Attorney General gives policy guidelines for inclusion of childhood, adolescence, youth, women and family development plans

The Attorney General's Office, Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado, urged national authorities and territorial order to evaluate public policies on childhood, adolescence and youth, and include the rights of women and family in the plans development, meeting the technical guidelines on the matter and taking into account the life cycle approach to security and restoration of rights.

Through Directive 001, issued on 26 January, the chief public prosecutor asked the ministers of Health and Social Protection, Education, Housing, City and Territory, Finance, Agriculture and Rural Development, Justice and of law, and the Interior Minister to senior Presidential Women's Equality, the directors of the National Planning for Prosperity and Social Administration, the Presidential Young Colombia, the Colombian Family Welfare Institute, the Attorney General's Office, governors, mayors, congressmen, councilors, representatives and the other authorities responsible for public policies for children, adolescents, youth, women and families, and appropriate resources allocated for the implementation of public policies the benefit of these populations.

Ordóñez Attorney urged regional authorities to draw up an assessment of the situation of children and adolescents in their department or municipality within the first four months of his term, in order to establish priority issues to be address and identify strategies to be implemented for it.

Referring, among other things, provisions for the inclusion of the right to food and nutrition security with emphasis on early childhood development plans, the chief public prosecutor urged the Ministry of Health and Social Protection to convene Intersectoral Commission for Food Security and Nutrition in order to develop the National Plan for Food Security and Nutrition 2008-2017, as provided in Conpes 113 of March 31, 2008, in a coordinated manner with local authorities and promoting their territorial and administrative autonomy.

For juvenile criminal policy, the attorney general regional leaders urged to take into account the targets set in the National Development Plan (Act 1450 of 2011) and to that extent the Criminal Responsibility System for Adolescents should become a priority, especially with regard to the construction of specialized care centers and units of service for adolescents in conflict with the law. Also urged to include sufficient resources to implement public policies that ensure that the investigation and prosecution of these adolescents, and the execution of the penalty placed upon them, they comply with the substantive and procedural safeguards under Principles of Criminal Responsibility System for Adolescents.

In terms of inclusion of the rights of women in development plans, the Attorney General's Office requested, among other things, to be included in the territorial budgets sufficient resources to implement public policies with gender perspective, the issue of violence against women be included in the agenda of the Social Policy Councils, and to promote mechanisms to ensure citizen participation, including, in particular women's organizations in the development of diagnosis and in formulating the development plan and create conditions for effective social control.

The Chief Public Prosecutor also referred to some provisions for the inclusion of the right to adequate housing as a means to guarantee the rights of children, adolescents, women and family. Among other things, urged regional authorities to draw up an assessment of the housing situation in their region, containing the (i) calculation of quantitative housing deficit, (ii) the calculation of qualitative housing deficit, (iii ) the survey and quantification of the risk areas in the municipality, (iv) quantification of the settlements at risk, (v) quantification of the areas and homes affected by the cold wave, (vi) the quantification of claims housing for the displaced population, and (vii) the quantification of the demands of other special populations in the municipality.

In this directive, the Attorney General asked the governors and mayors to forward the respective development plans, duly approved starting next July 3rd to 30th of that month, the Prosecutor for the Defense of Rights Children, Adolescents and Families. Prosecutors regional, provincial and Family Affairs judicial and municipal representatives, they shall monitor compliance with Directive 001 of 2012.