Declaration on the situation of children and young people in Latin America and the Caribbean in times of Covid-19
El CLACSO Working Group on Childhood and Youth wishes to express its deep concern regarding the violation of rights and multiple forms of violence suffered by thousands of girls, boys and young people in Latin America in the context of the global health crisis caused by Covid-19; as well as the social inequalities that are increasing with the measures taken to protect the economy and not the communities.
News reports and articles routinely chronicle the economic crisis caused by the virus; however, the situation of children and young people remains invisible. Few reports reveal the presence of thousands of children and young people in Latin America and the Caribbean who have dropped out of school because distance learning is not available to them, given that connectivity simply doesn't exist and technological resources are not part of their reality. Thousands more are confined with their parents or communities in shelters or protection centers and lack adequate physical spaces and technological resources to ensure their optimal development and participation in distance education.
Food on the tables of children, young people, and their families or other support networks is becoming scarce as a result of job losses suffered by their parents or guardians, or by the young people themselves, and the inability to generate daily income. In this context of adversity, social inequality and domestic violence are becoming increasingly evident, with children and young people being the primary and collateral victims of this health crisis.
Many of the mobilizations that were taking place in our countries were halted by the lockdown, but the hopes that children, young people and their relational agents invite us to in the reinvention of new worlds continue, with the actions of the States being as necessary as the concrete struggles that open the possibility of announcing a new world through mobilization.
Therefore, as the Working Group on “Children and Youth” we demand that the authorities of all countries in Latin America and the Caribbean adhere to the norms of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Ibero-American Convention on the Rights of Young People in order to comply with and guarantee the fundamental principles established in these documents:
* Non-discrimination.
* The best interests of the child – which, beyond being proposed as superior to others, we consider must recognize the interests and care of the lives of children and young people and their relational agents –.
* The right to life, survival and development.
* Child and youth participation.
Likewise, it is necessary to call upon Latin American and Caribbean States to invest in infrastructure, basic services, and universal basic income to guarantee compliance with international agreements and thereby ensure that the end of confinement is strategic and organized, identifying health and economic factors in a complementary manner.
23 April 2020
CLACSO Working Group
Childhoods and youth
If you would like to receive more information about CLACSO's training programs:
[widget id=”custom_html-57″]
to our email lists.
