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Uruguay - Combined eighth and ninth periodic reports of States parties in 2014 [2015] UNCEDAWSPR 6; CEDAW/C/URY/8-9 (2 March 2015)

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination

against Women

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention

Combined eighth and ninth periodic reports of States parties in 2014

* This document is being issued without formal editing.

Uruguay*

[Date received: 16 January 2015]

Acronyms

1. In order to ensure a broad participatory process in the preparation of the periodic reports of Uruguay to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which by presidential decree was entrusted to the inter-agency commission for international-level gender issues,^[1] drafting of this periodic report was undertaken by that commission, which has been operational since 2004 and is made up of a broad range of public bodies and feminist and women’s organizations; it is co-coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Women’s Institute (Inmujeres). Hence, other strategic agencies were called upon to help with the drafting^.[2]

2. The drafting process was supported by UN Women, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the expert member of the CEDAW Committee, Ms. Line Bareiro.

3. The report has been structured around each of the recommendations issued and the articles of the Convention on which progress has been made.

Recommendation (paragraph 11)

4. The definition of discrimination against women has not yet been incorporated into national law. The National Women’s Institute (Inmujeres) has drawn up a draft bill on gender equality to improve the legislation in this area: it establishes guarantees and mechanisms geared to enforceability of the principles and rights set out in the law, links the various legal instruments found scattered through the legislation, and strengthens gender mainstreaming throughout the country as well as the guiding role of Inmujeres, whose tasks it regulates and expands; it also redefines the role and powers of the current National Gender Council (CNG) and bolsters gender commissions within the Government.

5. The draft bill incorporates the definition of discrimination established by CEDAW and extends it to gender-based discrimination, direct and indirect discrimination, and multiple forms of discrimination.

6. It has been circulated, presented and validated in different forums (National Conference on Gender and other public and civil society agencies) and will be tabled at the next session of Parliament (2015–2020).

Recommendation (paragraph 13)

7. As part of the implementation of the national plan to combat domestic violence, five national meetings were held with the departmental commissions for the fight against domestic violence (four in 2009 and one in 2013), with the aim of strengthening the departments’ institutional matrix and decentralizing the implementation of the plan. The meetings were attended by all member institutions of the National Advisory Council against Domestic Violence (CNCLVD). Training is also provided on an ongoing basis to officials of the agencies making up CNCLVD, including the judiciary (PJ) and the Office of the Public Prosecutor (MPF), in the prevention, detection and treatment of gender violence situations (Tables 1 and 2). In addition, training on gender-based violence (GBV) was given under the First National Plan for Equality of Opportunity and Equal Rights for Men and Women (PIODNA).

8. Since 2011,^[3] the judiciary has been conducting a human rights training seminar for serving judges and prosecutors; the 21-hour seminar covers gender relationships, human rights and international standards. A human rights course has also been incorporated into the initial training programme for candidates to judgeships, and since 2015 has specifically covered women’s human rights. Awareness activities on gender and human rights have been conducted over the last few years (Tables 3 and 3.1). Again, at the level of the Gender Committee created in 2014 by the Attorney General’s Office, a national videoconference on gender was held for public prosecutors, while a complete training seminar was prepared for 2015. The Centre for Judicial Studies (CEJU) has conducted a campaign on rights and the administration of Justice in primary schools.

Recommendation (paragraph 15)

9. The Political Participation Act contains special temporary measures (Act No. 18476, appendix); these were covered in the 2012 follow-up report. They will be applied during the 2014–2015 electoral process, which is a very short deadline for generating changes in women’s political participation. A bill to extend the applicability of the law has been tabled and is being debated.

10. Act No. 19122 and its Regulatory Decree No. 144/014 establish special temporary measures for 15 years, including a provision that 8 per cent of jobs be filled each year by persons of African descent in all branches of the State, the Court of Accounts, the Electoral Court, the Court of Claims, departmental governments, autonomous entities, decentralized services and non-governmental public entities. They also call for a gender perspective to be adopted in filling such vacancies.

11. Special measures for women were incorporated into two programmes under the 2007 equity plan, calling for protected employment for vulnerable populations: the “Uruguay Works” programme (Act No. 18240), and its update under Act No. 19149, which set out special measures for groups with employability problems: young people, women, persons of African descent, transsexuals and persons with disabilities. Women’s participation has been around 70 per cent each year. (Tables 4 and 5). Another programme that favoured hiring of women through special measures is the “Objective Employment” programme, which was presented in the 2012 follow-up report.

