Peru: UPR Submission (42nd session Jan 2023)
Joint Report submitted by: Edmund Rice International (ERI) and Marist International Solidarity Foundation (FMSI)
I – PRESENTATION OF THE COALITION ORGANIZATIONS:
Edmund Rice International (ERI): is a non-governmental organization in consultative status with ECOSOC since 2012, committed to the defence and promotion of human rights. ERI works internationally, in collaboration with other organisations with similar interests, on causes that involve the violation of the rights of children and youth, as well as environmental care. The main task of ERI is to seek solutions to the problems that affect the lives of the most vulnerable and advocacy with the agents of change (governments, political authorities, international leaders, etc.) in order to integrate the issues of human rights violations to the agenda of the international community at the United Nations.
Defensoría Edmundo Rice (DER): is a non-governmental organization established in 2018 with presence in Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Uruguay. Its main tasks are the protection and promotion of human rights and eco-justice through education and participation at national and international level in human rights protection mechanisms. DER is part of the Edmund Rice International network of organizations.
Marist International Solidarity Foundation (FMSI): was founded with the aim of making the world a better place for children and young people living in difficult situations. It is inspired by the ideal of St. Marcellin Champagnat and is promoted by the Marist Brothers of the Schools, present in 80 countries. FMSI has 15 years of experience working in the field of international solidarity, supporting the promotion and defence of the rights of children, adolescents and young people around the world. We seek to promote innovative thinking and practical initiatives for the benefit of children and youth, especially the most neglected and vulnerable. Our hope is to provide opportunities for children and youth to receive a good education and to fully develop their potential. Since 2011 it has been accredited by ECOSOC.
II – INTRODUCTION
1. The above-mentioned organizations respectfully submit the following contributions and recommendations on the human rights situation in the Peruvian Republic, in order to contribute to the evaluation of the working group of the Universal Periodic Review during its 42nd session.
2. We value the work carried out by the different agencies of the Peruvian State in the framework of the promotion and guarantee of human rights. However, we express our concern about some situations that are still pending resolution. For this reason, we make this contribution.
3. The report obtained is the result of the survey conducted by our coalition of NGOs on the human rights situation in our country, focusing mainly on the rights of women, children and adolescents.
4. The topics covered in this report arise from the concerns that our daily work reveals to us. In all cases, these are situations that affect the population with which we are directly involved. The observations, analyses and recommendations presented here are mainly based on data prepared by official agencies and first-hand testimonies.
5. In the same way, the present report recovers the commitments assumed by the Peruvian State before the United Nations. Such commitments (emanating both from international agreements and treaties, as well as from the last Universal Periodic Review of 2017: Access to comprehensive sexual education, gender equality and the fight against violence against women (recommendations 111.94,100, 106, 107, 108, 111, 112, 115, 116, 121, 122, 125, 134 and 135) and the challenges left by the pandemic to the Peruvian State for that purpose.
III- METHODOLOGY
6. The FMSI – ERI coalition has carried out the elaboration of this report through the implementation of various methodological instruments that verify that the information collected contains the highest possible degree of veracity.
7. In this sense, we have conducted an analysis of the laws, policies and national debates carried out before, during and after the time of compulsory isolation by COVID19 to guarantee access to comprehensive sexual education, gender equality and the fight against violence against women and girls.
8. We have also conducted in-depth interviews with adolescents and young people (with their consent), which were conducted in formal schools in the city of Lima and Chimbote that are part of our network of schools with which we work on a daily basis and give an account of our experience as organizations working in these thematic areas within schools.
IV. RECOMMENDATIONS ANALYZED
9. This coalition focuses its evaluation on the implementation of five recommendations addressed to the Peruvian State, which are contained in the Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review adopted at the 37th session, during its 3rd cycle, A/HCR/37/8:
111.94 Ensure the implementation of comprehensive sexuality education for women and girls, including information on sexual and reproductive health and rights (Slovenia).
