Costa Rica Seeks To Achieve The Guarantee Of
All Child Rights By 2021
As part of the celebration for the Dia del
Niño (National Day of Children), the
President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias Sánchez,
accompanied by Ministers, members of the
National Council on Children and Child
Welfare Services and a group of about 25
children, signed the country’s first Public
Policy for Children and Adolescents 2009 –
2021.
President Arias inaugurated the event by
addressing the children present:
“Today, we celebrate your day, the Day of
Children, in a special manner: by signing
the first Public Policy for Children and
Adolescents in Costa Rica. Some of you might
think that a document like this will not
affect you…but as you see today, there are a
lot of people here who believe and know that
these types of documents can change lives.”
The President went on to show the document’s
significance by relating it to the important
Universal Declaration on Human Rights and
the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
which as he said “changed generations”.
The policy will serve as Costa Rica’s
long-term public policy framework to
promote, fulfill and guarantee child rights.
The policy is the result of cooperation
between the Patronato Nacional de La
Infancia (PANI) -Child Welfare
Services - and UNICEF.
UNICEF led the consultation and drafting
process with participation from members of
the National Council for Children and
Adolescents and civil society organizations
The President emphasized that for Costa
Rica’s 200th anniversary in 2021, he hopes
the country will have achieved all rights
for all children, which is the overall goal
of the policy.
Mario Viquez, President of the PANI stated
that for the Council, the final drafting of
the policy comes as great satisfaction and
he personally was pleased that it was
completed within the year that marks the
20th anniversary of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child.
The policy seeks to guarantee the full
exercise of all rights for all children,
through the creation of specific conditions,
mechanisms and opportunities for respecting
these rights and taking into account the
superior interest of children, their
progressive autonomy and their participation
in family, education and communities.
The Public Policy for Children and
Adolescents establishes six strategic areas,
each with general goals, and will be
outlined within the Integrated Work Plan
2009 – 2021. The document also establishes
four levels of policy which will allow for
greater synergy between the different social
institutions and ultimately, for better
fulfillment of children’s rights. The
different levels allow for the creation of
universal policies, social policies
targeting vulnerable and excluded groups and
special protection policies for the
restitution of rights for extremely
vulnerable children.
“Since Costa Rica ratified the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, the country has
made great progress in implementing and
guaranteeing children’s rights. The signing
of this Policy is another important
achievement and demonstrates the will and
capability of the society and the country to
progress towards the goal of guaranteeing
all children’s rights. We must also always
remember that children have to be at the
centre of these processes. Children are more
aware of the problems and issues that affect
them and they have proved to be capable of
proposing new strategies that work,”
emphasized Seija Toro, Representative of
UNICEF Costa Rica. |
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