In the preceding chapters, the study of the subject of minors was introduced in the more general context of police violence and the death squads in Chapter III , since it is precisely the children and teenagers who are the principal victims of that violence. Figures were also presented earlier, in the examination of socioeconomic rights, which indicate the conditions of poverty and deprivation in which a substantial percentage of Brazilian children are born and develop as infants.
The present chapter will examine the legal commitments of Brazil in this respect; the subject of nonjudicial executions; the mistreatment of minors by the police; the situation in welfare and protection establishments; and their labor and sexual exploitation.
Brazilian children are legally protected both in the domestic legislation and by the treaties to which Brazil is a party. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child--which has been ratified by Brazil, and which the Commission uses as a frame of reference, provides that the States Parties shall have, inter alia , the obligation to respect and guarantee each child within their jurisdiction the rights set forth in the Convention, without distinction of race, color, sex, language, religion, political views, nationality, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or any other status of the child, its parents or its legal guardians Article 2.
It also establishes the obligation of the States Parties to guarantee the creation of institutions and services designed for their care Article 18 and adoption of the legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect children from any form of physical or mental violence, bodily harm or abuse, negligent treatment, mistreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, so long as they remain in the care of the parents, legal guardians or other person responsible for their care Article The broad campaign to mobilize public opinion that led to the constitutional reform of was aware of the serious problems faced by Brazilian children 3 , and that concern was reflected in Article ,which states that:.
It is the duty of the family, of society and of the State to ensure, as an absolute priority, that children and adolescents have the right to life, to health, to food, to education, to leisure, to have a profession, to culture, to dignity, to respect, to liberty and to harmonious relations with family and community, as well as the right to be kept safe from any form of negligence, discrimination, exploitation, violence, cruelty and oppression Rather than an instrument for social control of a conduct, the new Statute embraces a special concept as a human being in viewing children and adolescents as "subjects of rights," thereby introducing innovations in the policy of promotion and defense of their rights in every dimension: physical health and food ; 5 intellectual the right to education, professional training and protection in the workplace , 6 emotional, moral, spiritual and social the right to liberty, to respect, to dignity, to harmonious family and community relationships.