111.100 Ensure full recognition of sexual and reproductive rights through access to comprehensive sexual education. Public health sector should take into account violations of sexual freedom and the importance of precocious pregnancies in the country, and combat discrimination related to socioeconomic conditions (France).
111.106 Continue to advance efforts to address gender inequality and undertake further measures, such as enacting specific legislation to protect vulnerable populations, including women, children and indigenous peoples, from violence and exploitation (Australia).
111.107 Continue efforts aimed at reinforcing the progress achieved with regard to gender equality, including in the areas of education and health, in line with the country’s obligations and commitments (Uruguay).
111.108 Further promote gender equality and combat violence against women (China).
111.111 Strengthen efforts to prevent and combat all forms of discrimination and violence against women and ensure that women victims of violence receive appropriate help and perpetrators are brought to justice (Italy).
111.112 Continue to strengthen legal and policy frameworks on the promotion and protection of women’s rights and on achieving gender equality (Maldives).
111.115 Continue the implementation of the National Plan against gender violence 2016–2021 (Cuba).
111.116 Strengthen multisectoral actions aimed at eradicating gender-based violence, considering the importance of the empowerment of rights and awareness-raising initiatives, with special attention to adequate mechanisms for such purposes (Ecuador).
111.121 Strengthen a multisectoral response at all levels in addressing the gender-based violence (Montenegro).
111.122 Take further steps in combating gender-based violence, domestic violence, including sexual abuse, against women and girls (Ukraine).
111.125 Protect the rights of women and girls from gender-based violence, in particular domestic violence and femicide, and increase support to victims of all forms of gender-based violence (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela).
111.134 Expand actions to combat violence against women as well as stereotypes, especially through outreach campaigns and bolstering the relevant national plans and programmes (Mexico).
111.135 Increase efforts to combat violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence and femicide (Paraguay).
V. ANALYSIS OF IMPLEMENTATION AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL
10. In accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations System and the Inter-American Human Rights System, the Peruvian State adopted the Law to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence against Women and Family Members in 2015 – Law 30364[1], a milestone for the defence of women’s and children’s rights and the fight against all forms of violence.
11. However, it is important to mention that the content of the law focused on the fight against violence against women (meaning adult women), and violence against children and adolescents was an annex to the former.
12. This continues to be a problem in practice because the way to treat and care for the victims of similar violence suffered by adult women and children and adolescents is different, and therein lies the main problem of this legislation.
13. Subsequently, in 2016, the National Plan against Gender Violence (PNVG) 2016-2021[2] was adopted, approved by Supreme Decree No. 008-2016-MIMP. The novelty of the Plan was to establish 44 indicators and, for their monitoring and reporting, a “traffic light system” was organized. In turn, these indicators were followed in the implementation of the biannual operational plans established by the PNVG itself[3].
14. In this line of ideas, in the National Observatory of Violence against Women and Family Members we can find the biannual implementation reports[4] only until 2019, just before the beginning of the pandemic, so that the years 2020 and 2021 do not have a follow-up of the indicators because they were no longer in force.
15. The cause of what was mentioned in the previous paragraph was due to the fact that in 2019, the Center for Strategic Planning (CEPLAN) of Peru required all sectors to define their priority policies. For its part, the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations considered only gender equality as a priority, subsuming the policy of combating gender violence in the first one[5].
16. Under this same precision, in 2019 the National Policy for Gender Equality[6] was approved by Supreme Decree No. 008-2019-MIMP, which constitutes a multisectoral national policy led by the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations and proposes as a strategy the provision of prioritized services that contribute to the reduction of gender-based gaps, oriented to the fulfilment of six priority objectives. The first of these is the reduction of violence against women.
