Return Index

Return

CODEHUPY’s Alternative Report

To the Second Periodical Report of the Paraguayan State on account of Article 40 of the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights

Article 3 – Men and women’s equality[1]

Paraguay has undertaken in its Constitution and through various international instruments to guarantee the equality between men and women in various environments. Likewise, State institutional mechanisms have been generated, which mandates are related to the compliance of these obligations, even though the effective functioning of these must be analyzed in a particular and not in a general way, given the variability of the existing situations. In spite of these advances of a formal nature, explicit discriminations before the law, as well as a number of impediments for the declarations of equality and the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sex to become real and effective persist for Paraguayan women, many of them related to the rights protected in the Pact.

With respect to the legislative guarantees related to the equality and protection against discrimination for reasons of sex and gender, the following shortcomings of the Paraguayan State are indicated:

Absence of legislation that typifies discrimination and allows sanctioning discriminatory acts towards women

Even though the Paraguayan State’s obligation, by virtue of its Constitution and international treaties is clear in relation to the prohibition of discrimination, to the guarantees of equality and, more specifically, for equality between men and women, to date there is no legislation that typifies discrimination against women in a general way and allow sanctioning the discriminatory acts based on sex that respond to the gender constructions prevailing in the Paraguayan culture.

In a recent study on anti-discriminatory Paraguayan law, women are included in said anti-discriminatory clauses among those that possess weak guarantees, i.e., “those that limit themselves to enunciating a prohibition without effective sanction against non-compliance, or that limit the State’s intervention to leaving without effect the discriminatory act”, as opposed to the ones that enjoy strong guarantees, which enable sanctioning non-compliance (Valiente, 2005b: 71-72). In this respect, it is pointed out that:

“With the sole exceptions of the right to equal salary for equal value work, and of the right to not be discriminated at work due to pregnancy[2], there are no effective judicial tutelage guarantees and legal sanctions to be applied to any form of discrimination, direct or indirect, suffered by women, both in the public and private environment, in the legislation” (Valiente, 2005b: 73).

In 2003 a bill for the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination[3] was presented in the Senate and, additionally, a process of reflection and debate aimed at achieving regulation of the constitutional articles related to equality and non-discrimination was initiated, with the participation of three Congress commissions.  However, these initiatives –as well as other related ones- currently face a strong campaign of attacks coming from conservative sectors of various Christian Churches, opposed to the inclusion of matters related to the gender perspective –among other issues such as sexual education, sexual orientation- in legislation and in the public policies of the Paraguayan State[4].

The success that these sectors have had to date in impeding legislative advances related to women’s rights, with a strong incidence in the sense of voting and in the opinions of members of the Legislative Power, gives sufficient elements to doubt the national authorities’ political will for Paraguay to have a legislation that permits enforcing the non-discrimination principle and guarantees.

Persistence of Direct Discriminations in the light of the Pact’s Article 3

Among the discriminatory legal dispositions currently in force in Paraguay there are some that directly affect the possibilities of equality between women and men in the enjoyment of the rights contemplated in the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights. In this respect, the following legal discriminations towards women are pointed out:

In Civil Legislation:

The Civil Code, reformed by Law Nº 1/92 was later modified by Law Nº 985/96, which reformed Article 12 related to the order of the surnames of daughters and sons, giving preference to the man’s surname in case of disagreements between father and mother.  With this, the principle of equality between women and men parents was broken.  Likewise, in the Code there subsists a limitation to the juridical capacity of married women of receiving donations without the agreement of the spouse or a judicial one.  These legal dispositions are contrary to Article 23, section 4 of the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights.[5]

The same Civil Code sets forth differences regarding the presumption of paternity, which for the case of married women automatically corresponds to the husband –who if he rejects his paternity must file a complaint of failure to recognize filiation - whilst in the case of single women they can only request recognition of paternity if the father concurs to the Civil Registry instances or, in case of a negative, filing a complaint against the alleged father in representation of the son or daughter.  That is, the burden of proof is deposited on the weaker part (daughters and sons recently born).  This represents, on the one hand, a discrimination for the out-of-wedlock daughters and sons and, on the other hand, also for unmarried mothers or mothers in a de facto union, who frequently and as a consequence of the cost that entails a file for paternity acknowledgment, face alone both the work as well as the economic cost of the upbringing (Valiente, 2005b: 73).  Although in 2002 a bill that proposed modifying this situation was presented to the Senate, same has not yet been addressed.

