Children Human Right in the Dominican Republic

Children Human Right in the Dominican Republic

Introduction

The present and future challenges of the Dominican Republic are countless and increasing with the passing time. Dominican youth deserve better opportunities. It is unacceptable to see so many young people unemployed, many with technical degrees and university, and others who did not continue their studies because they had to work, overwhelmed by poverty. According to information from the Youth Centre and Public Policy, the urban youth unemployment rate was 10.7% and now reaches 14.7%, the highest of all countries assessed in the Caribbean (Report on the situation of human rights in The Dominican Republic, 1999).

It is also unacceptable that precisely because of lack of government support thousands of young are desperate and lack direction, falling into crime, prostitution and drug use, social disease that affects a large part of Dominican society. There is still time to undertake plans to support youth. President Danilo Mejia has given his word to that effect, starting with that will meet next year (2013) the Act which gives education to 4% of gross domestic product (GDP). But not to create a new bureaucracy, but to seek a quality education, including better training of teachers, as well as stimulating them with decent wages. This paper will focus upon the biggest challenge being faced by the Dominican Republic and that is, child prostitution in the current age.

Children Human Rights

In the field of Children and Youth, the Dominican Republic is a signatory to several conventions, treaties and declarations, generated both by the UN system and by the Inter-American System of Human Rights. These organizations protect the human rights of children and youth, and whose ratification has shown a declared intention of the Honduran State to respect, protect, defend, promote and guarantee the same in our territory. Also, the domestic legislation of Dominican Republic has important legal instruments that contain the elements necessary for the protection of their children and young people. They start with the Constitution, followed by laws such as the Code of Children and Adolescents, the Law for the Integral Development of Youth Prevention Act, rehabilitation and social reintegration of person's gangs, among others (Langwith, 2008). However, despite these legal breakthroughs and repeated government statements of goodwill, historically there have been systematic violations of the rules contained in those instruments by the Dominican Republic, as evidenced by all reports, and human rights representatives have confirmed the reality of the country to the United Nations and the OAS.

Faced with such violations, in normal times the public could use the mechanisms established under the rule of law to defend them, seek redress and advocate for the construction of preventive policies. Overall, including the poverty and unemployment rates, the statistics are impressive: a 29.70% of Dominican youth between 15 and 24 years are not in jobs and the number doubles among women, indicating that this population segment is still the most affected. The unemployment rates are nearly double the national average in most ...