The Costa Rica National Meeting was held, entitled "Learning and knowledge: Challenges in guaranteeing rights against violence against children and adolescents", in a hybrid format, given the conditions for the current health contingency due to Covid-19 and the need to continue with the activities of promotion, protection and dissemination of the rights of children that are gestated by civil society, with the accompaniment of international experts and the leading participation of Childhoods.
The meeting was organized as part of the initiative Weaving Childhood Nets for Latin America and the Caribbean in collaboration with Defense of Children and Girls International - DNI, Costa Rica. The welcoming message was given by Juan Martín Pérez García, Regional Coordinator of the initiative and Virginia Murillo, executive president of (DNI).
The event was divided into three main blocks: “Rethinking, Redefining and Building”, with the moderation of Bryan Quesada, a young man from the National Assembly of the Consultative Network of the Young Person participating in the National Council for Children and Adolescents (CNNA).
In the block "Rethinking" the topic was addressed: Our role in society, in which Esmeralda Porras, participant of the Participatory Councils and the National Adolescent Network, and Ashley Bermúdez, a young person from the National Assembly of the Consultative Network of the Person participated. Young, both participants of the National Council for Childhood and Adolescence, who agreed that previously, young people were not taken into account as people, in addition to the fact that there are tangible violations, such as violence, and non-tangible violations, such as exclusion.
The topic “Stewardship in the face of current challenges” was in charge of Mrs. Gladys Jiménez, Minister of Children and Adolescents and Executive President of the National Children's Trust, who stated that "It is an important act to know how we can exercise our rights, we must promote the active participation of minors in the mission of public policy."
For her part, Nancy Waleska Zúniga, Child Protection Officer, UNICEF in Honduras, to address approaches to face current challenges, He spoke about the project "Cure Violence, a successful experience", where work is done according to the level of vulnerability to violence and protective spaces are used, with the aim of preventing and reducing violence, prioritizing peacebuilding.
On the strengths and limitations of the Comprehensive Protection System for the rights of children and adolescents (SIPINNA), spoke Pablo Chaverri, Researcher at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of Children and Adolescents (INEINA-UNA). He mentioned that according to an investigation carried out in 2015, there are great reasons to be concerned since more than a quarter of the population of Costa Rica, the 37% of girls and boys between 0 and 12 years old is in a condition of poverty, which means that many of his rights are denied him on a daily basis and among other data that the investigation showed according to the World Bank, Costa Rica is one of the most unequal countries in the world, regarding the Comprehensive Protection System the results were that the right to real participation of minors is the most unfulfilled, therefore there must be greater decentralization, local support and an expansion of the work of local governments. He said that, "It takes an entire village to raise each child well."
During the second block, entitled "Redefining"; Esmeralda Porra, participant of the Participatory Councils and the National Adolescent Network participated. He spoke of the need to respond to the gap in teen sex education. He referred the following: "Sex is the phenotypes and biological characters that we have, while gender is the behavior and identity of the individual. It is a right to have access to information and the scarcity of data on sex education is a problem. We should go to health centers to ask for information without prejudice or the feeling of being judged ”.
On progress and challenges in the face of the deprivation of liberty of children and adolescents at a global and national level, Alex Kamarotos, Director of the International Secretariat DCI International. He pointed out that the deprivation of liberty has harmful consequences for the development of children and adolescents and that this continues to be a highly marginalized group.
Mental health has been an abandoned topic especially in the population of children and adolescents, so it must be given the importance that is required to address this problem, since neglect of this type of situation has repercussions in adult stages with disorders personality quite delicate, as mentioned by Juan Ortega Rojas, from Clinical Psychology and Educational Orientation of the National University, during the presentation of the presentation "New orientations to attend to the mental health of minors".
Regarding social exclusion to the inclusion of migrant girls and boys, Dr. Abelardo Morales, Flacso researcher and professor at the National University, an expert in migration, referred to the new features of migration such as the reappearance of the phenomenon of internal displacement and forced migration , the Mesoamerican corridor that has become one of the most dangerous routes, the gaps in the protection of rights by the institutions and the extreme expression of social exclusion is migration, regrettable given the increase in deportations of Central American children.
The third block, called “Building”, began with the presentation “Responses from Youth to Climate Change”. Sebastián Pérez, from Friday for Future and Annelice Corrales RJCCR said that all people have the right to a healthy environment in the midst of a climate crisis, the world has accelerated since 1980 and the focus has been only economic, climate change affects rights for many people, for example, makes it difficult to access drinking water. "Climate change today is tomorrow's problem", He said.
Ana Teresa León, researcher at the Work Center on Violence against children and adolescents, during the presentation "Towards a referential framework to address violence", shared that violence is not only limited to crime, there is also physical violence, psychological and intrafamily.
For his part, Rodolfo Vicente Salazar from INEINA -UNA - Nucleus of Work on Violence against children and adolescents, spoke about the Challenges of Integral Protection. "When we developed the sexuality policy they asked parents for informed consent, I disagreed because when we make a change in mathematics or music we do not ask parents for consent and it is a right to education", commented.
On the "Inclusion of Children and Adolescents with disabilities in the community," spoke Francisco Rodríguez Gutiérrez, from the Costa Rican Association of People with Visual Disabilities, who shared that people with visual disabilities use a screen reader that facilitates access education, but only 10 percent of reading is in Braille. "More than raising awareness about these problems, the right thing to do is take action and provide participation", he pointed out.
Finally, the participating panelists agreed on the need for all of us to be treated equally, as people and human beings. Adultcentrism does not take into account and does not listen to young people, therefore, most of the spaces for young people that are truly worthwhile are created by them and themselves. They invited to practice active listening and proactivity.
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