OEA/Ser.G

CP/doc.4370/09

18 February 2009

Original: Spanish

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE
INTER­AMERICAN CHILDREN’S INSTITUTE (IIN)
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

This document is being distributed to the permanent missions

and will be presented to the Permanent Council of the Organization.

SPECIALIZED ORGAN OF THE OAS

INTER-AMERICAN

CHILDREN’S INSTITUTE

DG No. 045/09

Montevideo, February 17, 2009

Excellency,

I have the honor to address Your Excellency and to submit, in response to your note of December 16, 2008, the Annual Report of the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN) for presentation to the OAS General Assembly at its thirty-ninth regular session, to be held in San Pedro Sula, Honduras beginning May 31, 2009.

Attached hereto is the formal note to the OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, forwarding the annual report on activities of the IIN for the period January to December 2008 for presentation to the OAS Permanent Council.

Accept, Excellency, renewed assurances of my highest consideration.

Dolores Aguilar Marmolejo

Director General

His Excellency

Ambassador Albert Ramdin

Assistant Secretary General

Organization of American States

Washington, D.C.

Enc.: Annual Report of the IIN

cc: Dr. Jean Michel Arrighi, Secretary of Legal Affairs

Ms. Sherry Tross, Chief of Staff of the Assistant Secretary General

Ms. Linda Poole, Permanent Council Coordinator

Mr. Juan Goldie, Committee Secretary,

Secretariat of the Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs,

the General Assembly,and the Permanent Council

1

ANNUAL REPORT OF THEINTER­AMERICAN CHILDREN’S INSTITUTE
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLYOF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES

2008

Document for the thirty-ninthregular session

1

Table of Contents

I.INTRODUCTION...... 1

II.PRESENTATION...... 2

II.1. Origins and purposes...... 2

II.2. Legal framework...... 2

II.3. Structure...... 2

III.PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE PERIOD...... 4

III.1. Institution building...... 4

III.1.1. Hierarchy dependency of the IIN General Directorate...... 4

III.2. Directing Council...... 5

III.2.1. Meetings...... 5

III.2.2. Appointment of representatives of member states to the IIN Directing Council 8

III.3. Pan American Congress on Children...... 9

III.3.1. 20th Pan American Congress on Children [CD/RES. 05 (82-R/07) and CD/RES. 07 (83-R/08)] 9

III.4. IIN headquarters, Montevideo...... 10

III.5. Political and technical forums at OAS headquarters...... 11

III.6. Principal political and technical forums...... 13

IV.COOPERATION...... 16

V.FOLLOW-UP TO THE IIN ACTION PLAN 2007-2011 ...... 18

V.1. IIN thematic areas...... 18

V.2. IIN Virtual Training Program – 2008...... 24

V.3. Technical assistance...... 28

V.4. IIN presence in the geographic regions of the OAS...... 29

VI.FINANCIAL REPORT...... 32

VII.ANNEXES...... 33

Follow-up to resolutions approved during the 82nd regular meeting...... 35

Meetings held pursuant to resolutions approved by the Directing Council during its 82nd regular meeting. 36

Meetings held pursuant to resolutions approved by the Directing Council during its 83rd regular meeting 38

Final Reports:...... 41

Final Report of the 82nd Regular Meeting of the Directing Council (26-27 July 2007, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia) - CD/doc. 08/08)

Final Report of the Special Meeting of the IIN Directing Council (29-30 November 2007, Quito, Ecuador) - CD/doc.09/08

Final Report of the Children and Adolescents Inter-American Forum “My right to participate” (22-24 April 2008, Querétaro, Mexico) - CD/doc.10/08

Final Report of the Inter-American Meeting on the “Exchange of Experience and Programs on Child Care” (24-25 April 2008, Querétaro, Mexico) - CD/doc.11/08

Final Report of the Second Meeting of Governmental Experts on the International Abduction of Children by One of Their Parents (19-22 September, Buenos Aires, Argentina)

1

- 1 -

I.INTRODUCTION

It is an honor for the Inter-American Children's Institute (IIN) to submit this Annual Report, covering activities over the past year, for consideration by member states during the thirty-ninthregular session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States.

