Argentina: Order to Arrest Street Children Postponed Following Church’s Protests
Complaints of Abuse in Police Custody
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina/GENEVA, 25 October 2001 (LWI) - An order on police to routinely round up street children and beggars in Buenos Aires Province has been suspended following protests by the United Evangelical Lutheran Church (UELC) and other sections of civil society in Argentina.
Provincial Security Minister, Ramón Verón, has put on hold the directive issued by the provincial police chief for coordination and operations last August. The police force had been instructed to carry out special operations and “bring before the juvenile courts any children and young people found unprotected and/or begging on the public highways.” Spokespersons for non-governmental organizations point out that the order has been “suspended” not revoked.
In a September letter to Verón and Buenos Aires Provincial Governor, Carlos Ruckauf, the UELC said it considered the order in question as “a mistaken interpretation” of the Supreme Court decision whereby the Protection of Minors Act was declared unconstitutional.
The church said it was shocked to see the provincial police take repressive action in a social situation already fraught with anguish. This year the Buenos Aires Supreme Court had recorded 800 complaints from minors citing ill-treatment when in police custody. Complaints also are received through human rights’ organizations.
The UELC letter said the police “as an institution had broken down” particularly in dealing with issues concerning minors. The overcrowded conditions in which detainees are held in police stations meant that “minors are in contact with hardened criminals whose records and mental problems show them to be dangerous.”
The letter signed by UELC President Rev. Angel Furlán warned that the action on street children and beggars is a violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Argentina ratified in 1994. The church called for the police order to be lifted.
The letter further stated that the measure effectively implies that it is a crime to be poor, and complicates the already bleak picture of poverty in the country especially in Buenos Aires Province where there are an estimated 400,000 families living in poverty.
The UELC requested the Buenos Aires provincial administration to commit itself to working with civil society on the implementation of appropriate measures to deal with such families and their children.
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