the
Convention. It further recommends that the State party take into account the
Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children annexed to General Assembly
resolution 64/142 of 20 December 2009.
Adoption
50.
The Committee welcomes the adoption of Law 61/2008 (General Adoption Act),
which provides safeguards for Panamanian children in international adoptions, including
the prohibition of private adoptions, and is harmonized with the Hague Convention on
Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption. The
Committee is deeply concerned that an envisaged reform to make Law 61/2008 more
flexible may hinder, if approved, its achievements within the adoption system of the State
party.
51.
The Committee reminds the State party that the envisaged revision of Law
61/2008 must comply fully with its international obligations, in particular with the
Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption and the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
with any revision expanding rather than diminishing the protection of children.
F.
Children with disabilities, basic health and welfare (arts. 6; 18, para. 3;
23; 24; 26; 27, paras. 1-3; and 33 of the Convention)
Children with disabilities
52.
The Committee takes note of the State party efforts at realizing the rights of children
with disabilities in equal terms as all other children. In this sense, it appreciates the
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