This Annual Report was prepared in accordance with Article 91 of the OAS Charter and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Permanent Council, as well as Article 26 of the Statutes of the IIN, bearing in mind the resolutions of the Permanent Council and the General Assembly.

The report covers calendar year 2008, and was prepared on the basis of:

  • “Report of the Director General. Follow-Up to the Action Plan 2007-2011 of the IIN, August 2007-September 2008, CD/doc. 07/08,” presented during the 83rd regular meeting of the Directing Council held on October 15 and 16, 2008 in Ottawa, Canada, which was approved by resolution CD/RES. 02 (83-R/08), "Adoption of the Report of the Director General of the IIN," adopted at the fourth plenary session, held on October 16, 2008.
  • The principal activities performed under the Action Plan 2007-2011, and fulfillment of the mandates received in the months from October to December 2008.

It includes the following chapters:

  1. Introduction
  2. Presentation
  3. Principal activities for the period
  4. Cooperation
  5. Follow-up to the Action Plan 2007-2011 of the IIN
  6. Financial Report
  7. Annexes

II.PRESENTATION

II.1.Origins and purposes

The Inter-American Children's Institute (IIN) dates back to the Second Pan American Child Congress, held in 1919, during which the eminent Uruguayan pediatrician, Prof. Dr. Luis Morquio and a group of experts from all over the Americas, put forward their proposal for such an organization. This pioneering undertaking was formalized during the Fourth Congress, held in 1924, when the “International American Institute for the Protection of Childhood”, was established, with headquarters in Montevideo, Uruguay.

On June 9, 1927, ten countries in the Americas signed the founding Charter for the Institute, which all OAS member states would subsequently join.

The IIN, which will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its incorporation as a specialized agency of the OAS on 22 April 2009, represents a historic and permanent commitment to the rights and welfare of children in the Americas. As an agency, it seeks consensus and commitment on the part of governments, and serves as a specialized center of excellence and a technical reference point for coordinating the efforts of the inter-American system relating to children and adolescents, while maintaining active dialogue with civil society organizations.

In its work, it brings its experience and track record to bear in the search for innovative and lasting responses to the many problems facing children and adolescents, and is constantly taking on new commitments and challenges. With the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child just a few months away, the IIN reconfirms the validity and importance of that convention, and renews its commitment to the young generations of the region.

II.2.Legal framework

The IIN is governed by the regulations of the Organization of American States; by the Agreement signed in 1975 with the OAS; by resolutions of OAS organs as well as those of its own organs: the Pan American Child Congress and the Directing Council.

Until the 83rd regular meeting of the Directing Council, held on October 15 and 16, 2008, in Ottawa, Canada, the IIN was governed by the Statutes and Rules of Procedure approved by the Directing Council at its 79th Regular Meeting, held on October 25 and 26, 2004, in Mexico, D.F.[1]/

II.3.Structure

Pursuant to Article 4 of the Statutes, the organs of the Institute are:

a)The Pan American Child Congress, an inter­American meeting at ministerial level in which senior government authorities responsible for children's issues in the hemisphere participate for the purpose of sharing knowledge and experience and reaching agreements among member states of the Inter-American system. That Congress may be declared an Inter­American Specialized Conference by resolution of the OAS General Assembly or by a’ Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. The Congress is held every five years.

b)The Directing Council, constituted by representatives of the member states, who may be senior national authorities in the area of childhood policies or persons of recognized expertise in the field. Among other duties, the members of the Directing Council establish the institution’s general policies and supervise their application, which is the responsibility of the Office, with headquarters in Montevideo, headed by the Director General.

This organ holds annual regular meetings as well as special meetings, on specific subjects.

c)The IIN Secretariat, headed by the Director General. The Director General represents the focus of continuity in the design and implementation of the various work programs. The OAS Secretary-General appoints the Director General from a shortlist of three candidates approved by the Directing Council, for a period of four years. The position is currently held by Ms. María de los Dolores Aguilar Marmolejo, of Mexican nationality, who took up her mandate on April 16, 2007 and is supported in her functions by the Institute's technical and administrative staff.