12. The Youth Employment Act, No. 19133, promotes and expands hiring opportunities for socially vulnerable persons: young people 18 to 24 years of age, women, persons of African descent, transgendered persons and low-skilled young people, through special measures, such as work experience in private companies, first work experience for graduates, bigger subsidies for socioeconomically vulnerable young people, first work experience in the Government (50 per cent women, 8 per cent African descent, 4 per cent persons with disabilities and 2 per cent transsexuals), hands-on training in companies, etc. Approval of the regulatory decree is pending.

13. In 2012, the “I Study and Work” programme was launched, an inter-agency initiative to strengthen the link between academia and the world of work. Coordinated by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MTSS) and run in conjunction with the National Youth Institute (INJU) of the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) and the National Employment and Vocational Training Institute (INEFOP), its objective is to provide a first formal work experience to young students aged 16–20, to equip them with basic labour market skills. Starting with the third edition of the programme (2014), it was supplemented in the Department of Montevideo by the special temporary measures for the population of persons of African descent, transgendered persons, women and the disabled.^[4]

14. In 2012, the programme “Uruguay Grows with You” was created to meet the needs of vulnerable children under 4. It establishes a special measure for the protection of mothers and young children. Its overall objective is to develop a comprehensive early childhood protection system in order to ensure full development of children and their families, starting with protection of the pregnant woman as regards rights, equity, gender equality, social justice and full human development. To that end, it combines universal and targeted actions. (Tables 6 and 7).

Recommendation (paragraph 17)

15. In 2007, the Act on Equality of Opportunity and Equal Rights for Men and Women was approved (Act No. 18104 of 2007) and the regulatory decree was approved by PIODNA; the law also created the National Coordinating Council for Public Policies on Gender Equality, which is a body chaired by Inmujeres and made up of representatives of all ministries, the Congress of Mayors, the Supreme Court, the University of the Republic (UdelaR) and four civil society organizations (the National Workers’ Confederation, business associations, rural women and feminist organizations), as was indicated in the 2007 report.

16. Social Reform has been the core of the development model promoted since 2012 to improve access to, and the universality of, social benefits, with a focus on social justice. In that context MIDES has undertaken a reform process to simplify and streamline its organizational structure, keeping six national directorates including Inmujeres. That restructuring process involved a challenge to the fabric of the social development policies of Uruguay. Its effect on Inmujeres was to reaffirm its functions, vision and mission, allowing it to further develop its stewardship role in guiding, promoting, regulating and controlling gender policy in Uruguay.

17. Inmujeres, for its part, undertook to strengthen its guiding role through various strategies:

18. Promotion of the creation of various institutional mechanisms for the advancement and mainstreaming of women’s rights, such as gender commissions, quality committees focusing on gender equity, gender networks or other bodies, enshrined in inter-institutional agreements;

19. Systematic training for public servants on gender and non-discrimination issues and related subjects;

20. Support for the development, implementation and follow-up of action plans that seek to mainstream the gender perspective in public policies and organizational management.

21. Promotion of gender mainstreaming in the national budget;

22. Processing and analysis of information with a gender perspective through its own gender information system (SIG) which it makes available to various politico-institutional actors, social organizations and the general public, providing rigorous statistical information to support decision-making and the design of public policies that incorporate the gender perspective;

23. Writing and dissemination of publications on specific topics (decision-making, measurement of poverty, women of African descent, work and employment, use of time, among others).^[5]

24. Support and advocacy for the design and implementation of legislation and policies for the promotion and defence of women’s rights in a number of inter-institutional areas; acting as chair of CNG and CNCLVD; coordination of the Inter-institutional Committee on Trafficking in Women for purposes of sexual exploitation and of the working group on women deprived of liberty, with which is integrated the Tripartite Commission on Equal Opportunities and Treatment in employment (CTIOTE); and joint coordination, with the Foreign Ministry, of the Inter-institutional Commission on gender issues in the international arena, with which are integrated the Advisory Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health, the National AIDS Commission, the Maternal Mortality Commission and the Sectoral Council on Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) of the Productive Cabinet.

