The Child and Adolescent Statute (Estatuto da Crianfa e do Adolescente), passed into law in 1990 by the Brazilian national Congress, was the result of intensive lobbying by a broad coalition of Brazilian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and activists on behalf of the rights of children. The Statute radically reformed the legal status of children, redefined the responsibilities of the State and civil society, and mandated the creation of participatory councils at the federal, state and local levels. This landmark legislation followed the 1988 revi- sion of the Brazilian Constitution, which in Article 227 states that:
It is the duty of the family, society and the state to assure with absolute priority the rights of chil- dren and adolescents to life, health, food, educa- tion, leisure, occupational training, culture, digni- ty, respect, freedom, and family and community life, and in addition to protect them from all forms of negligence, discrimination, exploitation, violence, cruelty and oppression.
The Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA) created a comprehensive set of laws which replaced earlier legislation, the Minors’ Code (C6digo de Menores). The earlier code was widely recognized as repres- sive and as a vehicle for the wholesale internment of poor youth, often for nothing more than “vagrancy.”
In an effort to decentralize and broaden partici-
pation in policy and budget decisions, the Statute mandates the creation of children’s rights councils (conselhos de direitos) and guardianship councils (conselhos tutelares) in all of the country’s nearly 5,000 municipalities. The children’s rights councils are responsible for implementation of the Statute at the policymaking and juridical level. These 15-
member councils are to be made up of an equal
number of representatives from civil society (NGOs) and from relevant government institutions. Guardianship councils, by contrast, function as on- the-ground advocates for children. Each municipali- ty is supposed to create a five-member guardianship committee. These committees are responsible for monitoring compliance with the Statute, interven- ing on behalf of vulnerable children, and, in a
sense, serving as social workers within the commu-
nities.
Moving from the traditional practices of exclu-
Ivsion and blaming of the street child to new
practices of incorporation and acceptance of col-
lective responsibility for the welfare of the child is
a much greater challenge than writing the new
laws. The actual experience of poor children has
little resonance with the extensive rights now
ascribed to them on paper.
The obstacles to implementation of the Child
Statute are considerable, including lack of basic
resources and infrastructure, resistance from local
and state-level politicians, and non-compliance
within the judiciary (which loses much of its power
under the new laws). Application of the Statute is
blocked, above all, by popular attitudes that con-
tinue to regard street children as present or future
criminals who need to be repressed.
The creation of effective councils throughout
Brazil has become a foremost priority for organiza-
tions concerned with the rights of children. Estab-
lishment of the municipal and state-level councils
has, however, so far been slow and difficult. The
implementation of the Child Statute is thus not
only a reform of child-welfare laws, but also a sig-
nificant test of-and precedent in-the democrati-
zation of Brazilian society.
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