Pursuant to Executive Order 08-01 rev. 1, signed by the OAS Secretary General, Dr. José Miguel Insulza on April 9, 2008, the General Directorate of the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN) became a Dependency, with the status of Department, of the OAS Secretariat for Legal Affairs. This Secretariat was established by the OAS General Assembly, during its thirty-eighth special session, held on March 26, 2008, through resolution AG/RES. 1 (XXXV-E/08).

Within the framework of the internal restructuring of the Institute[2]/ in response to recommendations of the General Assembly and the Councils of the OAS, the IIN has organized its structure and technical management around three areas, each headed by a coordinator. Those areas are: Protection and Promotion of Rights, Legal, and Communication and Information.

Further to the restructuring approved in September 2007, a new team has been constituted. Following a competition that was widely announced through the government representatives on the Directing Council, candidates were selected to serve as coordinators for the Institute's technical areas. As a result of that process, which was supported by the OAS Human Resources Department, there is now a new technical team at the IIN, made up ofprofessionals with a solid academic background and wide professional experience in public policies.

The IIN’s personnel complement currently consists of the organization's staff and consultants from the following member states: Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay.

Working sessions were held in February 2008 with the technical and administrative team at IIN headquarters in Montevideo. Those sessions included a visit by the OAS representative in Uruguay, Ambassador John Biehl del Río, who conveyed his message to the new staff members of the IIN (February 13). There were also two days of in-house workshops, involving intensive group and plenary sessions, to present the program for the Institute's technical and support areas and to define the priority products that the IIN will be developing in its Action Plan over the period 2008-2009.[3]/

III.PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE PERIOD

Pursuant to the mandates and recommendations received from the organs of the OAS and from its own organs, and guided by the 2007-2011 Action Plan approved by the Directing Council of the IIN at its 82nd regular meeting (CD/RES. 11 (82-R/07), July 2007), the IIN is pursuing its activities at the international, regional, and national levels. The principal focus is on assisting states to design and implement policies relating to childhood with a view to promoting, protecting, and ensuring full respect for the rights of children and adolescents in the region.

All the program areas pursue their activities by means of ongoing training; technical cooperation; research; information and dissemination, establishing strategic partnerships for addressing priority issues, as well as issues of particular interest to member states: children's participation; commercial sexual exploitation of children; universal birth registration and right to identity; juvenile criminal justice; migration of unaccompanied minors; prevention of violence and education for peace; specialized information on children; international abduction of minors; treatment of information in the communications media; and public defenders for children and adolescents.

A table of activities in member states is included with this report. The following paragraphs summarize some of the main activities during the period.

III.1.Institution building

III.1.1.Hierarchic dependency of the IIN General Directorate

As reported previously, the General Directorate of the Inter-American Children’s Institute (IIN) has become a Dependency of the OAS Secretariat for Legal Affairs (Executive Order 08-01 rev. 1 of April 9, 2008).

In this connection, the presence of Dr. Jean Michel Arrighi, Secretary for Legal Affairs of the OAS and Dr. Ricardo Dominguez, Chief of Staff to the Secretary General of the OAS, at IIN headquarters, on 15 May 2008, provided an occasion to brief them on the actions taken by the IIN during meetings with the Director General, the Director and the Area Coordinators, and also to dialogue with the rest of the Institute’s staff.

On that same day they sat together with other high-level authorities at the head table during the presentation of the book “Public Policies and Children’s Human Rights – General Comments of the Committee on the Rights of the Child,” the fruit of a joint effort by IIN and the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

III.2.Directing Council

III.2.1.Meetings

Inter-American Meeting on the “Exchange of Experience and Programs on Child Care”,Queretaro, Mexico, April 24 and 25, 2008.