25. To achieve its objectives, Inmujeres has developed activities financed both from budget appropriations and by international cooperation agencies. It is important to note that because Inmujeres is not an implementation unit, it does not have its own budget nor the power to spend the funds appropriated by MIDES without proper authorization.

26. When Inmujeres was established (2005), the funds derived from international cooperation accounted for around 50 per cent of the total funds disbursed over the first 3 years; in the following years, MIDES gradually began allocating budget appropriations to the various projects the Institute was undertook. In recent years Inmujeres has acquired significant spending authority, following the growing trend in spending levels for all funds appropriated by MIDES. The 2013 Inmujeres budget was affected by the ministerial restructuring process; when the National Social Development Directorate was established as an implementation unit, it took over the spending programmes of all other units. As a result, specialized support services for women victims of domestic violence (DV) and trafficking situations in Montevideo and inland, which had been under the responsibility of the Gender-based Violence Division of Inmujeres, moved to that implementation unit, which meant a significant reduction in appropriation and spending of budget funds, as well as Inmujeres’s human resources. In keeping with the above, there is a decrease in the funds spent in 2013 relative to voluntary insurance, as the GBV Division’s budget was cut by some 80 per cent (tables 8 and 9).

27. Lastly, it should be noted that more staffing has been done in the various departmental offices, though coverage is not yet provided in 4 of the country’s 19 departments.

Recommendation (paragraph 19)

28. In 2012, proposals were made by CNCLVD and the Integral System of Protection of Childhood and Adolescence against Violence^[6] (SIPIAV) for a draft study on the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Penal Code, which contained a proposal to penalize rape in marriage or cohabitation with or without a judicial declaration, as well as advances regarding domestic violence, sexual harassment and sexual abuse, while constraints based on gender stereotypes were to be eliminated in criminal matters.

29. The draft Penal Code was tabled in the House of Representatives in December 2014, but as a result of strong institutional pressure and representations by feminist and women’s organizations, it was decided to refer the project to a Commission to consider the objections raised. The draft identified the funding and staffing difficulties mentioned above, included the title “Protection of Intrauterine Life” in the article governing abortion outside the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and kept sexual offences under the title “Offences against Good Customs and Family Order”, to mention only a few issues.

Recommendation (paragraph 21)

30. As regards the work to eliminate gender stereotypes, the national television channel of Uruguay developed a code of ethics that includes, among other issues, the treatment of gender-based violence, discrimination and issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as self-regulation for content and promotion of equal participation between the sexes in the media.

31. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MTD) is applying the policy whereby the sexist use of the female image is to be avoided in advertising campaigns for tourist destinations and in MTD promotional materials.

32. The Plan Ceibal^[7] has facilitated the dissemination of non-discriminatory content with a gender perspective. Since 2013 it has been doing coordination work with Inmujeres to develop computer tools for these undertakings.

33. The plain language programme of the national directorate of official printing and publications (IMPO), in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) and the House of Representatives of Uruguay, aims to promote awareness of laws by translating them into simple language. Its main purpose is to disseminate policy instruments by simple, effective communication. In one of its components, a public information campaign is being developed on national legislation on human rights, in an audiovisual format with subtitles, intended for TV, web, radio and street signage.

34. Inmujeres has carried out a series of campaigns to communicate and impart an awareness of rights as well as theoretical and conceptual content. Particular mention should be made of the awareness campaigns for the eradication of gender and ethno-racial discrimination, “Do We Know How We Speak?”, for schools.

35. The Audiovisual Communication Services Act was passed in December 2014. Inmujeres and feminist organizations helped promote gender mainstreaming in the text of the Act, which regulates aspects of the form of ownership of the communications media, content management, advertising messages, communications channels, and child protection, among other issues.

36. An awareness campaign on rights and decent work was conducted, with an emphasis on young people, through MIDES, INJU and MTSS, called “Same Rights”; It enjoyed national coverage for 3 months and was focused on young people and employers. It sought to put the theme of decent work for young people on the agenda and influence public opinion employing a rights, gender and ethno-racial diversity perspective. An inter-agency educational project was also developed (INJU-MIDES, Social Security Bank (BPS), MEC, MTSS, and the National Public Education Administration (ANEP) with the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO)), aimed at mainstreaming the theme of decent work in the formal education system through educational materials and training for teachers in high schools across the country.

