UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 61) Paraguay has a national policy to prevent and combat trafficking in persons 2010-2019, and Act No. 4788/12 concerns comprehensive efforts to combat trafficking in persons. On the basis of this Act, the inter-agency round table to prevent and combat trafficking in persons was set up to serve as an advisory body to the Government and to coordinate joint action by different departments. A national plan is under preparation.

Para 62) Care for women victims of trafficking in persons is provided by the Ministry for Women (MINMUJER), via the Directorate-General to Combat Trafficking in Women, 4 referral centres and a temporary shelter for victims of trafficking in persons.

Para 63) The National Secretariat for Children and Adolescents (SNNA) presides over the coordinating body for the protection of victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents and for their care. Inter alia, the temporary shelters provide psychological care together with medical care and assistance with judicial formalities addressed to the Public Defender for Children and Adolescents. The Public Prosecution Service has a unit specialized in combating trafficking in persons and the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. Its training centre also provides a training module on trafficking in persons. The following activities are currently under way: a virtual course on trafficking in persons; preparation of a manual on criminal investigation of cases of trafficking in persons, of a procedural manual and of a guide to services for the victims of trafficking and to diagnosis of the situation of trafficking in Paraguay, in particular as regards women and girls.

Para 80) The National Commission to Prevent and Comprehensively Address Violence Affecting Children and Adolescents in Paraguay has launched the "Decent Treatment for Boys and Girls" campaign, to encourage a positive approach to upbringing that eschews mental or physical punishment to discipline children. The meetings of the intersectoral round table to combat abuse and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents were revived; this body monitors the National Plan to Prevent and Eradicate the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents 2012-2017, in which connection is organized the one-week campaign "My Voice is Your Voice - Let's Denounce Sexual Violence".

UN Compilation:
Para 7) ... Appreciating the Criminal Code provisions prohibiting the sale of children, child pornography and child commercial sexual exploitation, and Act No. 4788/12 on human trafficking ...

National Report:
Para 21) The adoption of a law prohibiting all forms of discrimination is a pending challenge, but by constitutional mandate (art. 46), action is being taken to remove obstacles and to address the causes of discrimination – discrimination against members of the lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and intersex community population is an issue being discussed by both politicians and members of the public at large.

National Report:
Para 186) Joint efforts by the Vice-President’s Office, the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of the Interior and the Directorate General of the Civil Registry led to the launch, within the framework of the “Right to an Identity” National Plan, of the campaign “Everyone Is Someone”, organized to ensure that every birth is registered and every child obtains an identity card at birth.
Para 187) The “Right to an Identity” National Plan ensures that children and adolescents, with the assistance of teams that travel to rural areas, are given free access to identity documents. In health facilities, registration services are always available at registry offices set up to lower rates of non-registration.
Para 188) Documentation workshops are held in indigenous communities. The National Institute of Indigenous Affairs has a number of registry offices. Procedures for immediate access to an identity were developed as part of the work of the National Early Childhood Team. Ongoing mass registration campaigns are organized within the framework of the Directorate General of the Civil Registry’s Timely Registration Programme.

UN Compilation:
Para 55) While noting with satisfaction that the inter-institutional cooperation agreement signed in 2018 provided for the issuance of birth certificates by the consular sections of Paraguayan diplomatic missions abroad, the HR Committee was concerned about the significant percentage of children who were still not registered. The United Nations country team noted that 16 per cent of children under 1 year were not registered, which created problems in terms of claiming their rights.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 81) JS1 reported that there were many children and adolescents without birth certificates, especially among the indigenous and rural population.

National Report:
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 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.

National Report:
Para 7) Act No. 4313/11 to safeguard the budget for reproductive health programmes and ensure supplies of the childbirth kit provided by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare.

Para 111) The National Sexual and Reproductive Health Plan 2014-2018 (PNSR) was adopted and Act No. 4313/11 to secure the budget of reproductive health programmes and ensure supplies of consumables, medicines, childbirth kits and contraceptives remains in force. A manual on humanized post-abortion care has been introduced; the committees to monitor health and maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality nationwide have been strengthened and the maternal mortality ratio was reduced by 33.6 per cent in 2014.

Para 112) Drafting continued of a bill to promote, protect and support breastfeeding, which provides for a number of innovations such as pre-and postnatal rest periods, paternity leave, 100 per cent social security coverage during a mothers rest period, job security during the period of breastfeeding, leave following premature birth, multiple childbirth and adoption, etc.

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 47) JS1 referred to the lack of access to health-care services, and specifically sexual and reproductive health services. Parliament had still not considered the sexual, reproductive, maternal and perinatal health bill presented in the Senate in 2008.

Para 50) JS1 noted advances such as the adoption of standards for post-abortion care under a resolution of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare, which aimed to establish standards of care for women who came to health-care services with incomplete or ongoing miscarriages ...

Para 52) AI noted that recommendations calling for a reduction in maternal mortality rates and for the introduction of measures to safeguard women's universal right to life and health through the provision of safe and legal abortion, have yet to be implemented. In 2014, a National Plan on Sexual and Reproductive Health (Plan Nacional de Salud Sexual y Reproductiva 2014 -2018) was published. Despite one of its objectives being the reduction of maternal mortality, the plan makes no reference to changing current legislation.

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.