In Penal Legislation

Contrary to what is indicated by the Paraguay Second Periodical Report (CCPR/C/PRY/2004/2, August 3, 2004, par. 133), the CODEHUPY considers that the penal legislation does contain discriminations against women, aside from various omissions and limitations in the treatment of issues affecting women.

In particular, those related to abortion since the articles that penalized this practice and are in force since almost a century ago (1910)[6], have not yet been reviewed in the light of the human rights’ international treaties ratified by Paraguay afterwards and represent discrimination against women, due to:

         i.            Its seriously damaging effects for women, since the consequences of clandestine and unhealthy abortion practices are one of the main causes of women’s deaths in circumstances related to pregnancy and birth.  This law has a differential effect for women and men, since its negative consequences are only so in a direct way for the female population.  Abortion cannot be prevented, nor its consequences avoided in women’s mortality by means of the effect of penal legislation.

       ii.            Its reference to the honor of women, directly relating it to pregnancy product of sexual relations outside the marriage context.  Article 353 of the Penal Code says textually: “In case of abortion, caused to save the honor of the wife, mother, daughter or sister, the corresponding penalties shall be decreased by half”. The article responds to the traditional sexual double moral.  Aside from its discriminatory nature, this text resumes the contradiction present in abortion’s penalizing legislation: pregnancy is seen as a “dishonor” in certain circumstances whilst at the same time prohibiting and punishing its interruption. 

The Penal Code, additionally, gives an inadequate treatment to problems that seriously affect women, such as that of domestic and intra-family violence (which is reported on Article 23) and sexual violence, whose main victims are women, which is addressed in the chapter regarding the punishable deeds against sexual autonomy.  In this respect, the following situations are pointed out:

         i.            The considerations of attenuating circumstances for sexual violence deeds:  the current regulation of the sexual coercion offense (Article 128 of the Penal Code) establishes that the penalty may be attenuated when “due to the relations of the victim with the perpetrator” such circumstances are given.  The application of attenuating factors in cases of violation of sexual autonomy decreases the juridical protection of women’s rights, since in the majority of cases the authors of these actions are known to the victim, particularly relatives and partners, persons of their close and daily environment.  Based on this reality, the attenuating circumstances would apply to the majority of the sexual coercion assumptions.  Furthermore, the existence of attenuating factors implies a judgment of the victim’s conduct, since depending on the relationship with the perpetrator the penalty is more or less lenient.  In the assumption of sexual abuse to defenseless persons, the application of attenuating factors is also established “due to the relations of the victim with the perpetrator” (Article 130 of the Penal Code).  For the same motives as in the cases of sexual coercion, such disposition is damaging for the victims, even more seriously since they are persons that cannot oppose resistance for finding themselves in defenseless situations. 

       ii.            The references to women’s honor: Article 137 of the Penal Code establishes the felony of “defloration of a minor” and indicates that “the man that persuades a woman 14 to 16 years old to have extramarital sex shall be punished with a fine”.  This article clearly addresses the honor of young women, referring them to the extramarital sexual conduct, since if there is marriage the deed ceases to be punishable.

      iii.            A penal framework that minimizes the damage caused by sexual violence in comparison to the one caused by other punishable deeds:  the penalties of the deeds typified as felonies against sexual autonomy turn out to be lesser than the ones stipulated for punishable deeds against material goods and property.  The redress of the damage, physically and psychologically caused to a person victim of sexual violence is, nevertheless, more costly and difficult than that of damages produced to material goods.

These dispositions of the 1997 Penal Code, clearly represent an insufficient effort by the Paraguayan State for the legislative adaptation in relation to a prior recommendation of the Committee that exhorted Paraguay to review the antique laws that clearly contradict the Pact’s dispositions due to being based in traditional conceptions regarding women (CCPR/C/79/Add.48, October 3, 1995, par. 16 and 27).

In the protection of maternity for women in electivel positions

Women that occupy elective decision-making positions are discriminated regarding the protection guarantees and rights for maternity that benefit working women, according to dispositions in force in the Labor Code.  This represents a serious difficulty for women to enjoy the right to participate in public matters as representatives and to access under conditions of equality the country’s public functions, established in Article 25 of the Pact.

The issue was addressed for the first time in Paraguay in 2003, when a councilwoman of the city of Asuncion demanded a maternity leave permit that was denied to her by the capital’s Municipal Junta, alleging that the protections of the Labor Code were not applicable to her case since she was not in a labor situation of dependence. Maternity, and particularly birth and puerperium represent in that way an impediment for women to access elective positions. After this deed a bill was presented to the Legislative Power, one that establishes the Maternity Leave absence in elective posts, which extends the labor rights regarding maternity to the women in elective positions and regulates the given replacements. The Project has half a sanction from the House of Representatives. It is expected that at the time of reviewing Paraguay’s Second Periodical Report before the Human Rights Committee, said bill will have been finally sanctioned and it would be timely that the Committee were informed in this respect by the Paraguayan State.

