Libro I Título V. Disposiciones especiales

For the purposes of this Law, the rights of boys, girls and adolescents are threatened or violated by:

a)Action or omission by any member of society or of the State.

b)Failure, omission or abuse by parents, guardians or persons responsible.

c)Actions or omissions against themselves.

The following are obligations of the State, through its competent bodies, when there is a threat to or violation of the rights of children and adolescents:

a)To ensure that public or private institutions serving boys, girls and adolescents whose rights are threatened or violated respect and restore those rights to them, especially their right to life, security, cultural identity, customs, traditions and language, and provide them with comprehensive and dignified treatment.

b)To coordinate actions and promote programs that foster family unity and stability, civics, national identity, moral values, respect for human rights and leadership for community development.

c)To design policies and implement comprehensive health programs with the participation of institutions dedicated to health care, aimed at disease prevention, providing the supplies that are necessary. To that end, it shall foster to the maximum the participation of boys, girls and adolescents, the family and the community.

d)To promote and implement, within its capabilities, at appropriate times, complementary education programs for boys, girls and adolescents.

e)To ensure that activities offering popular, cultural and sports entertainment are developed in the marginal urban and rural areas of the country and to foster the practice thereof through the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the municipalities.

f)To establish, with community participation, training programs for skilled work for adolescents living in extreme poverty in order to provide them with an option for economic advancement.

g)To ensure that orphaned boys, girls and adolescents are immediately placed with other relatives, following prior investigation, facilitating legal procedures for them.

h)To design and implement programs on sexual education, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, preparation for procreation and life as a couple, which instill responsible fatherhood and motherhood.

It is the duty of persons to participate in all those governmental and non-governmental programs implemented in favor of children and adolescents whose rights are threatened or violated.

It is the obligation of parents, guardians or persons responsible for boys, girls and adolescents to guarantee them the enjoyment of their rights:

a)To provide them with affection and dedication.

b)To provide them with the material resources necessary for their development, according to their economic means.

c)To guide them preventively, as well as to actively participate in community prevention and rehabilitation programs.

d)To justly guide the conduct of their sons and daughters under their care, employing prudent means of discipline that do not violate their dignity and personal integrity, as well as to report all kinds of violations of their human rights.

e)To receive specialized treatment to overcome the addictions and aggressive behaviors they exhibit.

f)To strive to identify the talent of their sons, daughters and wards in order to seek the specialized assistance warranted by the case.

The directors, teachers and staff of educational or assistance institutions who detect in the boys, girls and adolescents under their responsibility cases of possession, consumption of alcoholic or psychotropic substances that produce dependence shall inform the parents or responsible persons so that they adopt the corresponding protection measures, with the latter required to participate actively in the process of of Adolescence shall be responsible for the formulation their parents, they shall refer them to specialized institutions for their treatment and rehabilitation. In no case may those who are in the process of rehabilitation or have been rehabilitated be deprived of access to educational or assistance establishments.

Educational establishments may apply the preventive and disciplinary measures established in their internal regulations relating to the conduct of their students and technical and administrative staff, provided that their dignity, their personal integrity and the rights and guarantees of the boy, girl and adolescent are respected, especially due process and their right of defense.