[child-rights] CRC 45th session: Committee examines reports of Guatemala on optional protocols to CRC

UNITED NATIONS Press release
1 June 2007

The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the initial
reports of Guatemala on how that country is implementing the
provisions of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict,
and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography.

Introducing the reports of Guatemala, Carlos Ramiro Martínez,
Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the United Nations Office at
Geneva, outlined policies and mechanisms that had been developed
following Guatemala's adoption of the Optional Protocols, including a
National Plan to Combat the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children and the Plan of Action for its implementation; the
elaboration and implementation of a protocol for child victims of
commercial sexual exploitation; the adoption of the Hague Convention
on International Adoption, in May 2007; and the setting up of a
multi-sectoral body, including representatives from various
Ministries, the National Police, and the Public Prosecutor's Office,
to develop joint programmes to combat trafficking, commercial sexual
exploitation and forced labour of children and adolescents and to
prosecute those responsible. Also important had been the adoption of
specific laws, such as the law on adoption, and the definition of the
crime of trafficking in the penal code.

Turning to the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in
armed conflict, Mr. Ramiro Martínez observed that, since the
end of the internal armed conflict some 10 years ago, there were no
Guatemalan children participating in armed conflict or carrying out
any military functions. It was important to note that the new Law on
Military Service, and the ratification of the Optional Protocol
itself, had been fundamental to the adoption of administrative and
other measures, in particular with regard to the prevention and
strengthening of guarantees that the use of children in conflicts
would never recur. 

In preliminary concluding observations, Committee Expert Rosa
María Ortiz, who served as Rapporteur for the reports of
Guatemala on the two Optional Protocols to the Convention, welcomed
the seminars and workshops that had been carried out by the
Guatemalan Government to raise awareness of the Protocols, and
congratulated the delegation on the re-ratification of the Hague
Convention on Inter-Country Adoption. Also worthy of note was the
comprehensive law on protection of children and adolescents and the
civil register. However, she was concerned that those laws needed the
necessary budget allocations to put them into effect. Among her
concerns, was the lack of data on implementation. Furthermore, work
remained to be done in categorizing certain offences as crimes. The
two Protocols were only able to be relatively applied as long as the
statutory crimes of forced prostitution and forced labour, for
example, were not on the books. 

Committee Expert Kamel Filali, serving as co-Rapporteur for the
report on the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography, in additional preliminary observations, congratulated
Guatemala on the many initiatives undertaken to implement the
Optional Protocol, in particular with regard to the reform of the
Criminal Code, and the plans to include the offences contained in the
Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and
child pornography.

Committee Expert Jean Zermatten, serving as co-Rapporteur for the
report on the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in
armed conflict, in further observations, appreciated efforts made so
far by Guatemala with a view to adoption of the Rome Statute. It was
to be hoped that the recruitment of children would be enshrined in
the Criminal Code with a separate sanction. Guatemala owed it to the
memory of children that had disappeared in its past internal conflict
to shed light on what had happened, as well as to those who had
survived the conflict to be reinserted, rehabilitated and compensated
for their suffering. While welcoming the initiative on armed gangs,
in future it was to be hoped that a transnational agreement with
Guatemala's neighbours could be reached to eradicate that scourge.

The Committee will release its formal, written concluding
observations and recommendations on the initial reports of Guatemala
on the Optional Protocols towards the end of its three-week session,
which will conclude on 8 June. 

Also representing the delegation of Guatemala was Francisco Rolando
Morales, Deputy and President of the Commission for Minors and the
Family of the Congress of Guatemala, as well as representatives from
the Supreme Court of Justice of Guatemala, the Presidential Human
Rights Commission, the Ministry of the Interior, the Public
Prosecutor's Office, the Office of Social Welfare, and the Office of
Social Work of the First Lady, as well as representatives from the
Permanent Mission of Guatemala in Geneva.