17. This Coalition recognizes that gender equality and gender-based violence are related, but due to the acute problem that violence against women and girls represents in the country, it is an imperative and urgent need for the Peruvian State to adopt an independent national policy on gender-based violence against women and girls in light of the Government’s General Policy 2021-2026 approved by Supreme Decree 164-2021-PCM[7], whose line of intervention 6.1.7. establishes: “Promote permanent multisectoral action to ensure prevention actions, care, recovery and access to justice for women and members of the family group who suffer from violence, especially girls, boys and adolescents who are victims of sexual violence.“
18. Regarding comprehensive sexual education, the National Curriculum for Basic Education[8] approved in 2016, contains 7 cross-cutting approaches for the development of the student’s graduate profile. The first is the human rights approach and in number four incorporates the “Gender Equality” approach, through which the State seeks that: (i) teachers and students recognize the value of people over and above their gender; (ii) act fairly; and (iii) show empathy in the face of situations of gender inequality, enabling them to accompany people and their emotions[9].
19. Likewise, according to the glossary of terms of the Curriculum, the Peruvian State understands comprehensive sexuality education as “the systematic teaching and learning space that promotes values, knowledge, attitudes and skills for making conscious and critical decisions regarding the care of one’s own body, interpersonal relationships and the exercise of sexuality“[10].
20. Regarding the latter, it is worth mentioning that since the mid-1990s, the State has implemented sex education interventions, such as the 1996 National Sex Education Program. But only in 2008, the “Educational Guidelines and Pedagogical Orientations for Comprehensive Sexuality Education” were approved through Directorial Resolution No. 0180-2008-ED. However, there was no implementation due to the lack of political will of governments and opposition from conservative sectors.
21. A decade later, in 2021, the new “Guidelines for Comprehensive Sex Education in Basic Education”[11] were approved by Vice-Ministerial Resolution No. 169-2021-MINEDU, in accordance with the National Curriculum and the National Education Project to 2036. That same year, the Peruvian State in alliance with Plan International published the “Guide for implementing comprehensive sexual education”, an educational resource aimed at regular basic education teachers.
22. This coalition highlights and recognizes that the approval of the new guidelines is a milestone in the progress of the implementation of CSE in all schools in the country, but the challenges are still greater, even more so now that they have deepened with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and conservative decisions from the State bodies, as detailed below.
23. By virtue of what has been developed in this section, we consider that the recommendations related to the implementation of comprehensive sexual education, gender equality and the fight against violence against women and girls, are partially implemented by the Peruvian State, because although there are serious efforts to advance their full implementation, there are still serious challenges that prevent it.
24. Regarding Cuba’s recommendation on continuing to implement the National Policy against Gender Violence 2016 – 2021, the Peruvian State has not complied with the implementation of this recommendation, because as explained in 2019, this policy was left without effect.
VI. SITUATION ANALYSIS
6.1. ACCESS TO COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION
25. In a survey conducted in 2020[12], 70 public educational institutions located in the 10 departments of the country with a high rate of teenage pregnancy reported that although 88% of the educational institutions know that the national curriculum incorporates competencies related to comprehensive sex education, only 35% indicated that they had received training to teach comprehensive sex education.
26. In addition, 68% of the schools reported that teachers did not have guidelines to implement comprehensive sex education and 60% of the secondary level did not have educational materials. Regarding the degree to which comprehensive sex education is implemented in the supervised educational institutions, 58% reported partial progress, while 23% indicated that progress is incipient, and in 12% of schools, comprehensive sex education is not implemented. Only 7% indicated that comprehensive sex education is fully implemented in their schools.
27. Among the main difficulties reported by schools in implementing comprehensive sex education are: the lack of adequate educational materials for students; limited teacher training and education on these issues; the lack of pedagogical resources or teaching materials for teachers; and the attitude of parents and/or mothers who show resistance that hinders their work.
28. On the other hand, the number of teenage pregnancies has skyrocketed during the time of the pandemic. During the year 2020, a total of 48 575 births were registered nationally whose mothers were in the age range of 0 to 19 years, 1 179 (2.4 %) births to girls under 14 years of age and 24 births to girls under 10 years of age, of which 19 attended facilities of the Ministry of Health sector[13].
29. In 2021[14], more than 16,500 births of children under 19 years of age were registered nationwide, of which 327 were girls under 14 years of age, according to data from the Ministry of Health.