Aside from the explicit discriminations pointed out, which are directly related to the civil and political rights, there are also discriminations in the labor legislation applied to domestic work, which are reported on with greater detail under Article 26. This job is performed almost exclusively by women and, moreover, it constitutes the main employment sector for the country’s female Economically Active Population (EAP), reasons for which said discrimination must be considered as aimed explicitly towards women, even though the text of the law never mentions that it refers solely to the female domestic workers. This is the only type of work legally discriminated upon in Paraguay. However, the Paraguayan State (CCPR/C/PRY/2004/2, August 3, 2004, pars. 93, 101, and 127) does not give out signs of verifying that the specifications in the special chapter dedicated by the Labor Code to domestic work turns out to be seriously discriminatory: they are the only working persons that do not have access to the legal minimum salary, the maximum workday of eight hours, the weekly obligatory rest, among many other situations.

Insufficiency of positive action measures established to counter the effects of the historical discrimination suffered by women and to impede the reproduction of discriminatory behavior patterns.

The Paraguayan State has an insufficient policy to accelerate the de facto equality between women and men. There are only three cases in which the Paraguayan legislation sets forth positive action measures that favor women[7]:

§                         In electoral legislation, a quota of 20% applicable on the electoral lists presented in internal party voting, applied with an alternation of at least one female candidate for every five places. The precedence is freely fixed by each proponent. This quota, which is the lowest in the region, not only turns out to be insufficient but rather, additionally, it actually represents an obstacle for producing better results regarding women’s access to decision-making elective spaces, due to various factors: the scarce percentage foreseen; the scarce incidence of the foreseen mechanism in the elections’ final results and because in practice it is applied as a ceiling for female participation, especially in the parties with greater electoral clout.

§                         Law N° 1725/02 that establishes the Educator’s Bylaws, acknowledges mothers a fictitious year of service for every son/daughter born during the teaching exercise, thus being able to add up to five years in the computation of years for access to ordinary retirement.

§                         In the Agrarian Bylaws a preference order is established in favor of the women heads of households for the allocation of the land subject to agrarian reform, as well as the deferral for payment of the quotas by 50% of the term for said allocates.

As can be seen, the first measure indicated is inefficient, whilst the second and third ones are important for the specific sectors at which they are aimed, but it has not been tried to extend the use of similar measures towards other women’s sectors. There are no affirmative measures destined to improving women’s access to public decision-making, non-elective positions and neither for the insertion under equal conditions in the public sector in general. Factors such as the Guaraní mono-linguism, the rural origin, poverty, and the number of children or the fact of being the sole providers at home are also not contemplated for the establishment of preferences or advantages for access to employment, education, credit or housing.

Therefore, the CODEHUPY requests the Committee to focus its attention in the need for the Paraguayan State to regulate the prohibition of discrimination in general and particularly those based on sex and gender, to eliminate explicit discriminations that harm women and are in force in the Paraguayan legislation, and to introduce affirmative actions to revert the effects of discrimination against women in various planes of life.

Women’s right to life

Regarding the protection of the right to life under conditions of equality for women and men, the deaths of women due to foreseeable diseases, maternal mortality, violence at home and the framework of family relationships and the deaths related to sexual violence actions deserve special attention.

Among the main causes of death for women between 10 and 49 years old are the tumors[8], mainly those of the uterine neck and the breasts. It is estimated that a woman dies every three days in Paraguay due to cancer of the uterine neck, although the specialists calculate a sub-registry of 30%. The prevention of mortality due to cancer of the uterine neck depends of its precocious detection through an annual Papanicolau test. Said study should be performed on 980,000 women per year, but only 100,000 are currently done, with additional difficulties in relation to the quality of the service and the availability of results. This shows that the problem has not been assumed as a priority by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Well-being (Codina, 2005).

Another of the main causes of women’s mortality in Paraguay are those related to maternity, that is, the deaths produced during or after pregnancy, for non-accidental or incidental causes related to it or with its attention. Maternal mortality deserves particular attention due to the fact that its impact is linked to causes that are avoidable by means of adequate prenatal controls and access to timely and quality healthcare services.

