Peru

Child poverty is widespread and access to drinking water and sanitation for children is limited. The data collected on the situation of children is not sufficiently disaggregated and consolidated. In the area of health, in particular, Peru still has a long way to go to implement the child's right to the highest attainable standard of health.

The Committee recommends to design and implement a comprehensive strategy, including awareness-raising programmes and educational campaigns, to eliminate patriarchal attitudes and gender stereotypes that discriminate against girls and explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

More than 90 per cent of children with disabilities do not possess a disability certificate and approximately 54 per cent of children with disabilities do not know how to read or write. The Committee is also concerned that legislative and policy measures are not implemented effectively in practice.
To improve the situation for disabled children, the Committee recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to implement an inclusive education system for all children at all levels and ensure that children with disabilities throughout the State party have effective and free access to health and rehabilitation services, including early detection and intervention programmes.

The Committee welcomes the significant progress made by the State party in reducing child mortality and chronic malnutrition, but is concerned at disparities in progress between urban and rural areas and regarding indigenous children and children living in poverty. Despite the improvements, the Committee recommends that the State party continue to strengthen its efforts to address child mortality and malnutrition, focusing primarily on children living in poverty, children living in rural and remote areas and indigenous children. Therefore, Peru should ensure equal access to quality health services for all children, including children living in rural and remote areas, and effectively implement its strategies aimed at reducing maternal mortality throughout the country, including by strengthening the quality of prenatal care and the responsive capacity of health services.

Concerning adolescent health, the Committee recommends to the State party to address the high number of adolescent pregnancies by strengthening access to age-appropriate education on sexual and reproductive health and rights for girls and boys in all areas of the State party, including out-of-school children, and decriminalize abortion in all circumstances. Also, Peru should address the incidence of drug use by children and adolescents by, inter alia, providing children and adolescents with accurate and objective information, as well as life skills education on preventing substance abuse, including with respect to tobacco and alcohol, and develop accessible and youth-friendly drug dependence treatment and harm reduction services.

The State Party should ensure quality access to mental health services with a view to eliminating the prevalence of suicide and depression among adolescents.

The Committee expresses concern at the impact of mining and hydroelectric projects on the living conditions of children and their families in the regions concerned, such as the La Oroya, Cerro de Pasco and Cajamarca areas, and with respect to the health hazards and environmental degradation, in particular the contamination of drinking water, arising from such projects. It is also concerned that environmental impact assessments are not always carried out prior to granting licences to companies. The Committee recommends to ensure effective implementation by companies, especially those involved in mining and hydroelectric projects, of international and national environment and health standards, and effective monitoring of the implementation of those standards.

While noting the measures taken by the State party to address child labour, including awareness-raising and training activities, the Committee is seriously concerned that the minimum age for admission to employment remains at 14 and the prevalence of child labour remains extensive, in particular in rural areas, with a high percentage of children involved in the worst forms of child labour as well as in illicit activities, in particular illegal coca cultivation and drug trafficking. All measures by the State party remained insufficient and there are no comprehensive studies about the dimension of child labour. Therefore, the Committee urges the State party to increase the minimum age for admission to employment to 15, and for hazardous and abusive work to the age of 18. Peru should also take sufficient measures to investigate and improve the situation.

The Committee urges the State Party to promote diversion and alternative measures to detention, increase the number of specialized juvenile courts and ensure the provision of qualified and independent legal aid to children in conflict with the law at an early stage of the procedure and throughout the legal proceedings.

The Committee is concerned that some children continue to face difficulties in gaining access to birth registration and identity documents.

The Committee is also concerned at reports that only about 50 per cent of children infected with HIV receive antiretroviral treatment. It is also concerned at the increasing rate of infections among indigenous children and the limited provision of appropriate health-care services for HIV-infected pregnant women.