When the Committee reconvenes on Monday, 4 June, at 10 a.m., it will
consider the initial report of Ukraine (CRC/C/OPSC/UKR/1) on how that
country is implementing its obligations under the Optional Protocol
on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

*Reports of Guatemala*

For 36 years, Guatemala was the scene of an internal armed conflict
that ended with the signing of a peace agreement between the
Government and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca in
1996. The initial report of Guatemala on the Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children
in armed conflict (CRC/C/OPAC/GTM/1) acknowledges that during the
war, forcible military recruitment was common practice both for the
national army and the guerrilla groups that made up the Unidad
Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca. According to both the official
report of the Commission for Historical Clarification, and the
reports of non-governmental organizations and indigenous movements,
during the internal armed conflict some 45 per cent of the male
population was recruited at some time by one or other of the parties
to the conflict, 20 per cent of them minors. More than 3,000
guerrillas participated in reintegration programmes when the internal
armed conflict ended, including an estimated 214 minors. There are no
official records of the exact percentage of minors who participated
in the war. Nevertheless, since it is the responsibility of the State
to ensure that this practice is not allowed for any reason, one of
the important measures which took immediate effect following the
signing of the peace agreement was the Presidential Order not to
allow anyone at all under the age of 18 to enlist, even if they
volunteered. The provision has remained in force since then. In
addition, Guatemala has passed the Act on the Comprehensive
Protection of Children and Young Persons in 2003, which provides,
among other things, that "The State shall take all possible measures
to ensure that persons who have not yet attained the age of 18 years
do not take a direct part in hostilities and are not recruited for
military service at any time." 

The initial report of Guatemala on the Optional Protocol on the sale
of children, child prostitution and child pornography
(CRC/C/OPAC/GTM/1) notes that, notwithstanding progress made in
guaranteeing the human rights of children and adolescents, the
country is aware that illegal practices, such as trafficking in
persons for purposes of sexual exploitation, unlawful trafficking and
other despicable acts, committed principally against children and
adolescents, still exist. Guatemala is making significant efforts to
combat these scourges. Since 2001, implementation has been proceeding
of the National Plan to Combat the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children, through the accompaniment of a Directing Group formed on
the subject with the participation of governmental and
non-governmental organizations. The system of justice for children
and juveniles has been restructured, including the reshaping of the
Office of the Prosecutor for Juveniles; the strengthening of the
public criminal defence system for adolescents and the creation of
socio-educational measures as an alternative to custodial measures.
In accordance with the public policy of comprehensive protection of
children and adolescents, which was approved in 2004, and its
accompanying Plan of Action, special protection policies serve to
foster the implementation of measures for prevention, special
protection and support for families in order to provide care for
children and adolescents whose rights have been threatened or
violated or who are in situations of vulnerability. These measures
apply to children and adolescents who are victims of the practices
covered by this Optional Protocol. Thus the policy defines strategic
measures to promote the restitution of their rights, their
rehabilitation and their reintegration into society as well as the
criminal prosecution, as appropriate, of those responsible for the
violation of their human rights. 

*Presentation of Reports*

CARLOS RAMIRO MARTÍNEZ, Permanent Representative of Guatemala
to the United Nations Office at Geneva, introducing the reports of
Guatemala, said that Guatemala was carrying out continuous efforts to
consolidate democracy, the rule of law, and the respect and promotion
of human rights, in fulfilment of its international obligations.
Guatemala, like many other countries, was faced, in connection with
the fight against poverty, with the linked problems of international
organized crime, drugs trafficking, trafficking in persons, and
migration. Despite those challenges, Guatemala was taking various
measures to ensure a better life for all, in the areas of
international and national law, and in administrative, substantive
and operative areas. One example of those efforts was the adoption,
in 2003, of the Act concerning the comprehensive protection of
children and adolescents, which had profoundly changed the focus of
legislation on children and adolescents in Guatemala by establishing
as its fundamental basis the policy of the best interests of the
child. 

With the ratification of the two Optional Protocols to the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, important policies and mechanisms had
been developed, Mr. Ramiro Martínez added. Those included a
National Plan to Combat the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children and the Plan of Action for its implementation, in
coordination with inter-institutional and civil society
organizations; the elaboration and implementation of a protocol for
child victims of commercial sexual exploitation; contribution to the
development of a regional instrument for the repatriation of child
victims of trafficking; the adoption of the Hague Convention on
International Adoption, in May 2007, and the subsequent elaboration
of a manual of best practices with regard to national and
international adoption; and the setting up of a multi-sectoral body,
including representatives from various Ministries, the National
Police, and the Public Prosecutor's Office, to develop joint
programmes to combat trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation and
forced labour of children and adolescents and to prosecute those
responsible. Also important had been the adoption of specific laws,
such as the law on adoption, and the definition of the crime of
trafficking in the penal code.

