Alternative report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Sexual Rights in Paraguay

This alternative report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), for the review of the State of Paraguay, is a joint contribution between the Network Against All Forms of Discrimination of Paraguay, the CDIA (for its acronym in Spanish) - Coordinator for the Rights of Children and Adolescents of Paraguay, Akahatá - Task Force on Sexualities and Genders, SYNERGIA - Initiatives for Human Rights and SRI - Sexual Rigths Initiative; for the 95th session of the CRC.

More than three decades ago, the Paraguayan State entered into commitments stemming from the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. By ratifying this Convention, Paraguay assumed the obligation to adapt its legislation to the terms of this instrument, as well as to carry out concrete actions for substantial change with respect to the guarantee of the rights of children and adolescents. These rights include sexual and reproductive rights, which will be covered in this report.

Bearing in mind that the Paraguayan State has numerous international recommendations for the advancement of the protection of human rights in general. This alternative report is based on the concluding observations submitted to the Paraguayan State in response to the third periodic report of Paraguay (CRC/C/pry/3) at its 1457th and 1459th meetings, held on 12 January 2010, and at the 1501st meeting, held on  January 29, 2010, at which those observations were adopted.

Compliance with the recommendations will have a direct impact on the reduction or elimination of barriers to full access to these rights, which have an impact on the lives of children, adolescents, and young people in the country. The consequences of insufficient action on sexual and reproductive rights and how they affect this sector of the population will be discussed in this report.