Panama02CM

Country: Panama Committee: Unicef Nov Topic: Child Marriage

I. Country Profile: 1. La Republica de Panama or the Republic of Panama 2. tropical maritime; hot, humid, cloudy; prolonged rainy season that lasts from May to January 3. (a) Location: 9 00 N, 80 00W (c) Size: 78,200 sg km __**B. Political Geography**__ 4. Panama is a constitutional democracy. Political parties include: Democratic Change, Democratic Revolutionary Party Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement, Panamenista Party, Patriotic Union Party, Popular Party. Government officials are President Martin Torrijos Espino, First Vice President Samuel Lewis Navarro, Second Vice President Ruben Arosemena Valdes. 5. The capital is Panama. 6. Panama is affiliated with BCIE, CAN, CSN, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAES, LAIA, MIGA, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UN Security Council, UNASUR, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, Union Latina,UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO 7. President ENDARA in 1990 abolished Panama's military and created the Panamanian Public Forces, and in 1994,Panama's Legislative Assembly approved a constitutional amendment prohibiting the creation of a standing military force. however it allowed the temporary establishment of special police units to counter acts of "external aggression", thus there is no regular military force __**C. Cultural Geography**__ 8. Spanish is the official language in Panama but about 14% of Panamanians speak English. Ethnicities range from mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 70%, Amerindian and mixed (West Indian) 14%, white 10%, Amerindian 6%. major religions are Roman Catholic and Protestant. 9. population is 3,309,679 and the growth rate is 1.544%. Distribution in Panama ranges from ages 0-14 years: 29.6%, 15-64 years: 63.8%, 65 years and over: 6.7% 10. major cities include Panama, David, Balboa, Cristobal, La Chorrera, Santiago, and San Miguelito. 11. Infant mortality:13.4% per 1000 births. 12. Physicians (per 10,000 people) 16.8%; Teachers are 3.8% __**D. Economic Geography**__ 13. GDP: $39.33 billion; Per Capita: $11,900 14. 7.26% of land that is arable 15. copper, Mahogany forests, shrimp, hydropower 16. Industrial: petroleum products, paper products, textiles and clothing, plastic products, and light assembly; Agricultural: rice, maize, beans, bananas, sugar cane, coffee bean, cattle, timber, and shrimp 17. Exports: melon, watermelon, bananas, shrimp, lobster, sugar, clothes and coffee Imports: machinery and transport equipment, petroleum and mineral products, electronic equipment, and food 18. Currency: Balboa and the US dollar 19. Exports: $10.37 billion Imports: $15.18 billion 20. Panama was explored and settled by the Spanish in the sixteenth century. We broke from Spain in 1821 and joined Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela in a union called the Republic of Gran Colombia. Panama seceded from Columbia in 1903 and that year signed a treaty with the USA which allowed for the construction of a canal and gave them sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone. The canal was built between 1904 and 1914. in 1977 an agreement was signed for the transfer of the canal to Panama from the US. Moreover, in 1989 Manuel Noriega Panama's dictator was overthrown with the help of the USA. Furthermore, recently in October of 2006 the expansion of the Panama canal was approved and the project began in 2007. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/pm.html http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/countryfacts/panama.html#Economy http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/worldguide/maps2/988_a.jpg __II. Background__ Child Marriage is a forced engagement between a young girl or boy under the age of 18 to and older man or woman. Child marriage is a result of poverty, protection, and family reputation. Poverty is one o the leading causes because families sell their children into marriage to pay off debts or in exchange for economic support from the buyer. Male superiority and the belief that a woman needs a man to protect her leads to young girls to be married early. this give the child's parents a sense of security because their young daughter is protected and secure in her husband's home, however chid marriage is a big problem due to the fact that most of the time a child is abused physically or psychologically or both. in many cultures, a family's reputation is based solely on their daughter(s)'s virginity at marriage, thus in order to make sure that the young girl is pure and that the family's prestige will be secure, she is married at an early age. Child marriage cheat a child out of their innocence and their rights to be children and be educated. Young girls instead of reaching for success in life, they reach for a broom or rag to preform their duties as housewives. they are forced to pleasure their husband in sexual intercourse, even though their bodies are fully developed to handle it. This sadly leads to bigger problems such as pregnancy or HIV/AIDS. Child marriage is a problem worldwide including the US. In Yemen this year, a child bride of the age of 10, named Nujood Ali made a difference in the thoughts of many people by going to court and pleading for a divorce on the basis that she was being physically hurt and forced to engage in sexual activity with her 