Turning to the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in
armed conflict, Mr. Ramiro Martínez observed that, since the
end of the internal armed conflict some 10 years ago, the peace
agreements had served as a basis for many of the necessary changes to
rebuild and reshape Guatemalan society to prevent such a threat, and
the harm it had posed to men, women and children, from recurring.
Today, there were no Guatemalan children participating in armed
conflict or carrying out any military functions. As stated in the
report, while the Commission for Historical Clarification had noted
that both sides to the conflict had used children during the war,
that was a practice of the past and one that no longer existed today.
In that context, it was important to note that the new Law on
Military Service, and the ratification of the Optional Protocol
itself, had been fundamental to the adoption of administrative and
other measures, in particular with regard to the prevention and
strengthening of guarantees that the use of children in conflicts
would never recur. 

*Discussion on the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child
Prostitution and Child Pornography*

ROSA MARÍA ORTIZ, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur
for the report of Guatemala on the Optional Protocol on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography, provided a brief
overview of the situation of children in Guatemala. Only 40 per cent
of children finished primary school, with non-indigenous children
typically completing four years of school, and indigenous children
just 1.3 years. Poverty was endemic. Some 10,000 children belonged to
gangs, which formed a sort of refugee and "protection" for them.
Guatemala was a transit country, as well as a country of origin and
destination, for children sold for forced labour and sexual
exploitation. As to adoption, there were anomalous acts here: paid
pregnancies; the falsification or substitution of documents; and
illegal centres for newborns where babies were put up for sale; all
of which occurred at times with support of government officials. 

Despite those facts, Ms. Ortiz noted the measures being taken by the
Government to address the situation, in particular, the 2003 law
concerning the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents,
the programme on sexual exploitation and its action plan, the
bilateral agreements with Mexico and El Salvador concerning
trafficking, and the ratification of both the Hague Convention on
International Adoption and the ILO Convention on the Prohibition of
the Worst Forms of Child Labour.

Ms. Ortiz expressed her dissatisfaction that the report did not
comply with the Committee's guidelines, and did not contain
sufficient information to judge the situation on the ground with
respect to Guatemala's compliance with the Optional Protocol. From
reports, it would seem that Guatemala was not in compliance. 

Although the report had flagged as a sign of success the law on the
protection of children and adolescents, and the subsequent
establishment of a Commission on the Protection of Children made up
of government and civil society organizations, Ms. Ortiz had some
concerns as to whether that body still existed, and what actions, if
any, it had carried out. 

It was true that the national plan for the prevention of sexual
exploitation of children had a coordinating body. However, Ms. Ortiz
pointed out that there were other coordination bodies, such as the
multi-sectoral body mentioned in the delegation's presentation. It
was therefore unclear how all those mechanisms worked together.

KAMEL FILALI, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the
report of Guatemala on the sale of children, child prostitution, and
child pornography, also raised the issue of the coherence of
Guatemala's report, as well as a number of discrepancies in the
report that caused confusion. 

Mr. Filali welcomed the mechanisms established to combat the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography, including the law
on child protection and the reforms to the penal code. There did
appear to be a willingness to work on this issue and to implement the
Optional Protocol.

Mr. Filali noted, however, that there were still major problems
regarding trafficking of children, organized crime, the involvement
of officials, and a lack of judicial investigations or investigations
that did not lead to prosecutions in Guatemala. It was also clear
that children were still transiting through the country.

With regard to the new law on children which ensured that the best
interests of the child were the priority in cases involving them, Mr.
Filali asked for specific cases, as well as examples of measures and
mechanisms that carried out that policy. 

Mr. Filali also wished to know whether the provisions of the Optional
Protocol could be directly invoked in the courts, and whether it had
precedence over domestic legislation in Guatemala.

With regard to the planned overhaul of Guatemala's penal code with
respect to children, Mr. Filali asked for a timeframe for its
completion. Also with regard to legislation, while Guatemala now had
a law against trafficking, in practice, such crimes were usually
prosecuted under lesser crimes, the penalty for which was often just
a fine.

