UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 72) Act No. 5378/2014 amending article 229 of the Criminal Code relating to family violence, together with Act No. 1160/97 as amended by Act No. 4628/12, established a new definition of the crime of family violence which dispensed with the need for the violence to be habitual and for victim and perpetrator to be living together; they also increased the maximum penalty from three to six years imprisonment. The executive branch is considering a bill on comprehensive protection for women against all forms of violence.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 23) AI indicated that although all recommendations to uphold the rights of women and girls and to protect them from violence were accepted, legislation to prevent and punish violence against women has yet to be passed.

National Report:
Para 23) The fourth National Equality Plan (2018–2024),19 which has five stand-alone20 and four intersecting thematic areas,21 incorporates strategies for the substantive equality of men and women, and its aim is to remove obstacles to such equality.
Para 94) One of the stand-alone thematic areas of the fourth National Equality Plan (2018– 2024) is empowerment for decision-making. In 2017, to promote political participation, the High Court of Electoral Justice established the Political Participation Unit76 and the Gender Policy Unit, 77 which are responsible for advocacy, awareness-raising and motivational activities.
Para 96) The Women’s Political Training School is a learning event that has been held seven times81 with a view to highlighting women’s political leadership and supporting the creation of women’s political networks.
Para 97) The project “Getting to Know Our Women Authorities” (decision No. 66/2016), followed by the project Building Citizenship–Women, was launched to raise the visibility of women elected to municipal, departmental or national office. In addition, seminars and workshops were held.
Para 99) Gender statistics from the 2018 general election are accessible online. The Gender Atlas provides data on women in elective office and other decision-making positions.
Para 109) The “For Employment” platform is an intermediary service that can be used to register and look for job opportunities at companies. The Ministry holds regular job fairs. The strategy Employ Equality covers three areas of work to promote the autonomy and economic empowerment of women.
Para 110) The Ministry’s Labour Affairs Support Service was strengthened to promote and protect the rights of working women – particularly pregnant women, nursing mothers and women in the domestic sector – by providing free legal advice and support. In 2020, the Civil Service Secretariat adopted its second Plan for Equality, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination in the Civil Service (2020–2024).
Para 111) Act No. 5508/15 on Promotion and Protection of Motherhood and Support for Breastfeeding was regulated by Decree No. 7550/17 and expanded by Act No. 6453/19. The Judicial Secretariat for Gender Issues organizes activities such as a seminar on the rights of women workers to maternity and breastfeeding leaves (2020).
Para 114) Act No. 5407/15, the Domestic Labour Act, introduced improvements to ensure decent working conditions. In 2019, it was amended by Act No. 6338/19 to bring the wages for domestic labour into line with the minimum wage.
Para 158) Stand-alone thematic area four of the fourth National Equality Plan (2018–2024) informs economic empowerment efforts driven by shared responsibility, employment, financing and entrepreneurship, while prioritizing rural women, indigenous women, girls and adolescents.
Para 159) The module for the economic advancement of women, which is coordinated by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security at the Ciudad Mujer (women’s city) Centre Ñande Kerayvoty Renda and Ciudad Mujer Mobile, facilitates the development of empowerment, skills-building and productive entrepreneurship strategies. In 2020, 44,755 women were provided services by Ciudad Mujer at the Centre itself, and 30,666 services were provided via the mobile mode to 10,856 women in 12 of the country’s departments and 44 of its districts.
Para 160) Equality is the cross-cutting theme of the National Development Plan, the Social Protection System and “Jajapo Paraguay”, the National Poverty Reduction Plan. Tekoporã, Tenonderã and Tekoha continue to promote the empowerment of women heads of household, who account for 75 per cent of the participants in these three programmes.
Para 161) The strategy Employ Equality contributes to the autonomy and economic empowerment of women. The Ministry of Labour established the Entrepreneurship Training Centre, which offers training, formalization and connections to sources of financing for new businesses with a view to creating a favourable environment for the business plans of young Paraguayan women.
Para 162) The Project for the Integration into the Workforce of Women Entrepreneurs (2016– 2018) involved the establishment of revolving funds and training in entrepreneurship and income-generating projects. Women were given incentives to run for office in the 2021 municipal elections. Fairs, training sessions and competitions were held to encourage the use of information and communication technology and women’s entrepreneurship – a digital literacy programme was also promoted.
Para 163) In 2020, the inter-agency group behind the development of a national care policy, coordinated by the Ministry for Women, adopted the framework document for a preliminary bill and plan of action for the definition of this policy.
Para 165) The Embrace (Abrazo) Programme and Fundación Capital have deployed a strategy to give a boost to women’s income and empowerment through training, business improvement, the establishment of groups of savers and alliances with strategic public and private actors. In 2020, with 256 mothers participating in the Abrazo Programme, 16 groups of savers were set up in centres in Asunción and the departments Central, Cordillera and Misiones.
Para 166) Decree No. 3678/2020139 contained the implementing regulations for Act No. 5446/15 on Public Policies for Rural Women, the fifth implementation report on which is available online. The country’s lawmakers are considering a bill that would require equal pay for men and women in both the public and the private sectors.