30. For its part, in 2022 the Congress of the Republic debated Bill No. 904/2021/CR[15], presented by a congressman promoting the movement “Con Mis Hijos No Te Metes” (religious conservative movement), was finally approved on May 5, 2022 with a broad parliamentary majority, despite serious criticism and questioning from the civil society.
31. As a result, Law No. 31498 was created and promulgated on June 20 of 2022 and allows civil associations of parents to participate in the elaboration of programs and the content of educational materials, texts and resources for basic education in an institutional manner. Under this criterion, conservative organisations are allowed to eliminate all educational content related to gender and comprehensive sexual education.
32. At the time, the same Ombudsman’s Office[16] pronounced itself against the approval of the Bill and urged the President of the Republic to observe this instrument that conditions the publication of educational material to the consent of mothers and fathers, a fact that contravenes the Political Constitution itself, the National Curriculum, public policies and the new comprehensive sex education guidelines, as well as the commitments assumed by the State at an international level.
33. This coalition shares the opinion of the Ombudsman’s Office on the illegality and unconstitutionality of Law No. 31498. Likewise, we find it highly worrying that the President of the Republic has not shown his opposition to this fact, which means that there is no political will from the highest authorities of the country to guarantee the access and implementation of comprehensive sexual education in all schools of the country.
6.3. EFFORTS AGAINST VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
34. According to the Demographic and Family Health Survey (ENDES) 2009 – 2019[17], it shows the evolution of the figures of violence against women exercised by the husband or partner in that range of years and it is noticed that the figures decrease to a greater extent since 2015, after the approval of Law No. 30364.
35. It is also known that for 2018, only 29 out of every 100 physically abused women sought some type of help; whereas, 71% did not. Of these, 47.8% did not consider it necessary. Likewise, between January and September 2019, there were 5,521 reports of sexual violence against women and 78 reports of femicide[18].
36. In 2020, the number of cases of violence against women and girls, especially domestic violence, increased dramatically due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That year alone, 137 cases of femicides were registered[19].
37. In addition, 97,926 cases of violence against women, domestic violence and sexual violence were recorded, of which 9,582 cases of sexual violence involved children and adolescents, and 4,261 involved young people and adults.
38. As for rape cases, in 2020, the Women’s Emergency Centres received more than 13 840 reports of sexual violence, 43% of victims were girls between 12 and 17 and 20.7% were between 6 and 11 years old[20].
39. For its part, the Peruvian Public Prosecutor’s Office reported that there was a growing trend in crimes of serious injuries and violence against women and family members. In 2016, 47 375 cases were reported and the figure increased seven times in 2019, where there were 322 154. This trend stopped in 2020 and decreased to 234 434 but increased in 2021 to 324 673 reported crimes[21].
40. Regarding femicides, the Femicide Registry of the Public Prosecutor’s Office has identified 1 573 victims during the period from January 01, 2009 to February 2022. More than half were between 18 and 34 years old, 190 victims were minors, representing 12.1%[22].
41. According to the latest report of the Ombudsman’s Office[23] the number of missing women and girls in the country, from January to May 2022, is recorded as 2255 representing 709 adult women and 1 546 girls and adolescents.
42. From the above, this coalition warns that there are data from very diverse sources that account for the problems described and in some cases may be contradictory to each other, such as the data from the Observatory of the Ministry of Women and the Criminality of the Public Ministry regarding the increase or decrease in the figures of violence.
43. In this sense, it is evident that the Peruvian State has a serious problem regarding the collection of information and disaggregated data that would allow it to adopt the necessary plans and programs to address this great scourge of violence experienced by women and girls in the country.
44. Further on July 5, 2022, the Commission of Decentralization, Regionalization, Local Governments and Modernization of State Management of the Congress of the Republic unanimously approved Bill No. 1229-2021/CR, which establishes the public need to change the name of the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations to the Ministry of Family and Vulnerable Populations.