Other Experts raised questions and asked for further information on a
number of topics, including coordination of bodies on children's
rights, and which body was coordinating the implementation of the
obligations of Guatemala under the Optional Protocol; the current
practice with regard to juvenile justice, for example, in the case of
children arrested in police raids on brothels; reports that children
in difficult circumstances were held in detention together with
children in conflict with the law; what was being done to address the
situation of street children, almost all of whom had been victims of
sexual abuse and exploitation, usually by their relatives;
deportation of children without proper investigation into their
situation; a lack of information on child pornography; details of
rehabilitation and assistance programmes for child victims; what was
being done to ensure that all births were registered, given reports
that, especially in remote areas, children often did not have birth
certificates; and, given the strong allegations that children were
being sold for adoption abroad, more information concerning
inter-country adoptions. Among other things, an Expert was concerned
about whether the draft law on adoption before Congress made a
provision for an adopted child's "right to know" who their birth
parents were.

*Response by Delegation*

Responding to Experts' questions, the delegation said the Office for
Social Welfare was responsible for coordinating and implementing
public policy on children within the Guatemalan Government. 

In terms of children victims of crimes, the Office for Social Welfare
had a home for such children staffed with teachers, psychologists and
social workers. A number of programmes had been put in place to train
girls so that they would be able to fulfil their roles in the family
and society at large. 

A multi-sectoral body had just been developed to coordinate a number
of activities to be able to reintegrate child victims of sexual
exploitation, including a national meeting on children to be held
next month, the delegation explained. Among activities undertaken had
been a three-month seminar to train the staff of the various
ministries so that they could set up programmes for child victims.
Also, recently, a protocol had been drafted on child victims of
commercial sexual exploitation, which would soon be adopted by the
Government. 

There had been no evaluation of the effectiveness of the plan of
action to combat commercial sexual exploitation, the delegation said.
Today, that plan did not have a budget.

Regarding juvenile justice measures, the Public Prosecutor's Office
was responsible for ensuring that children who were victims of sexual
exploitation were not treated as criminals, but as victims. The
Office was also responsible for ensuring that investigations were
carried out, and that children's ages were established. Child victims
were immediately transferred to a shelter and put under the
guardianship of a juvenile judge. If foreign children or minors were
involved, Guatemala had a protocol for the repatriation of child
victims, overseen by the Public Prosecutor's Office. In the case of
criminal affairs, certain compensation had to be ensured for actions
taken against the minors. The delegation noted that all of these
activities were carried out in cooperation with international
assistance from organizations such as the United Nations Children's
Fund (UNICEF) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Responding to a question on protection for child witnesses, the
delegation said that when children gave testimony in the courts, they
were kept behind a protective screen until they had to speak.
Following their testimony, they were removed from the courtroom. A
child psychologist accompanied them during this process at all times.

Also on developments in juvenile justice, last year about 23
different seminars had been held at the national level with judges
and auxiliary personnel, the delegation said. The Government was also
working to ensure that interpreters and bilingual judges were
available for indigenous children in various regions of the country.
Since last year, a new measure had been instituted whereby there were
judges present round the clock at the lower and higher level courts,
as minors had to appear immediately before a judge upon being taken
into custody.

On the status of the Protocol in domestic law, the delegation noted
that, unless there was a specific law set out in Guatemalan
legislation, a person could not be prosecuted for an offence. The
Protocol's provisions, or those of the Convention, served more as
conceptual guidelines. The Supreme Court had, in certain cases, held
that international treaties held an equivalent place in the legal
hierarchy to the Constitution; however, it had also been said in
other instances that the Constitution prevailed over international
treaties. It was a matter that was still being discussed in Guatemala
and which remained to be clarified.

Regarding pending legislative reforms, the delegation said that there
were three important bills affecting children currently under
consideration by the Congress: reform of the criminal code, the
adoption law, and the law on children's shelters and homes. The
Congress was in recess till 30 June. Thereafter they would be able to
take action on the reforms before them.

On the adoption bill, the delegation said it was contemplated that
there would be a central authority, in keeping with the Hague
Convention, to oversee adoptions. There were three options currently
under consideration: a national adoption commission, with
representation from various bodies of the State and civil society,
and an independent budget (such an option would require a two-thirds
vote by the Congress, however, which was difficult to get); a
national council for adoption, which would also be represented by all
the institutions involved, but with a budget coming under the Public
Prosecutor's Office; or, a third possibility would be having the
Office of Social Welfare taking over the function of overseeing
adoptions.

In terms of the elaboration of a scientifically verifiable national
identity document, containing not just a photo, but a fingerprint and
other modern security measures making it electronically verifiable,
it was hoped that that would be ready six months from now, the
delegation said. That would have a particular impact on being able to
ascertain the status of minors, in particular in cases of adoption
and trafficking.

