July 14, 2020

The 30 years of childhood protection in Brazil

topic:	Child rights
located:	Brazil
editor:	Ellen Nemitz

Less than one year after the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child, Brazil signed the Child and Adolescent Statute (known as ECA, in Portuguese), in July 1990. The first Latin American legislation aligned to the United Nations, the ECA changed a paradigm: from one focused on punishment to the recognition of the development condition at this age, guaranteeing special rights, such as education, leisure, sports and family protection, without prejudices of any kind.

In three decades, the statute has brought important advances, although it still presents failures. Social Psychologist Dayse Cesar Franco Bernardi, who is a member of the Movement for Child and Adolescent Full Protection, explains that ECA was improved over time and today, children and teenagers no longer depend on charity nor are they submitted to correction measures, but rely on a complex protection system instead. She mentions some examples, like the right to have education since birth and the provision of proper services when being away from one's original family for the well-being of children and the family also takes part in the process. Bernardi also highlights significant advances in combating domestic violence, sexual abuse and child labour, with the creation of specialised protection structures to investigate and mitigate these violations.

A lawyer specialising in human rights, Pablo Honorato Nascimento, ponders though that there are still several violations. He especially exemplifies vulnerable children and adolescents: those living on the streets, exposed to child labour and sexual violence or fulfilling social educational measures are deprived of liberty in institutions not always appropriate for their situation.

Statistics also corroborate concerns. In 2016 (last available data), Brazil had 2.4 million kids subject to child labour — and the pandemic may worsen the problem. There were more than 85 thousand denounces of violence against children and teenagers in 2019, including sexual abuse. According to Unicef (United Nations agency for childhood in Brazil), more than 18 million children and adolescents live in homes without enough financial resources to buy basic food.

Specialists also worry about bills that endanger even further protection measures and attack the very basic principles of ECA, such as changes in the adoption process and the attempt to reduce the age in which teenagers are considered responsible for crimes from 18 to 16-years-old. “The penal age for imputability is part of a demagogy, as if it would be the solution to problems actually solved only by education, wealth distribution, that is, the social welfare state. If a child commits a crime, the State is responsible for having failed,” affirms Honorato.

In this ECA’s 30th anniversary, it is essential to reaffirm its importance. Psychologist Dayse Bernardi ponders its advances and backwards steps, saying that 30 years is still a short time considering a long history of children's domination by adults so that it is still time to defend and properly implement this important law: “Trying to dismantle it is also trying to attack human rights guaranteed by the constitution."

Image by Gaspar Rocha Gaspar 

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