The global fecundity rate of women aged 15 to 44 is currently estimated at 2.9 children per woman. This figure has ostensibly decreased between 1998 and 2004, in directly inverse correlation to a larger use of birth control methods. The fecundity rate is higher in women from less-favored socioeconomic levels, with a lower education level, in the sector of Guaraní mono-linguists and among women from rural sectors (CEPEP, 2004: 75-78). This data shows the relevance of access to information, resources and services for an adequate planning of reproduction. On maternal mortality there is no data that precise, but it can be assumed that the same factors would be associated with its larger incidence in the female population.

Paraguay possesses a maternal mortality rate (MMR), recorded by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Well-being (MPHSW) for 2003 as 183.5 for every 100,000 born alive (MPHSW, 2004a). Nevertheless, the Ministry itself acknowledges the deficiencies of the health national data systems regarding coverage, reliability and timeliness. It points out that there is a sub-registry of 51% on births and estimates in 43.7% the mortality sub-registry (MPHSW, 2004b: 5). If one takes into consideration the sub-registry, the estimated maternal mortality rate is far greater (around 300 for every 100,000 born alive). The country is located among those that possess a high rate of maternal mortality according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Considering only the maternal mortality registered by the MPHSW, in a five-year period (2000 to 2004) 741 women have died. The main causes are, in order of importance: hemorrhages, abortion, toxemia and sepsis. In the same five-year period, the MPHSW has recorded the death of 167 women due to abortion, which represents 23% of maternal deaths, although it is probable that part of the deaths registered under the items of hemorrhages and sepsis could have been due to the consequences of abortion, but by deficiencies in the registration they will be filed under other causes. Only as of these official data one can affirm that in the 2000-2004 period, one woman has died every two days for causes linked to pregnancy, birth, and puerperium, whilst every eleven days one woman has died on account of abortion.

In Paraguay there is no official data disseminated about the impact of voluntary abortion on the above-mentioned figures. Nevertheless, in the data corresponding to 2003 it could be established that 57% of the deaths due to abortion that year had voluntary abortions as an origin, whilst only one case was registered as spontaneous and for the rest there was no information whatsoever (Soto, 2004b: 6).

If the official information disseminated about women’s mortality due to abortion is scarce and incomplete, the one referred to the impact of this practice on the female health and life is practically non-existent. There are no statistics about the number of women with abortion consequences attended in health services, nor solid estimates about how many women are recurring to this practice in the country. The so-called black figures of abortion have a direct relation with the already mentioned legislation that penalizes the voluntary interruption of pregnancy.

The cases registered are only part of the ones that turned out fatal; the rest remain hidden due to fear of the penal consequences of the deed.

The only exception to penalization of abortion is for situation in which the woman’s life is at risk due to pregnancy or birth. However, there is no background information of cases in which women have even requested a legal permit to undergo this procedure.

Even though at the MPHSW they affirm that there are clear instructions regarding the obligation of the healthcare establishments to grant attention to the women that arrive with abortion complications and to not make any denouncements to the Police, the reality is different. In interviews performed to women that recurred to a hospital service due to voluntary abortion complications, it could be determined that 19% of those that had recurred to another assistance center had been denied attention (Masi and Soto, n/d).

Regarding this issue, although the healthcare policies include the information and proportion of the emergency contraception pills, which would play a relevant role in the prevention of abortion, few women in this country know about this contraception method (37.2% of women in fertile age, according to the ENDSSR 2004) (CEPEP, 2004: 115).  Moreover, in the country there is a strong opposition by some Christian sectors to their use and distribution. These sectors have achieved that the Bioethics Committee of the Clinics’ Hospital, which depends on the Medical Sciences Faculty of the National University (i.e., an institution that functions with a public budget and that must adapt to the national policies on the issue) make a statement, on June 9, 2005, rejecting the use of this method for considering it contrary to the right to life. This shows the serious difficulties faced by the Paraguayan State in giving clear directives regarding this issue and having them respected in all the application environments of the governmental healthcare policy.

In its final observations to Paraguay, the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women reiterated its concern formulated in 1996 due to the persistence of high maternal mortality rates, particularly the deaths due to illegal abortions, women’s limited access to healthcare attention, the family planning programs and the apparently unattended need for contraceptives. In this sense it encouraged the State to: a) act without delay and adopt efficient measures to solve the problem of the high maternal mortality rate and to impede women from having to recur to dangerous abortions and to protect them from the negative effects on their health; b) strengthen the execution of programs and policies aimed at granting effective access to women to the data on healthcare attention and services, particularly in matters of reproductive health and accessible contraception methods, with a view to prevent clandestine abortions. Also, to enter into a national consultation with civil society, including women’s groups, to examine the penalization of abortion, one of the causes of the high women’s mortality rates (CEDAW/PAR/CC/3-5, February 16, 2005, par. 32-33).