On the issue of the Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption, the
difficulties posed to its implementation by reservations to the
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties had been eliminated by
judicial decision in 2006, following which the Vienna Convention
reservations had been withdrawn. That Convention had then been
re-ratified and the Executive Branch was currently carrying out
measures to allow for that Convention's incorporation into law. In
terms of implementation, there were many changes that had to be
undertaken to bring Guatemalan practice in line with the Hague
Convention. The different institutions involved were currently
bringing their database in line to allow for the strict monitoring
required to give approval for an adoption. The process was ongoing.

The draft bill on adoption not only addressed future cases, but
covered what had happened to the 23,000 children given for adoption
over the past 10 years, and what would happen to those who were
currently in the middle of adoption proceedings, the delegation said.
In terms of the right to know who one's birth parents were, that
would be possible from the time the new adoption act was enacted, as
henceforth there would be strict monitoring systems in place.

In terms of raids on brothels, those had been carried out by
multi-sectoral teams as part of the coordinated plan to prevent
commercial sexual exploitation. The delegation noted that staff from
the Presidential Commission on Human Rights had accompanied the
agents making raids, for example, to ensure the fundamental human
rights of those in the brothels were protected. 

There had been sanctions and convictions of police officers who had
committed sexual offences against minors brought about by a joint
effort between civil society and the Government, to protect minors
raped by the police. A number of officers had also been fired from
their jobs for abuse of authority and corruption, the delegation
pointed out. 

Several times the delegation highlighted the difficulties the
authorities faced in implementing the Optional Protocol's provisions,
for example, their inability to extradite perpetrators of various
crimes of sexual exploitation against children, owing to the current
lack of a relevant criminal provision covering those crimes in
Guatemala's Criminal Code.

*Discussion on the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children
in Armed Conflict*

ROSA MARÍA ORTIZ, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur
for the report of Guatemala on the involvement of children in armed
conflict, said that the armed forces of Guatemala, and the
administration, were still very much linked up to armed conflict.
They had not seen the end to armed conflict: the people were still
traumatized. Although there were no children involved in armed
conflict today, those who had been in the past still needed to have
their problems addressed, especially those who had disappeared.

The law did not allow children under 18 to enlist in the army, and
yet, in practice there were children under 18 in the army barracks,
Ms. Ortiz said. She would like to know what was being done to address
that situation.

JEAN ZERMATTEN, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur for the
report on the involvement of children in armed conflict, said that,
in 2002, Guatemala had ratified the Optional Protocol on the
involvement of children in armed conflict. At that time, Guatemala
had declared that an age limit of 18 for individuals involved in
armed conflict would be respected and it had promised to provide
information on measures taken to ensure that obligation was observed.
It was now five years later, and that had not been done.

Mr. Zermatten was further concerned that neither of the Optional
Protocols to the Convention had been incorporated in domestic law,
and therefore that their provisions were not able to be directly
invoked in the courts. Also, what was happening with regard to the
ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,
under which recruitment of children under 15 or their active use in
hostilities was defined as a war crime.

With regard to coordination of implementation efforts with regard to
the Protocol, did the Office of Social Welfare, which had ambitions
of becoming a ministry, but was not one yet, coordinate action and
policy on this Protocol, Mr. Zermatten wondered? Did the National
Plan for 2004-2006 contain reference to the Protocol and its
provisions? And what sort of budget had been allocated for the
Protocol's implementation?

Finally, Mr. Zermatten was concerned that nothing was being done to
address the issue of children that had been involved in the prior
conflict, in particular those that had disappeared. There was a
project before Congress to investigate the cases of those who had
disappeared during that conflict, but 10 years was a long time to
wait. Moreover, had there been any provision to compensate,
rehabilitate and reintegrate the children that had participated in
the fighting?

Experts then asked further questions, including on the age limits for
entrance into military schools, given conflicting information in the
report and the written replies, and whether children who ran away
from such schools were treated as deserters. 

*Response by Delegation*

Responding, the delegation said that consideration of a bill on
accession to the Treaty of Rome was currently at the stage of its
second reading in Congress. Bills had three readings in the plenary
of the Congress before adoption.

In terms of the budget, the budgetary level of the Armed Forces had
had been set in the peace agreements at 0.6 per cent of gross
national product. The delegation confirmed that the budget was very
close to that level, but had exceeded it only with regard to
necessary funds to provide international cooperation efforts.

