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National law and policies on minimum ages – Colombia

 

According to the CRC, laws and policies must be directed to the best interest of the child. This is especially so in provisions that aim to safeguard the child against exploitation or an early end to childhood, i.e. in the instances where children are most vulnerable and at risk. Yet such safeguards are often ignored and different areas of legislation found to clash with each other. What happens if the age for the end of compulsory education is 14 but the minimum age of employment is 12? Or vice versa? What if a girl can be married before school leaving age - will she then return to school? And who ensures schooling in prisons, when in reality education should protect children from incarceration?

 

 

 

 

With 192 parties to it, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most widely ratified UN treaty. Each State Party must submit periodic reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which uses this process to monitor State compliance with the treaty. The vast majority of the information on minimum ages presented on these pages is taken directly from such reports (occasionally, if these failed to include relevant information concerning minimum ages, other components of the reporting process - such as the Committee’s Concluding Observations - were consulted). States Parties’ reports constitute self-assessment by governments and are therefore authoritative sources, emanating directly from those empowered to make decisions. Using this type of sources also permits a range of actors to hold governments accountable for the standards which they report under the CRC. The sections of these reports have been reproduced faithfully, and readers are encouraged to make use of the full original text, available here.

 

Individual country reports are often written by diverse parts of the government, and frequently run to more than 100 pages. Moreover, within some states’ legal systems there are various recognised sources of law, which frequently generate conflicting minimum ages. Distilling precise numbers out of such documents is therefore a precarious task. While we would encourage cross-country comparison, we would also stress the danger that those countries with a more honest engagement with the reporting process might come off worse when compared with those which would mis-represent the degree of compliance, whether wilfully or not. For a full explanation of the principles that guided us in our analysis, please visit the introductory pages here.

 

Sources:
Concluding Observations: CRC/C/COL/CO/3, 8 June 2006
Summary Record of the 1147th Meeting: CRC/C/SR.1147, 7 June 2006
3rd periodic report: CRC/C/129/Add.6, 24 August 2005
2nd periodic report: CRC/C/70/Add.5, 5 January 2000
Initial report: CRC/C/8/Add.3, 10 June 1993
 
Minimum age for the end of compulsory education
From initial report
39. The Colombian Constitution of 1991 states in article 67, paragraph 3, that: “The State, society and the family are responsible for education, which shall be compulsory for all children between the ages of five and fifteen years and shall include at least one year of pre-school education and nine years of basic education”. Furthermore, Decree No. 2737 of 1989 provides in articles 7 and 311 that: ‘‘Every minor shall have the right to receive the education that is necessary for his or her full training. This education shall be compulsory up to the ninth grade of basic education and shall be free when provided by the State’’.
 
Minimum age for admission to employment
From 2nd report
349. The various national agencies consider that the spirit of ILO Convention No. 138 has in fact been broadly incorporated into domestic legislation, which prohibits minors under the age of 14 from working and regulates the working days, salaries and other labour rights of young people aged between 14 and 18.
From initial report
43. Decree No. 2737 of 1989, Colombia’s Minors’ Code deals in its articles 237 to 264 with the question of minors working in circumstances that are not authorised by law. It states that work by minors under the age of fourteen is prohibited and requires the parents to arrange for them to attend education centres. Exceptionally, and in special circumstances defined by the Defensor de Familia, children over the age of twelve years maybe allowed to work by the labour inspector or, in his absence, by the senior local authority, upon application made by the parents or, in their absence, by the Defensor de Familia.
 
Minimum age for marriage
From concluding observations
33. The Committee is concerned that the minimum age for marriage is too low and discriminatory, as it is set at 12 years for girls and 14 years for boys.
From summary record
28. Ms. LONDOÑO SOTO (Colombia) said that […]
30. Under Colombian legislation […] the minimum age for marriage was 14 for boys and 12 for girls, although marriage at such a young age was subject to parental consent.
From initial report
49. This question is dealt with in article 116 of the Colombian Civil Code, which states that: “Persons over the age of 18 years may enter freely into matrimony”. Article 117 of the Code goes on to state that minors may not enter into matrimony without the express written permission of their parents or legal representatives.
 
Minimum age for criminal responsibility
From 3rd report
623. […] As stated in chapter II of this report, the Government has drafted bills for a reform of the Juvenile Code. Nevertheless, the Juvenile Code currently in force contains in section V comprehensive provisions with regard to the commission of or participation in a criminal offence by a minor. In Colombia, persons under 18 are considered to have no penal responsibility and a special procedure is in force for their protection.
628. Central to the plans and programmes designed to assist the above group is the issue of the administration of justice in accordance with the legislation in force. Placement in an institution presupposes the need for effective control based on criteria such as relapse into the given offence, non-compliance with measures previously imposed, seriousness of the fault committed or perceived threat to life or personal safety. That option is regarded as a measure of last resort and the relevant decision is made by the competent authority, namely, in the case of adolescents aged 12 to 18 in conflict with the law, a juvenile judge or family comprehensive judge, and in the case of children or adolescents having committed a minor offence or those under 12 having committed a criminal offence, the Family Ombudsman.
From initial report
199. As we mentioned with reference to section 12, persons under the age of 18 years are considered inimputable under Colombian law. They can be recognized as being the perpetrator or participant in a criminal offence but they are regarded as not having responsibility for their actions. The minor may have committed the unlawful act but he is not guilty of it. The logical consequence of this system is the application of measures instead of penalties.
 
Sources:
Concluding Observations: CRC/C/COL/CO/3, 8 June 2006
Summary Record of the 1147th Meeting: CRC/C/SR.1147, 7 June 2006
3rd periodic report: CRC/C/129/Add.6, 24 August 2005
2nd periodic report: CRC/C/70/Add.5, 5 January 2000
Initial report: CRC/C/8/Add.3, 10 June 1993