37. Inmujeres carried out an awareness and promotion campaign on Act No. 18561, the Sexual Harassment Act, using posters and leaflets that were distributed country-wide through the good offices of the Institute’s regional standard-bearers on gender, as well as through internal links to the gender mechanisms of the various ministries and public companies, primarily MTSS, including a brochure and a handbook on how to deal with situations of sexual harassment in the workplace.^[8] An important set of awareness-raising and training actions were also carried out on legislation and rights.

38. The Ministry of the Interior (MInterior) formed a commission to draw up a guide to inclusive language, intended for the production of communiqués, appeals and complaint forms under the subsection. Training was given on the use of the guide and on recommending a quality journalistic approach, with a focus on rights, in the area of violence affecting or involving children and adolescents, especially sexual exploitation, to staff in the areas of press and public relations at police headquarters in Montevideo and Canelones and the communications unit of the Ministry of the Interior.^[9]

Recommendation (paragraph 23)

39. The approach to the problem of violence against women and girls, boys and adolescents, has for years remained a response fragmented by sector and focused on emergencies. Beginning with Act No. 17514, already presented in the 2007 report, and the creation of CNCLVD^[10] and SIPIAV, Uruguay undertook a process of policy development based on inter-agency cooperation and a linked network of services whereby each agency (health, security, social services and education, among others) acts according to its own remit and the characteristics of each situation. The creation of CNCLVD has helped to strengthen and coordinate public action in this area. Its purpose is, among other tasks, to advise the Executive Branch on matters within its purview, to ensure compliance with Act No. 17514 and the associated regulations, to design and organize anti-DV plans, to promote the coordination and integration of sectoral policies to combat DV designed by the various public entities having jurisdiction in that regard, and to draw up an annual report on the fulfilment of its tasks and on the national DV situation. Since 2007, the number of departmental anti-DV commissions has been increased to 19.

40. Under the project “Uruguay United to end violence against women and girls”, a media coverage guide was prepared on gender-based and generational violence.

41. In that connection, the National Plan to Combat Domestic Violence, drawn up by CNCLVD, was an important milestone in generating political/institutional commitments to implementation of the public policy on domestic violence. .

42. In November 2012, CNCLVD issued the document “Measures for a Country Free of Domestic Violence” as part of the life and social harmony strategy presented by the Security Cabinet. It recognizes violence in the domestic and emotional context, whose main victims are women, children and adolescents, as a public safety issue. It sets out three programmatic themes and two cross-cutting ones: prevention, access to justice and support services, on the one hand, and on the other the cross-cutting themes of information and training systems and of education for public servants.

43. Progress has been made in incorporating the disability dimension into the fight against gender-based violence; accordingly, the National Disability Programme and Inmujeres have developed awareness materials on rights and prevention, some of which have been printed in Braille.

44. The system for responding to situations of gender-based and generational violence has called for a systemic view of actions that will allow inter-agency mechanisms and the specificity of each sector to be strengthened, both from an ethno-racial standpoint and in terms of sexual diversity and disability. In that sense, it is a policy whereby all actors at all levels should be involved with a first response. The response system established provides for prevention actions, a support services network, rehabilitation, access to the justice system, information systems, and training and skills development.^[11]

45. Under Act No. 17514, a system specific to the judiciary has been established, made up of all inland magistrate’s courts and first-instance courts dealing with family law as well as six courts specializing in domestic violence, for which purpose multidisciplinary teams have been formed in capitals country-wide and training has been given to all operators; the Supreme Court (SCJ) has remained vigilant in this regard.

46. As regards Inmujeres-MIDES, implementation of public support services for women victims of domestic violence forms part of their strategy of offering a comprehensive, specialized response to such situations.

47. Their services give psycho-social support and legal aid to women victims of domestic violence and, for inland services, advocacy at trial. Currently, 18 public services and 12 mobile units country-wide are providing support for women victims of gender-based violence.

48. In 2011, support services were augmented with mobile units, which provide detection and early response in GBV cases. They also perform advocacy and awareness work at the community level, to provide service in cities, towns and rural areas. In 2012 and 2013, all technical services teams received training so that lesbian women in domestic violence situations could also be supported. By 2015, the goal is to have complete coverage at the national level, with units operational in all departments. In 2012, there were 2,013 applications.