Military personnel were provided with training on the Optional
Protocol, as were those who opted for civilian service. The
delegation noted that military staff participating in international
peacekeeping missions were provided with broader training in
international humanitarian law, and were trained on a number of
international human rights conventions, including the Convention on
the Rights of the Child.

The delegation stressed that, as set out in their written replies,
the only military school in Guatemala was the Polytechnic School,
where all students were over 18 years of age. The basic requirements
for admission were the possession of a mid-level degree and the age
requirement.
If a person was in a civilian military school, such as the national
Adolfo V. Hall School, they were not members of the armed forces or
reserve forces and they could not become active members or be
enlisted in cases of emergency or armed conflict.

Turning to reparations paid to victims of the past internal conflict,
a commission had been set up to implement the findings of the
Commission for Historical Clarification, which had been set up under
the peace accords. Post-conflict processes were very slow to unfold,
but, the delegation insisted, they had made every effort to move
forward and to update registries of victims of the internal conflict,
and in particular, child victims. In January a technical commission
had been set up to move forward and coordinate the actions of the
programme to find the victims of the conflict. It had been tasked
with drafting a law, which was expected to be delivered in coming
months, on reparations for victims. The bill contemplated reparations
for a number of past crimes, including forced disappearance,
extrajudicial executions, summary executions, forced recruiting of
minors, and genocide.

The State had also been working to establish a commission to
investigate clandestine organized gangs, the delegation continued,
and the initiative was already before the Congress.

*Preliminary Concluding Observations*

In preliminary concluding observations, Committee Expert Rosa
María Ortiz, who served as Rapporteur for both the reports of
Guatemala on the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the sale
of children, child prostitution and child pornography and on the
involvement of children in armed conflict said that they had had a
fruitful discussion which had enabled the Committee to have a better
understanding of the application of the rights of the child in
Guatemala with regard to its obligations under the two Optional
Protocols. She welcomed the seminars and workshops that had been
carried out by the Guatemalan Government to raise awareness of the
Protocols, and, among other measures, she congratulated the
delegation on the re-ratification of the Hague Convention on
Inter-Country Adoption. 

Also worthy of note was the comprehensive law on protection of
children and adolescents and the civil register. However, Ms. Ortiz
underscored that such laws required the necessary budget allocations
to put them into effect.

Among her concerns was the lack of data on implementation, Ms. Ortiz
said. Furthermore, work remained to be done in categorizing certain
offences as crimes. The two Protocols were only able to be relatively
applied as long as the statutory crimes of forced prostitution and
forced labour, for example, were not on the books. 

Regarding draft laws, the best interests of the child had to be
paramount in the new law on adoption. In terms of the bill on
shelters and homes, Ms. Ortiz drew the delegation's attention to a
general comment that was being drawn up by the General Assembly on
shelters and hostels, which could serve as a model. Also worthy of
note were the pending law on the criminalization of recruitment under
18, and on reparations for victims of the past conflict.

Committee Expert Kamel Filali, serving as co-Rapporteur for the
report on the sale of children, child prostitution and child
pornography congratulated Guatemala on its re-ratification of the
Hague Convention on Inter-Country Adoption and on the many
initiatives undertaken to implement the Optional Protocol on the sale
of children, child prostitution and child pornography, in particular
with regard to the reform of the Criminal Code, and the plans to
include the offences contained in the Optional Protocol on the sale
of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Committee Expert Jean Zermatten, serving as co-Rapporteur for the
report on the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in
armed conflict, appreciated efforts made so far by Guatemala with a
view to adoption of the Rome Statute.

Mr. Zermatten said it was to be hoped that the recruitment of
children would be enshrined in the Criminal Code, with a separate
sanction, which would strengthen the implementation of the Protocol.
It was also to be hoped that the Optional Protocol would be
disseminated not just to the military, but also among youth.

Mr. Zermatten stressed that Guatemala owed it to the memory of
children that had disappeared in its past internal conflict to shed
light on what had happened, as well as to those who had survived the
conflict to be reinserted, rehabilitated and compensated for their
suffering. 

Finally, Mr. Zermatten welcomed the initiative on armed gangs. In
future it was to be hoped that a transnational agreement with
Guatemala's neighbours could be reached to eradicate that scourge.

/For use of the information media; not an official record/