45. The approval opinion indicates that the declarative proposal “allows to put in showcase and give real importance to the other vulnerable groups that are part of the same family nucleus“[24]. At the same time, it is intended to call the attention of the Executive to make the name change.
46. Although this bill will still be debated in the plenary of the Congress, it has already aroused the concern and rejection of other State and civil society organizations. The Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations itself has shown its rejection of the proposed name change, through its communiqué on social networks.
47. In said statement, the Ministry points out that the ruling “turns its back on the 17 million Peruvian women and residents in our country who suffer structural discrimination due to their condition as women and which severely affects their lives, their rights and opportunities for development” and also adds that this decision “makes women invisible as subjects of rights and public policies”[25].
48. For its part, through its statement, the Ombudsman’s Office recalled that it has been 26 years since Peru has had a Ministry of Women and that the change of name ignores international treaties and standards on women’s rights, which are mandatory for Peru[26].
49. This coalition considers that the unanimous approval of the opinion is a serious setback and a direct attack on the progress made so far in terms of gender equality and the fight against violence against women and girls. In this sense, we show our total rejection and we raise our voices so that the full Congress does not approve this bill.
VII. FIELD RESEARCH AND INTERVIEWS
50. This coalition has identified gender-based violence against women and girls as a public problem of great concern and that despite the efforts of the State, it has not been possible to reduce the figures of violence. On the contrary, since the emergence of the pandemic, they have increased and exceeded the capacities of State entities at all levels.
51. The search for gender equality and the implementation of comprehensive sexual education are very important tools in the fight against violence against women and girls; however, we have noted in this report that in recent years there has been evidence of setbacks and attempts continue to appear from the highest levels of the State to prevent changes from being possible.
52. From our organizations and the activities we carry out in schools, we can see that talking about “gender equality” and “sex education” is a serious problem that schools must face with parents, due to the confusion generated by these terms and the lack of knowledge promoted by ultraconservative movements.
53. There is a real fear on the part of many parents that their children will be trained by a group of experts in these matters. Likewise, we warn that although the national curriculum and the new comprehensive sex education guidelines are applicable to all schools, these do not have a team of specialised teachers and therefore, cannot implement comprehensive sex education in their educational institutions.
54. Our role as civil society organizations is precisely to provide technical support mainly to the directorates for the creation of training programs aimed at students on gender equality, which includes issues of comprehensive sexual education and the fight against violence against women and girls.
55. To this end, and after approval from the directorate, we called parents to an informative meeting that includes digital primers with a summary of the information that will be shared during the training sessions.
56. In this way, we have been able to carry out the programs, detect suspected cases of domestic violence that have been duly reported to the school authorities and these, in turn, have reported to the competent authorities for legal investigations.
57. Likewise, all of the students who participate in these programs indicated that they find the knowledge they acquire very useful. They would like their parents to also be trained like them because then there are discussions at home about the information they share with them.
58. Regarding access to comprehensive sexuality education, many of the students indicated that they receive restricted information in their schools, very little or none from their parents and therefore, they prefer to solve their doubts by looking for information on the Internet.
59. This shows us that the lack of access to comprehensive sexuality education through educational or family channels leads adolescents to investigate by their own means in the digital environment, which in turn, exposes them to the dangers of false information and other dangers of the network.
VIII. RECOMENDATIONS
60. This coalition, by virtue of the arguments developed in our report, respectfully recommends to the Peruvian State:
(i) Establish and implement a sustained training plan for teachers on the contents of the national curriculum, as well as the areas and approaches related to comprehensive sexual education, including a modern methodology appropriate to the needs of students.
(ii) Repeal of Law 31498, which violates the rights of children and adolescents, as well as national regulations and the commitments assumed by the Peruvian State at the international level.
(iii) Formulation of a national public policy and local public policies focused on the fight against violence against women and girls.
(iv) Guarantee the integrity of the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations, both in its name and in its mandate.
(v) Establish a better system of registration, collection, analysis and dissemination of complete and disaggregated data that allows for a more realistic understanding of the problem of gender-based violence against women and girls.
