1
The Family as the Institution with the Primary
Responsibility for the Protection, Upbringing,
and Integral Development of Children and
Adolescents

• Norberto Liwski
• ARGENTINA

Mexico, 27-29 October, 2004
2
INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE FAMILY 1994
Family, resources and responsibilities in an
evolving world
3

• The family constitutes the basic unit of society
  and therefore warrants special attention
• Families assume diverse forms and functions
  Consequently, the International Year of the
  Family encompasses and addresses the needs of all
  families
• YPF will seek to promote the basic human rights
  and fundamental freedoms whatever the status of
  each individual within the family, and whatever
  the form and condition of that family
• Policies will aim at fostering equality between
  men and women within families, to bring about a
  fuller sharing of domestic responsibilities and
  employment opportunities
• Programs should support families in the
  discharge of their functions, rather than provide
  substitutes for such functions

Principles of the International Year of the
Family
4

• To stimulate local, national and international
  action as part of a sustained long-term effort
  to
• Increase awareness of family issues among
  Governments as well as in the private sector
• Strengthen national institutions to formulate,
  implement and monitor policies in respect of
  families
• Stimulate efforts to respond to problems
  affecting, and affected by, the situation of
  families
• Enhance the effectiveness of local, national and
  regional efforts to carry out specific programs
  concerning families by generating new activities
  and strengthening existing ones
• Improve the collaboration among national and
  international non-governmental organizations in
  support of multi-sectoral activities
• Build upon the results of international
  activities concerning women, children, youth, the
  aged and the disabled.

Objectives of the International Year of the
Family
5
RESEARCH

• What do children in the Americas think about
  families?

DEFENSA DE NIÑAS Y NIÑOS INTERNACIONAL
DNI DEFENSE DES ENFANTS INTERNATIONAL DEI DEFENCE
FOR CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL DCI
6

• General trend to replicate the configuration of
  the nuclear family, independently of the social
  class, age and type of family of the respondents
• Validity of the extended nuclear family
• Childrens trend to accept their families as they
  are, beyond their problems and instability to
  meet both material and spiritual needs
• The family is understood as a niche of safety and
  stability
• Enhanced family valuation as a niche for support
  and protection as children grow up, until he/she
  has to face emerging conflicts and insecurities.
  In this stage children gradually build up their
  own personality and this creates a greater need
  for guidance and support
• The concerns stated by most respondents relate to
  alcoholism, marital disputes and physical abuse
• The strongest element in any type of family
  experience is the presence or absence of the
  feelings, affections and emotions that give a
  sense to human coexistence

Conclusions
7
TABLA STIVEN MEJORARLA
8
Organizations of the Inter-American System for
the Promotion and Advocacy of the Rights of
Children and Adolescents

• (Convention on the Rights of the Child)
• Inter-American Court of Human Rights
• Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
• Inter-American Childrens Institute

9
Public Policy Programming

• NEED-BASED APPROACH
• Short-term prospects aimed to close existing gaps
• Services made available
• Specific projects addressing specific groups of
  children
• Children deserve being helped
• Governments should do something but nobody has
  well-defined responsibilities
• Children may participate in order to enhance
  service availability
• Some children may be excluded due to lack of
  resources.

• RIGHT-BASED APPROACH
• Long-term prospects
• Greater awareness of all groups (parents,
  children,
• decision-makers)
• Integral approach
• Children are entitled to be helped
• Governments have moral and legal obligations
• Children are active participants by Law
• Every work contributes to an overall goal

10
Public Policy Programming

• NEED-BASED APPROACH
• Voluntary
• It addresses the symptoms
• Partial targets (80 percent of children is
  immunized efforts are made to serve the largest
  number of people)
• Need ranking. Some needs are more important than
  others (nutrition before education)
• Needs vary according to the situation, the
  individual and the environment
• Needs are subjectively assessed

• RIGHT-BASED APPROACH
• Compulsory
• It addresses the origin and causes
• Overall targets everybody has the same rights
  (80 percent immunization means that the
  immunization right has not been enforced)
• Rights cannot be broken down, they are
  indivisible and interdependent
• Rights are universal (the same rights everywhere)
• Rights are based on international standards

11
Conclusions and Recommendations

• To strengthen the design of state policies
  addressing family problems related to their
  younger members, with an integrated and universal
  approach.
• To deepen the efforts made in the area of
  legislative reform to make them consistent with
  the principles and provisions in the Convention
  on the Rights of the Child.
• To intensify adolescence-oriented policies by
  favoring their community participation and
  integration into the democratic life of their
  respective societies
• a) Increased budgetary allocation
• b) Greater investment in professional
  training programs for those who are excluded from
  the formal system
• c) Development of national strategies aimed
  to prevent and eradicate the various forms of
  violence affecting children and adolescents
• d) Creation and access facilitation to
  health services (mental health and HIV/AIDS)

12
Conclusions and Recommendations

• To promote legislative reforms aimed to the
  disarmament of society, thus liberating
  adolescents from such potential risk.
• To promote in the community and the family the
  need to demand the enforcement of fundamental
  rights, to consider the state as the major
  guarantee of such enforcement, and to advocate
  their binding nature in cases of non compliance
  and non fulfillment.
• To increase the state allocation of adequate
  budgetary allocations for enhancing the living
  conditions of children and adolescents with
  respect for the equity, solidarity and social
  justice principles.