Given the seriousness of maternal mortality and the impact of abortion on it, the CODEHUPY requests the Committee to ask the Paraguayan State about information regarding the political measures aimed at the attention of abortion complications, the regulations for the effective enforcement of the already foreseen exception to its penalization, as well as the prevention measures of this practice’s impact on women’s life and health, particularly through the supply of information and access to safe contraceptive methods, including the emergency contraception pills.

Women’s right to a violence-free life (Arts. 4 and 7 of the Pact)

Among the situations that most seriously affect the physical and psychological integrity of women, protected by Article 7 of the Pact, as well as the right to life protected by Article 4, are the acts of domestic violence within the framework of the family relations and the violence of a sexual nature. A counting of the feminicide cases produced in Paraguay between January 1995 and February 2005, based solely on data appeared in the local press, indicates the death of 316 women in circumstances of domestic, intra-family and sexual violence; that is, in Paraguay, during the last decade, one woman has died every 12 days due to these causes. In 61% of the cases consigned, the perpetrator was a partner or former sentimental partner of the woman[9]. Only in 2004 the National Police registered 317 cases of sexual coercion and 104 attempts of sexual coercion. 91% of the victims of these actions were women and in 70% of the cases the perpetrators were persons known to, neighbors or relatives of, the victim[10].

It is known that in this type of felonies the main victims are women, reason for which the inadequate protection of the persons vis-à-vis these occurrences is a form of discrimination based on sex. They are occurrences that, in spite of their serious consequences, are naturalized, made invisible and minimized, and this is evident in the legislation and in the policies on the issue.

A great part of the healthcare centers’, the Police’s, and the courts’ staff is not duly sensitized vis-à-vis the specific problem of the victims of felonies against sexual autonomy. There is no adequate private space for the attention of the victims. At the trials, inadmissible interrogations continue being carried out, centered on the cases’ irrelevant aspects, such as the victim’s outfit or her prior sexual relations, even reaching the point of making her responsible for the aggression suffered. Furthermore, the excessive duration of the procedures (over two years), the constant re-victimization of the attacked person, and sentences with insufficient penalties (especially when the victim is an adult woman) demonstrate that the Paraguayan State does not guarantee an effective judicial tutelage of the right to women’s sexual autonomy.

The Human Rights Committee, in its General Observation N° 24, requests information on whether the State Party gives access possibilities to an abortion under safe conditions to women that have gotten pregnant as a result of rape. In Paraguay, the victims of rape are not allowed to access this possibility, even when we are speaking of girls or adolescents whose life could be placed at risk by pregnancy or birth and whose perspectives of future life will be affected by difficulties to finish their studies, get a job and earn an income.

In view of these situations, the CODEHUPY is concerned about the recent rejection by Congress of the bill for the creation of a National Program for the Prevention and Assistance to the Victims of Punishable Deeds against Sexual Autonomy and against Minors. Among other goals, the bill intended to guarantee respect, protection and exercise of human rights to the victims of these acts, as well as to implement integral, specific, expeditious, accessible and free services for medical, psychological, social and juridical assistance for the victims. In spite that the legal text was originally approved in the Senate, it was afterwards rejected in the House of Representatives. The same original Chamber rejected its approval in a second instance, since various male and female Senators changed their minds about the bill they had initially defended. The rejection of both Congress’ Chambers was due to the effect of the pressure of conservative Christian groups that announced that the law legalized abortion and same-sex marriages. The bill did not mention any of these two issues.

The acts of violence and the sexual aggressions committed by State agents in contexts of repression to social demonstrations constitute all types of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments endured by women in Paraguay. The great majority of cases have been denounced by members of peasant organizations mobilized around the right to land, who frequently suffer police repression. There are no investigations or known results that determine those responsible and that establish sanctions and redress for the victims. This form of police violence pushed the women of the National Peasant Federation to create a coordinator to fight against sexual and gender violence in the rural locations. Below we transcribe the situations denounced by this organization for being representative of this extended form of human rights’ violation.

Occupation of Ypekuá (Department of Caaguazú): Approximately 40 women beaten, tortured and arrested, among which one of them lost her daughter while still in the womb due to the kicks received from the Police and in whose honor the dwelling is now called “Juliana Fleitas”.

Occupation of Crescencio Gonzalez (Department of San Pedro): Aside from the four dead companions at the hands of the repressive forces, the treatment received by the female companions included kicks, death threats, rape, mocking about their condition of being women and manhandling.