(vi) Promote institutional cooperation between the State and civil society organisations for the training of members of school communities in gender issues, comprehensive sexual education and the fight against violence against women and girls.
[1] See the content of the law: https://www.mimp.gob.pe/webs/mimp/ley30364/sobre-ley-30364.php#:~:text=%C2%BFQu%C3%A9%20es%3F,el%20%C3%A1mbito%20p%C3%BAblico%20o%20privado.
[2] See the contents of the plan: https://www.mimp.gob.pe/empresasegura/decreto-supremo-que-aprueba-el-plan-nacional-contra-la-viol-DS-008-2016-mimp.pdf
[3][3] Huaita, Marcela (2021). Opportunities and challenges in monitoring public policy through a system of indicators with a rights-based approach. IDEHPUCP, Lima.
[4] National Observatory on Violence against Women and Family Members. Report of the National Plan Against Gender Violence 2016-2021.
[5] Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations (2019, July 24). Ministerial Resolution No. 194-2019-MIMP. Whereby the Sectoral List of National Policies under the leadership of the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations is approved.
[6] See the contents of the policy: https://www.gob.pe/institucion/mimp/normas-legales/271118-008-2019-mimp
[7] Presidency of the Council of Ministers (October 16, 2021). Supreme Decree N 164-2021-PCM. By which the General Policy of Government for the period 2021-2026 is approved.
[8] See the content of the curriculum:
http://www.minedu.gob.pe/curriculo/pdf/curriculo-nacional-de-la-educacion-basica.pdf
[9] Ministry of Education (2016). National Curriculum for Basic Education, p. 23.
[10] Ibidem, p. 193.
[11] See the content of the guidelines:
http://www.grade.org.pe/creer/archivos/ESI-RVM-N%C2%B0-169-2021-MINEDU.pdf
[12] Adjuntía para la Niñez y la Adolescencia de la Defensoría del Pueblo y el Fondo de Población de Naciones Unidas, UNFPA (2021). Report on the Monitoring of Effective Interventions for the Prevention of Unplanned Pregnancy in Adolescents: Comprehensive Sex Education and access to modern contraception for those who require it. Special Report Series No. 007-2021-DP
[13] Andina (2022). They emphasize the importance of Comprehensive Sexual Education in schools
[14] El Comercio (2021). Comprehensive sexual education: benefits exposed by professionals and activists.
[15] See the content of the Bill: https://wb2server.congreso.gob.pe/spley-portal-service/archivo/MTIyMTQ=/pdf/DIC%20904
[16] Office of the Ombudsman (2022). Statement: draft law violates the principle of the best interest of the child and affects the right to education.
[17] Observatorio Nacional de la Violencia contra las Mujeres y los Integrantes del Grupo Familiar (2021). Demographic and Family Health Survey ENDES – INEI 2009-2019.
[18] National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (2019). Press release: 63 out of every 100 women between 15 and 49 years of age were victims of family violence at some time in their lives by a husband or partner.
[19] National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (2021). Peru: Feminicide and Violence against Women 2015 – 2020.
[20] Salud con lupa (2021). “The number of girls becoming mothers in Peru tripled in 2020.”
[21] Observatorio de Criminalidad del Ministerio Público del Perú – Fiscalía de la Nación (2022). Statistical figures on gender violence in Peru. Executive Report, p. 4.
[22] Ibidem, p. 5.
[23] Ombudsman’s Office (2022): What happened to them? Reporte Igualdad y No Violencia N° 28, May 2022, p.6.
[24] Congress News (2022). Approval to change the name of the Ministry of Women to Ministry of Family.
[25] La República (2022): Why do they want to change the name of the Ministry of Women? Learn how it could affect the MIMP.
[26] See the content of the pronouncement: https://www.defensoria.gob.pe/defensoria-del-pueblo-solicita-no-desnaturalizar-el-rol-del-ministerio-de-la-mujer-y-poblaciones-vulnerables/