UN Compilation:
Para 24) The United Nations country team noted that the gender equity approach had been strengthened in the judiciary through strategies to end harmful gender stereotypes in judicial proceedings.
Para 27) The United Nations country team noted that the rate of women’s participation in political life remained among the lowest in the region …
Para 46) CEDAW … concerned about the persistence of structural barriers to access to high-quality education for girls, in particular at the secondary and tertiary levels.
Para 51) The United Nations country team indicated that 31.1 per cent of young rural women were neither in school nor employed, making them vulnerable to unwanted pregnancy, economic dependency and forced migration. Moreover, rural women had higher rates of illiteracy (53.5 per cent) and unemployment (44.7 per cent) because they engaged in domestic work.
Para 52) The HR Committee was concerned about the still limited extent of women’s participation in political and public life and their underrepresentation in decision-making positions and in public and elected office, including in the judiciary, the legislature and the executive branch.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 41) Kuña Róga (KR) reported that equal representation of women in politics had not yet been achieved. JS17 added that changes were still needed to allow women to participate fully in political life.
Para 46) JS1 stated that the youth unemployment rate was twice as high as the overall unemployment rate and three times as high where women were concerned; that youth unemployment mainly affected young persons from lower-income backgrounds; and that steps should be taken to facilitate access to employment for young persons. JS12 reported that there was a high level of non-participation in the labour force among indigenous persons, especially women.
Para 47) JS1 noted that more women than men participated in economic activities on a parttime, flexible or self-employed basis and that the average salary of men was almost double that of women. Steps should therefore be taken to promote the integration of women into the labour market.
Para 68) JS5 stated that young and adolescent girls find it more difficult to gain access to and remain in education.
Para 69) Two submissions reported that illiteracy had increased, especially among indigenous women. JS5 added that the school dropout rate was high.
Para 73) JS1 reported that women continued to face discrimination in various sectors.