Occupation of Kagueli (Department of Caazapá):  “Hell in Isla Alta” was the name given by the women that suffered a number of abuses in their poor women condition. Aside from the already known degrading treatments, mocking, death threats, manhandling and blows to the genitals, a woman was raped with a rifle’s bayonet.

San Pedro dwelling (Department of Caaguazú) 20 women with 30 children were arrested and taken to the Villarica Penitentiary, where they remained for 8 days, supporting all sorts of inhuman treatment and without medical attention, since most of the women had suffered blows and even fractures.

November 3 Colony: Gathered around the fight against agro-exports and the resistance of the communities in the face of fumigations, once again women, in the midst of the repression, suffered blows of all kinds, aside from being shot with rubber bullets. In another moment, and around the same goal, at Ypekuá the repression of the blue helmets left women extremely battered and one of them abducted for 48 hours. Likewise, and in an attempt to become one with this community, they were received by these same blue helmets led by judge Baranda. Aside from shooting and assassinating two companions, the women also received “their share”: kicks, club blows, manhandling, death and/or rape threats, and concrete rape attempts.

All these systematic State violence situations against peasant women in its time were denounced before the authorities in charge. However, silence and impunity continue being the result of the already evident complicity between the different State powers. And not only that, but rather, in the specific case of the Caazapá occurrences, the character the led the brutal repression was no less than awarded a prize with his later promotion to Sub-Commander of the National Police back then, Sheriff José Dolores Sánchez. And whilst the true delinquents, murderers and rapists of popular sectors are given awards and continue free of all guilt, the female companions that go through the above-mentioned situations have on their backs unhealed physical and psychological wounds, dead sons and even arrest orders in force to date[11].

Concerned by the seriousness of the deeds and the impunity surrounding them, the CODEHUPY considers it time that the Committee be informed by the Paraguayan State about the measures to avoid, investigate and punish the physical and sexual violence against women, exerted by State agents in contexts of repression by the public forces against social organizations mobilized around the claim for land.

Women’s right to participate in the management of public affairs (Art. 25 of the Pact)

Regarding women’s right to participate fully in public life under conditions of equality, guaranteed by Art. 25 of the Pact, in Paraguay there persists a female sub-representation in the State’s power spaces, both elective as well as appointed. This situation is verified also in the power places within the political parties and even in those of the social organizations. Even when the State informs about the legislative measures oriented at overcoming this discrimination (CCPR/C/PRY/2004/2, August 3, 2004, par. 135-139), it does not acknowledge the absolute insufficiency of all these measures to achieve decisive advances in the matter. As has already been pointed out, the 20% representation quota foreseen in the electoral legislation as a positive action measure is currently inefficient to enhance electoral results.

The country continues having a female parliamentary participation considered one of the region’s lowest (10.4%). The total electoral results of the last three general elections in Paraguay (1993, 1998 and 2003) barely indicate a small increase of women between 3% and 4% in each period. If this rhythm were to be maintained, not until 2063 would there be parity in representation, after 12 more electoral events[12].  In 2003, for the first time a governess was elected among the 17 departmental heads and 14.1% of the departmental councillorships were occupied by women. The municipal councilwomen represent 17.7% of the total councillorships elected in 2001, whilst only 5% of the intendancies are occupied by women.

There also persists a numerical inequality in non-elective relevant posts of the public function, even though there are two Ministries headed by women among the 10 existing ones and various secretariats that have ministerial rank. The appointment of a woman to the Supreme Court of Justice breaks a long-standing tradition of total exclusion, but it is insufficient since it is still far from meeting the access equality aspiration. 30.2% of judges are women; however, the percentage is lower in the appeal courts (18%)[13].

In this respect, in its Final Observations to Paraguay, the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women reiterated its concern formulated in 1996 regarding these aspects, observed that adequate measures had not been adopted to revert the low participation of women in the decision-making organisms and in the public and political life. It also reiterated its prior recommendation that encouraged Paraguay to adopt and apply a quota system in the decision-making organs in all spheres and levels possible, including the public powers, political parties, syndicates, and other civil society organizations, according to the stipulations of CEDAW’s Art. 7 and urged the State to proceed to address said recommendation without delay (CEDAW/C/PAR/CC/3-5, February 16, 2005, par. 18-19).

The CODEHUPY considers totally relevant that the Paraguayan State inform the Human Rights Committee about the mechanisms it will set in motion to avoid that female exclusion continue reproducing itself in the power spaces of public life, as well as about the effectiveness of these mechanisms so that the goals established can be met in reasonable time periods.