30-some year old husband. This led to prompted calls to raise the age of consent of 15 to an enforced legal age if 18. __III. UN INVOLVEMENT__ The UN is     strongly involved with the protection of children rights and the prevention of chid rights infringement. The United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF), Human Rights Watch (HRW), United Nation Population Fund(UNFPA), the International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC), the International Center for Research on Women(ICRW), and the Division for the Advancement of Women(DAW) are committees created in order to raise awareness of the violation of women and children's rights around the world. Their have been several treaties enacted to give specify a legal marriage age, to give rights to children, and to stop child marriage before it happens again. They include: the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child(CRC), the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights(UDHR), the 1964 Convention on Consent to Marriage, the 1979 Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against women(CEDAW), and the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action(PoA). The CRC sets the bar by stating that a child is a human being under the age of 18 and gives a child bride the ability to get a divorce without any objection because under Article 19 it states, "... take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, negligence or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s), or any other person who has the care of the child". The UDHR in Article 16 makes marriage a legal bond in which both spouses must consent. The Convention on Consent of Marriage calls for the enforcement of a minimum legal age for marriage and annuls all marriages that have a member underneath the minimum age. additionally, CEDAW in article 16 states, " 1. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women: (a) The same right to enter into marriage; (b) The same right freely to choose a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent; (c) The same rights and responsibilities during marriage and at its dissolution; (d) The same rights and responsibilities as parents, irrespective of their marital status, in matters relating to their children; in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount; (e) The same rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights; (f) The same rights and responsibilities with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship and adoption of children, or similar institutions where these concepts exist in national legislation; in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount; (g) The same personal rights as husband and wife, including the right to choose a family name, a profession and an occupation; (h) The same rights for both spouses in respect of the ownership, acquisition, management, administration, enjoyment and disposition of property, whether free of charge or for a valuable consideration. 2.The betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect, and all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage and to make the registration of marriages in an official registry compulsory. " __IV. Country Policy/Possible Solutions__     Marriage in Latin America refers to legal and consensual views. A marriage is not legal unless both spouses are of legal age. Panama is a country in the Latin America region, thus sharing the same view on marriage. the legal marriage age in Panama is 18 for both male and female as of 2003. A young girl may get married at the age of 14 with her parent's consent and court approval, and a young man may get married at 16 on the same conditions. However, marriage statistics range amongst countries. In Latin America altogether, 29% of the girls are married by the age of 18 and 20% of the girls aged 15-19 are currently married. Panama is willing to support organizations that help fund or work to lower the number of girls being forced to marry at a young age. We also propose striving for gender equality as a solution to our this growing problem because it is indirectly involved with child marriage. Furthermore, we propose Youth Overlooked in Under-developed Countries(YOUC) an organization that focuses on the protecting the children that are neglected in developing countries because they are the ones that are affected the most since their families are prone to poverty due to the lacking economy; also, the organization ANCM or abolish non-consensual child marriage, which focuses on the deterioration of child marriages world-wide. these organizations will focus on enforcing already enacted legal ages for marriage and also enforcing the rights of children on the basis of already instated UN documents. Panama is looking for support both financially and in setting these and other organizations for the benefit of this world's youth. __http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/341/facts.html________ http://un.org/Overview/rights.html____ http://www.icrw.org/docs/tooyoungtowed_1003.pdf____ http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-childbride11-2008jun11,0,5271790.story__ __http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/convention.htm________ http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/states.htm__ __http://www.un.org/rights/dpi1765e.htm____ http://data.un.org/DocumentData.aspx?id=58__
 * __A. Physical Geography__ **