National Report:
Para 141) At all levels and in all modes of education, the curriculum takes a rights-based approach and promotes proper treatment and the equality of men and women, with emphasis on the prevention of violence against children and women.
Para 167) Act No. 5777/16 on the Comprehensive Protection of Women from All Forms of Violence was adopted. The Act provides for prevention, care, protection, punishment and comprehensive reparation in the public and private spheres, covers various forms of violence – sexual, physical, psychological, remote, economic, political and workplace violence – and establishes penalties of 10 to 30 years’ imprisonment for femicide. The regulations implementing the Act were adopted under Decree No. 6973/2017.
Para 168) The second National Plan to Combat Violence against Women (2015–2020) was adopted by Decree No. 5140/16, which also established the Inter-Agency Board for the Prevention of Violence against Women. Eighteen agencies from the three branches of government, as well as civil society organizations, are represented on the Board; it is coordinated by the Ministry for Women, which is the advisory body for implementation of Act No. 5777/2016. The implementing regulations were adopted in 2019.
Para 169) The Women’s Support Service provides comprehensive care, information and counselling to women in situations of domestic, sexual, physical, economic and psychological violence in the regional women’s centres and at the Ciudad Mujer Centre Ñande Kerayvoty Renda. The provision of these support services for a life from violence is coordinated by the Ministry for Women.
Para 170) The National Houses of Justice Programme provides free legal advice. An office in Asunción provides advice and legal representation as a result of an agreement between the Ministry of Justice and American University (Paraguay).
Para 171) In 2016, the Civil Service Secretariat adopted a protocol for intervention and guidelines for responses to discrimination and harassment in the workplace (decision No. 516). In 2018, the Secretariat drafted a protocol for action in cases of workplace violence and a guide to ensuring that internal rules are informed by a gender perspective and the imperatives of non-discrimination and respect (decisions No. 387 and No. 388). In 2019, it set up a permanent commission of inquiry and an office for confidential advice in respect of workplace violence.
Para 172) In 2019, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security created an office to respond to and prevent workplace violence and defined a procedure for responses to such violence (including physical violence, psychological violence or mobbing and sexual violence).
Para 173) The health services follow the instructions in a handbook on comprehensive assistance to victims of domestic and gender-based violence, in which uniform procedures for such assistance and for the collection of evidence are laid out. The Mercedes Sandoval House for Women ensures care and protection by providing housing, security, psychological support, legal assistance, medical care, educational support for children and opportunities to generate income.
Para 174) The Ministry for Women administers the free helpline 137, an operating system designed to provide security for women victims of violence that has nationwide coverage and is available 24 hours a day. Since 2019, the Observatory on Women’s Right to a Life Free from Violence has monitored and conducted research on violence against women with a view to designing public policies, informed by data collected in coordination with other observatories, for the prevention and elimination of such violence.
Para 175) The Public Prosecution Service has a specialized unit that investigates cases of domestic violence and a technical gender office that has a facility for the reception of complaints at the Centre Ciudad Mujer. The Service’s General Instruction No. 9/11 provides for immediate assistance to women victims within the framework of investigations into domestic and gender-based violence.
Para 176) The Ministry of the Interior’s Comprehensive Management of Public Safety Programme contributes to the prevention of domestic violence. The Department for the Assistance of Victims of Domestic Violence was created in 2018.
Para 177) Following a competitive examination, the Council of the Judiciary hired 16 defence lawyers specializing in matters relating to gender-based violence (2018) to work in 11 departments and the Capital District. Public defenders receive ongoing training in this area at the Education and Training Centre for Public Defenders.
Para 178) Since 2017, the Judicial Secretariat for Gender Issues has monitored the application of Act No. 5777/16 by courts and tribunals in order to build a database of relevant jurisprudence. It collects information on equality indicators, which are published by the Gender Observatory. Since 2019, the Secretariat, serving as a link to the court system, has been more heavily involved in cases at the Centre Ciudad Mujer.
Para 179) Through the Regional Programme to Combat Violence against Women in Latin America, the Supreme Court conducts analyses and provides training for magistrates and other officials of judicial districts to ensure the proper application of the Act. A memorandum of understanding was signed with United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in 2018. In October 2020, magistrates from magistrates’ courts and employees of the Office for the Assistance of Victims of Violence – an office created pursuant to agreement No. 642/2010 and made a part of the magistrates’ courts of Central Department in accordance with agreement No. 1415/2020 – began receiving training on nonworking days or outside working hours.
Para 180) Several institutions undertook outreach and awareness-raising initiatives in connection with violence against women and the related legal framework, including by organizing campaigns, training sessions and publications or by taking other steps.
Para 181) The Ministry for Women and the Judicial Secretariat for Gender Issues are working on a draft bill that would create courts and tribunals specializing in violence against women.
Para 182) The project “Paraguay Protects Women, Children and Adolescents from Violence in the Context of the COVID-19 Emergency”, promoted by the United Nations Development Programme, facilitated the development of protocols for the issuance of protection orders by magistrates’ courts in cases of domestic violence and responses to workplace harassment, sexual harassment and mobbing in the judicial sphere.

UN Compilation:
Para 14) The United Nations country team noted that, in a historic 2019 judgment, a person had been convicted of femicide in the death of a trans woman. However, discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression remained pervasive in the practice of public institutions.
Para 53) [HR Committee] was concerned about the increase in domestic and sexual violence against women, girls and adolescents and about reports of an alarming number of femicides. The fact that only a very small number of femicides had been investigated since it was established as a crime in 2016 was of particular concern. The United Nations country team was of the view that the 78 per cent rise in the number of calls to the domestic violence centre between 2019 and 2020 was a sign of the stress families were under.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 15) JS9 emphasized … the double discrimination faced by women of African descent, who are vulnerable to various forms of sexual violence.
Para 74) Two submissions reported that Act No. 5777/16 on the Comprehensive Protection of Women from All Forms of Violence established femicide as a criminal offence; however, the fact that the Act contained no reference to gender was detrimental to transgender and lesbian women and could lead to it being applied in a discriminatory way. KR added that political violence against women had not been defined as a specific offence.
Para 75) Several submissions noted that during the COVID-19, gender-based violence and child abuse and mistreatment had increased. JS12 added that the State had done little to provide protection and the courts had done nothing. UC was concerned about the limited provision of prevention and support services for women.

UN Compilation:
Para 39) CEDAW was concerned about the high rates of maternal mortality, mainly owing to unsafe abortions and health professionals refusing to conduct therapeutic abortions. The HR Committee expressed similar concerns.
Para 40) Two Committees and the Special Rapporteur on health noted that the legislation on voluntary termination of pregnancy was extremely restrictive.