Pursuant to the mandates received, this meeting was organized jointly with the National System for Integral Development of the Family (SNDIF), the Director General of which is Mexico's Representative to the IIN Directing Council, Ms. María Cecilia Landerreche Gómez Morin, and also involved the authorities of the State System for Integral Family Development of Queretaro (SEDIF).

The Inter-American Meeting on the “Exchange of Experience and Programs on Child Care”,which was held pursuant to a resolution approved by the IIN Directing Council at its 82nd Regular Meeting (26-27 July 2007, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia), was attended by official delegations from 14 OAS member states, as well as senior authorities of the host country, the OAS and IIN, invited guests, observers of international agencies, and civil society organizations.

With a view to strengthening interaction among participants at the meeting, three key issues of common interest for countries of the region were identified, on the basis of which IIN prepared working documents that were sent out to delegations in advance. They dealt with:

a.Experiences with child and adolescent participation in the promotion, implementation and defense of their rights.

b.Family and community strategies in the alternative care of children deprived of parental care.

c.Experiences with follow-up and independent monitoring in the implementation of public policies with rights approach.

To address these issues, working committees were established, comprising delegations of member states, with the presence of observers.

The work in the committees was preceded by presentations in a plenary session by the invited experts: Dr. Javier Moctezuma Barragán, Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission of Mexico; Dr. Patricia Lamego, Coordinator of the Central Federal Administrative Authority, Special Secretariat for Human Rights of the Ministry of Justice of Brazil; Mr. Jorge Baxter, Coordinator of the Inter-American Program on Education in Democratic Values and Practices of the OAS Department of Education and Culture and Ms. María Cecilia Landerreche Gómez Morin, Director General of SNDIF. Their presentations helped to guide the subsequent debate. The moderator of the session was the IIN Director General, Mrs. María de los Dolores Aguilar Marmolejo.

Within the working committees, participants made their presentations and prepared the conclusions and recommendations for defining technical guidelines for public policies relating to children and adolescents, with the assistance of the coordinators from the Institute's technical areas, who served as facilitators.

Subsequently, the plenary session considered the conclusions and recommendations of the working committees, as well as the general considerations from the intersectoral workshop on child and adolescent participation, which was held at the same time at the Inter-American Forum.

Complete documentation is available at the IIN webpage:

Inter-American Forum on Children and Adolescents: “My right to participate”

This event was convened as an opportunity for children and adolescents from various social backgrounds in the region to meet and exchange experiences relating to children's rights, to express their viewpoints and their proposals, and to participate actively in the design of child-oriented actions, plans, programs, and policies.

Youngsters from 14 OAS member states attended. They were selected for their experience in child participation, with full regard to the principles of representativeness and nondiscrimination, and they were accompanied by adults during their travel.

They took an active part in groups moderated by expert educators dealing with key issues. They analyzed and reflected upon the importance of participation and shared their experiences, expressed their points of view as to how they would like to participate in their families, schools, and communities, and put forward proposals for child-oriented plans and programs.

83rd Regular Meeting of the IIN Directing Council, October 15-16, 2008, Ottawa, Canada

Pursuant to the resolution approved by the Directing Council at its 82nd regular meeting, CD/RES. 04 (82-R/07), the 83rd Regular Meeting of the IIN Directing Council was held on October 15 and 16, 2008, in Ottawa, Canada. The agenda was supplemented by optional visits to federal children and youth program sites organized by the host country on Friday, October 17, which participants found a very enriching experience.

The IIN Director General and the Chair of the Directing Council coordinated the organization of this meeting together with the Permanent Representative of Canada, Mrs. Kelly Stone; Director of the Division of Childhood and Adolescence in the Centre for Health Promotion, Public Health Agency of Canada; and Mrs. Gaëtane Sutton, Alternate Representative and Senior Manager for Inter-American Programs in the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

The 83rd regular meeting enjoyed the committed presence of 26 OAS member states, including eight English-speaking Caribbean states, as well as senior authorities from the Government of Canada and the OAS General Secretariat. Also in attendance were representatives of OAS observer countries, members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the host country, representatives of international agencies, and civil society organizations.