Article 6 – Right to Life

The Paraguayan State, in its Second Periodical Report, does an exhaustive presentation of the penal nature norms that have been enacted in guarantee of the right to life (CCPR/PRY/2004/2, par. 175-199). Regrettably, it omitted informing about the existing relation between maternal mortality and the penal laws on abortion that have not yet been revised in the light of the dispositions of the human rights’ international law[14].

Likewise, it has omitted pointing out to the attention of the Committee the factors and difficulties it still faces to completely eliminate the practice of arbitrary executions by its public forces and the deaths of persons under custody of the State, as well as indicating the factors that propitiate judicial impunity in the matter.

In spite of the fact that there are no official policies for extrajudicial executions of political dissidents as in other times, homicides against persons in circumstances that lead to presume State responsibility in these cases continue appearing. Especially, in interventions performed by public agents in which the disproportionate or illegitimate use of force in procedures that do not adjust to the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by the Officers in Charge of Law Enforcement can be presumed.

A self-diagnosis elaborated by the National Police (NP), with financial and technical support of the United Nations’ Development Program, regarding the preparation of the public force’s staff in relation to the use of firearms comes to this conclusion:

“Even though it may seem incredible, in the NP there is no such thing as a weapon supplied by the institution. Each policeman buys his own weapon and there are no standard specifications for doing this. At least 90% of the force renders their service with their own gun, as stated by the “Intelligence Operations” Committee. Due to this, it does not seem superfluous to say that the police guns should be purchased by the State. The Institution must define the type of gun and ammunition caliber and should be the one to deliver them to officers and sub-officers in active service for regulation use.

Neither is a prior shooting control done, with custody and filing of cartridges, so that the characteristics of each weapon and of the bullets it fires can be established. Since, additionally, the types of weapon and ammunition are not standardized; in practice there is no way to verify if the use of a firearm has been done following the rules of necessity and proportionality. In consequence, there is no real control regarding the use of firearms by members of the NP.

Nevertheless, contradictorily, the NP possesses 5,073 Belgian rifles, 362 Chinese, 313 Brazilian, 121 German, and 30 Italian ones, aside from four mortars and eight heavy machine guns. Its armament belongs to an army and therefore it is not appropriate for police duty and it is not one that should correspond to a body of citizen’s safety. Long weapons are for support only and should be kept in specialized armories and should only be used when in the judgment of the Police command the situation merits it.

Finally, the Police force does not receive shooting instructions. The Police training system does not have a shooting range with all the specifications required and has no ammunition for practices. Therefore, it is not surprising that of 124 dead policemen in service acts between 1996 and mid-2000, 18 policemen (14.5%) were killed by their own colleagues or by their own hand, caused by the inadequate handling of the firearms. Ten of them were Army recruits, which is not strange given that the instruction received by those in the “military service” in the Institution is scarce or null.

The question that remains, of course, is how many civilians have lost their lives at the hands of policemen under similar circumstances?” (Nieto, 2001: 32-33).

Arbitrary executions and deaths under custody of the State

The CODEHUPY highlights in its annual reports on human rights in the 1996-2004 period[15], a total of 35 arbitrary homicide cases and extrajudicial executions committed by the National Police and the figure is not definitive nor exhaustive. In many of these cases, one can observe that the deaths occurred after the arrest, as a consequence of the blows inflicted on the prisoners and the lack of adequate and fast attention. Likewise, the application of the “trigger happy” expression or the use without prior warning or need of firearms against persons that did not threaten the lives of third parties are quite frequent.

Respect for the right to life assumes the positive obligation of guaranteeing adequate means to protect and preserve it, that in the cases of persons subject to the State’s custody for any judicial, administrative or of any type order acquires more severe demands in the prevention of situations that, even by omission, could derive in the suppression of the inviolability of life. In this sense, the vulnerability of the persons under the State’s custody is aggravated by the absence of minimum guarantees for life and physical integrity, particularly of the persons doing time in penitentiaries. The CODEHUPY, without maintaining an exhaustive registry, consigns in its annual reports a total of 52 persons victims of violations to the right to life in penitentiaries, whilst in preventive prison or complying with freedom-restraining sentences.

Many of the homicides that occur inside the penal establishments are produced by the action of other inmates, in acts of violence or in deaths by appointment, which reveals the scarce internal security conditions that exist in them[16].  The custody staff of penitentiaries does not have the necessary preparation and equipment to perform their job according to the international standards on the matter.  For example, the United Nations’ Rules for the Protection of Minors deprived of freedom in relation to the prohibition of bearing and using guns on the part of the custody staff at the detention centers of infracting adolescents are not strictly complied with.