49. With respect to the housing component, since January 2009 the project “Transitional Housing Alternatives for Women Emerging from DV Situations” has been in operation. Run by the Ministry of Housing, Land Management and the environment (MVOTMA) and MIDES, it is national in scope, as indicated above. From January 2009 to October 2013, 194 women and 500 children and adolescents took advantage of the programme, for a total of 694 beneficiaries.

50. Since 2007, the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) and the National Integrated Health System (SNIS) has had 103 referral teams distributed throughout the country, at public and private institutions, including public institutions not belonging to SNIS. Those teams are responsible for organizing and supporting in-patient care and direct assistance in more serious cases. At the health services, according to 2012 data, 522 cases were investigated; out of 200 women over 15 years of age, 4.090 (0.8 per cent) were found to be current or former DV victims. Of that total, 1.711 women were directed to the DV referral teams.

51. Under the auspices of the National Institute for Children and Adolescents of Uruguay (INAU), SIPIAV currently has 15 local reception committees running country-wide; their objective is to receive, guide and coordinate support for children and adolescents in situations of violence, within the framework of the comprehensive protection model. For its part, INAU operates services that deal every day with situations of violence affecting children and adolescents through the review and referral centres in each department in the country: the telephone hotline (Línea Azul), family referral centres, Casamiga and the Family Support Unit. Again, a support programme for children and adolescents victimized by trafficking and/or commercial sexual exploitation was established in November 2012. In the nation’s capital a team stands ready to address whatever situations may arise. Agreements have also been entered into with civil society organizations whereby five shelters are open to mothers with children, with a total capacity of 170 mothers with children, while specific support services for such cases are available in Montevideo (4 agreements), Canelones (5 agreements) and San Jose (1 agreement).

52. MInterior created the national domestic and gender-based violence office (ONVDG),^[12] which reports to the national police and the various police headquarters’ domestic and gender-based violence directorates (DVDG), which in turn report to the Executive Coordination Directorate, and approved its organic rules. Across the country there are 34 specialized domestic and gender-based violence units (UEVDGs), with a total staff complement of 426 (119 male and 307 female). Decree 317/2010 regulates Act No. 18315 on police procedure for action on domestic violence.^[13]

53. The Public Safety Management System (SGSP) has a specific domestic violence module, to link the offences of assault and battery, threats, private violence, suicides and murders, among others, to domestic violence. It has also been possible, in that module, to analyse such things as the kind and frequency of violence, risk factors, the victim’s family and social network, to record the precautionary measures taken by the justice system, and to give operators querying SGSP warnings about the person under investigation. The implementation of the module resulted in a significant increase in the recording and collection of law enforcement events associated with domestic violence.^[14]

54. The protocol on management of information on domestic violence was adopted to facilitate the work of SGSP’s domestic violence module.^[15] Also, for the taking of paper records, forms were prepared, including a specific one for the module.

55. With regard to the response to high-risk situations for women in domestic violence situations, under Measure No. 3 of the life and social harmony,^[16] technologies to verify presence and location were adopted—anklets—to monitor people, track them and verify their compliance with protection measures ordered by the courts having jurisdiction (court specializing in domestic violence, criminal court or first-instance court) (Annex 1). MInterior engaged in training and coordination with criminal courts, domestic violence courts, ombudsmen and the Office of the Public Prosecutor for the use of that technology, and also coordinated the provision of support for victims and offenders with MIDES and Inmujeres, which began to operate in September 2013.

56. Since 2013, Inmujeres has, in conjunction with MInterior, formed a (pilot) technical team to provide a public service of specialized care for women and male offenders who have been ordered to wear the anklet, to provide them with psychosocial assistance. The service currently consists of two support teams, one to work with male offenders and the other to work with women, with supervision and monitoring by Inmujeres. Since the service started, 280 pairs of anklets have been placed, and as of 31 December 2014 there were from 80 to 90 pairs in use in Montevideo. The programme was expanded to Canelones, Ciudad del Plata and San José in 2014. The judiciary held a training workshop on this topic in the Centre for Judicial Studies.

57. The gender-based violence area of the Unified Command Centre acts as a monitoring centre and in December 2013 had 28 police officers (Director, Deputy Director, four shift managers and 22 operators) of whom 15 were women and 13 men. In 2013, the protocol for the area was approved.

58. The first halfway house was created in 2012 (to provide accommodation, protection and guidance to single women and/or those with dependent children who were victims of an imminently life-threatening domestic violence situation. The facility is in Montevideo but serves the whole country; it operates year-round and has space for 30 persons (up to 12 women with or without dependent children. From January 2012 to November 2013, 73 women and 135 children and adolescents were accommodated at the House.

59. To compensate the children or orphans of women victims of domestic violence, a social security benefit was developed that awards a pension. As of February 2014, 125 such benefits were being paid.

60. In 2011 Inmujeres–MIDES, MInterior, MSP and PJ undertook the implementation of the “Comprehensive Programme to Combat Gender-based Violence in Uruguay”, with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). Among the Programme’s results have been: the design of a national strategy for the eradication of gender-based violence, in coordination with CNCLVD and SIPIAV, whose goal is to establish GBV as a structural problem in Uruguayan society and advance towards the conclusion of a national covenant on the importance of the problem.

61. Implementation of the project “Uruguay United to end violence against women and girls” then began for the 2012–2014 period under the direction of CNCLVD and SIPIAV, in conjunction with the United Nations System in Uruguay, and with the support of the Uruguayan International Cooperation Agency. The central focus of the project is the prevention, punishment, and eradication of GBV; it aims to contribute to the implementation of the national strategy on GBV. That strategy proposes a comprehensive support model that combines prevention, protection, assistance and rehabilitation actions.

62. In 2013, the first national GBV survey was conducted in Uruguay, as part of the above project, in coordination with the National Statistical Institute (INE). Its major contribution was the establishment of a national baseline on the magnitude and characteristics of the phenomenon of violence against women, girls and adolescents, inasmuch as the data Uruguay so far possesses is derived only from complaints, violence support services, or partial surveys. That baseline is also an essential input for the production of indicators that can help strengthen public policies of support and the prevention, punishment and eradication of violence against women in our country.

63. Domestic violence indicators

(a) Number prosecuted for homicide:^[17] 104

(b) Rate of femicide or violent deaths of women per 100,000 women:^[18] 2.85

(c) Number prosecuted for femicide: 19 (Source: Observatory of Violence and criminality of the Ministry of the Interior, from 1/04/13 to 31/03/14) (Tables 10;) 10.1; 10.2)

(d) Number of complaints of violence against women divided by the total female population:

(e) 2009: 13,352/1,708,481=0.008

(f) 2010: 12,312 /1,708,481=0.007

(g) 2011: 12,947/1,708,481= 0.008

(h) The national survey of gender-based and generational violence points up the scope of violence against women and girls in the private sphere (family, couple) as well as the public sphere (society, workplace, education). Of all women, 68.8 per cent, or more than 650,000 women, have experienced some form of GBV at some point in their life. It was found that 45.4 per cent of women who had had a relationship in their lifetime said they had at some point been subjected to violence by their partners or ex-partners; in the past year alone, 23.7 per cent of the women surveyed who were or had been in a relationship during the past 12 months said they had experienced such violence. Broken down by type, psychological violence is the most frequent (43.7 per cent) and occurs simultaneously with the other types of violence; the second most frequent is economic violence (19.9 per cent), followed by physical (14.8 per cent) and sexual violence (6.7 per cent). (Table 11. Summary leaflet).

Recommendation (paragraph 25)

64. As was noted in response to the paragraph 19 recommendation, approval of the draft reform of the Penal Code, scheduled for December 2014, was suspended so that the responsible Commission could consider the observations made regarding the draft by various institutions and organizations. The proposal presented by CNCLVD and SIPIAV to the House of Representatives included the criminalization of rape in a marriage or civil union, with or without a judicial declaration.