Arbitrary Executions against members of peasant organizations

Although the larger part of the post-1989 arbitrary homicides are casual, disconnected or are deprived of political intent, this is not applicable to the peasant movement in the context of the fight for the land during 1989-2004.

Maybe the peasant organizations are the social sectors that suffer in the clearest of ways the sustained action of physical elimination of its members on the part of armed civilians that operate in the rural zones organized by the land owners and, in some cases, by State Agents.  The Documentation and Studies Center (CDE), organization member of CODEHUPY, possesses a systematization of the male and female peasants of the organization that died violently in different circumstances from 1989 to 2004 (Pilz et. al. 2004), that comes to 83 (2 women and 81 men), most of which (44 cases) fell in ambushes prepared by para-Police groups (hired assassins and staff from the haciendas) with the acquiescence and sometimes the direct collaboration of the National Police.  In 18 of the cases there was direct participation of National Police Agents and in the remaining cases there is not enough information available to be able to determine the authors.  All these cases have received an insufficient judicial investigation.

The problem of the execution against members of peasant organizations is closely tied to the conflict generated by the unequal distribution of land in Paraguay: 

“The main point of conflict between the State and peasant movement, is still in relation to the access to land.  Vis-à-vis the non-existence of agrarian reform plans, the strategy mostly utilized by the organizations since the start of the democratic transition in 1989, continues being forcing the negotiations by means of the taking and occupation of large private real estate that are not considered to be rationally exploited.  This strategy of civil disobedience is penalized in the current legislation with up to 2 years of imprisonment (Article 142 of the Penal Code that typifies the felony of invasion of private property), which empowers the jurisdictional organ to intervene ordering evictions and detentions of the persons involved for their penal trial” (Riquelme, 2002: 223).

During the years from 1990 to 2004, an average of 50 agrarian conflicts per year has been produced, with 2004 as the peak year with 162 conflicts and 118 real estate occupations.  During these years, 342 evictions were produced and the detention and penal processing of 6,133 occupying male and female peasants.  (Pilz et. al. 2004).

The National Police maintains in force a Police procedure guide, which, however, is very ambiguous and lacks precision regarding the use of firearms and the prior persuasion measure and does not comply with the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by the Officers in charge of Enforcing the Law.  Under such circumstances, the Police does not observe a protocol for the use of force and firearms adjusted to the international standards for intervention in demonstrations, whether licit or illicit (blocking of highways or evictions of occupations).  In these cases the action of Police agents that are not trained for demonstrations’ interventions is generalized, and neither do they have the self-protecting equipment and non-lethal weaponry to decrease to a minimum the possibility of causing injuries or death.  In these cases, the intervention of non-specialized agents causes them to utilize unthinkingly their firearms against the crowd, and in some cases causing death or serious injuries to the physical integrity of the male and female demonstrators.

Likewise, the State, seeing itself overcome in its capacity of stopping the invasions, allows the owners to create and maintain para-Police groups with armed civilian guards in charge of intimidating and attempting against the life of the peasant organizations’ members that threaten to invade their real-estate.

Deaths of soldiers in the mandatory military service

Since the fall of the dictatorship to date, 110 deaths of soldiers and boy-soldiers during the mandatory military service in the military and Police units have been recorded without ordinary justice having duly investigated or punished the people responsible for such acts.

The assumed causes of these deaths are various.  From deaths in armed confrontations during State coups, going through lack of adequate medical attention, lack of guarantees for life and physical integrity offered by the war material, the equipment and the installations as well as the punishments given by their superiors within the framework of the disciplinary de facto regime that is rampant inside the military units, of extreme hardness and rigor.

Regarding this aspect, the Paraguayan State has already been observed on previous occasions by the Human Rights Inter-American Commission (HRIC, 2001: 104-106) and by the Committee on Children’s Rights (CRC/C/15/Add.166, October 12, 2001, par.4546; CRC/C/15/Add.75,June 18, 1997, par. 36).

Obligation to investigate and sanction arbitrary executions

Even though the obligation of investigating and sanctioning the officers responsible for perpetrating and arbitrary execution correspond to the Public Ministry and to the Judiciary, regrettably the State had omitted to point out to the Committee’s attention the judicial measures adopted in this respect.  Just at the Paraguayan State has not indicated any of the sentences it has applied to public agents found guilty of extra-judicial executions[17]