Recommendation (paragraph 27)

65. Specialized family courts have jurisdiction in cases of domestic violence.^[19] In Montevideo there are six specialized family courts; in the departmental capitals and in Pando, Las Piedras, and Ciudad de la Costa, there are courts dealing with family matters, with identical powers, that also try cases of domestic violence, and all have multidisciplinary advisory teams. In less populous towns, relatively far from departmental capitals, magistrate’s courts have jurisdiction, acting on an urgent basis to adopt the first and most pressing measures, referring the cases subsequently to the department’s appropriate first-instance court. In Montevideo there is also an ombudsman’s office specializing in family matters—which deals with cases of domestic violence—; it has thirteen defenders (a director and two defenders assigned to each court specialized in that area). In the rest of the country, there are thirty-four ombudsman’s offices in departmental capitals or major cities, which deal with all matters. Specifically in the field of domestic violence, in late 2004 four first-instance family courts were created in the capital to deal with family violence, and in 2010 two more were created. In 2011 a specialized family court was created in Pando. Apart from the specialized ones, there are 51 family courts, to which must be added 14 more that deal with many types of case. In Montevideo, three prosecutor’s offices specialize in domestic violence cases. Each has a national prosecutor, a deputy prosecutor and an Assistant Prosecutor, who appear at hearings of the specialized courts and work on the associated dockets.

66. The judiciary considers that because this is an interim proceeding, and the main proceeding is to be heard in another court, litigants face a few complications, such as the disconnect between the actions and decisions taken by the specialized judges and those then taken in the appropriate family courts; and the artificial division of the conflict into several cases, with the result that several proceedings are generated, which are heard in parallel, with a duplication of evidence, because of the divided jurisdiction of the various courts. Cases of violence against women that go to trial usually fall under such categories as homicide, assault and battery, rape, sexual abuse of minors or incompetent persons, or sexual exploitation; the offence of domestic violence very seldom goes to trial (Act No. 16707 of 12/7/95). In criminal matters there are difficulties in focusing on the facts from a gender perspective; it is perceived as particularly difficult when judging the conduct of a female victim or aggressor in a framework of prior aggression whereby her assailant was injured or killed, and sometimes when judging cases of teenage sexual abuse.

67. In 2012, the Supreme Court approved order No. 7755, which dealt with the adoption of best practices by judges sitting in specialized family courts and those competent to enforce Act No. 17514 throughout the country. It also approved order No. 7647 of 1/4/09, collecting the “100 Brasilia Regulations” approved at the fourteenth Iberian American Judicial Summit.^[20]

68. The first-instance family courts specializing in domestic violence and the Childhood and Adolescence Code (CNA)^[21] had a docket of 8,025 cases, of which 5,279, or 66 per cent, came under Act No. 17514 on domestic violence and 2,451, or 34 per cent, under the CNA. (Tables 12; 13; 14). In 80.9 per cent of the cases initiated in 2012 on account of domestic violence, psychological violence was involved, and 52.6 per cent alleged physical violence. It also appears that 41.2 per cent of cases involved only psychological violence, 29.9 per cent physical and psychological violence, and 17 per cent physical violence only. Sexual and property-related violence are the least frequent. In comparison with the data obtained in 2011, it may be observed that there were twice as many complaints of psychological violence (up from 20.6 per cent to 41.2 per cent), more complaints of physical and psychological violence combined (up from 23.6 per cent to 29.9 per cent) and less than half as many relating to physical violence (down from 36.6 per cent to 17 per cent). The totals do not add up to 100 per cent because in many cases a complaint relates to more than one type of violence. (Table 15)

69. Budget information for courts specializing in domestic violence is not recorded by office in the budget accounts, but by type of expenditure, so the judiciary does not have disaggregated data for them.

70. Building upgrades have been carried out at the specialized family courts in line with requirements for aggressors and victims to be separated, both while waiting and during transfers on the premises; the children’s waiting room has also been upgraded. Interdisciplinary advisory teams have also been created, consisting of a forensic physician, a psychiatrist, a psychologist and a social worker, that perform their work in these venues. In Montevideo there is a team with sufficient staff to work two shifts (Table 16).

Recommendation (paragraph 29)

71. The Inter-institutional Committee on Trafficking in Women for purposes of sexual exploitation has been coordinated by Inmujeres since its inception in 2008. It is made up of public bodies, civil society organizations and international organizations.^[22] Its purpose is to coordinate the actions of the organizations in that area, identifying jurisdictions and existing institutional resources to address the issue. In 2013 the Committee began drafting a set of strategic guidelines on the development of a protection and assistance system for victims of trafficking. The document was presented in 2014. The Executive Branch’s Decree No. 588/2014, which formalizes that work area and extends its scope to all forms of trafficking in persons, was approved in October 2014.

72. The support service for women victims of trafficking is intended to support adult women and forms part of the GBV response system; as compared to its pilot phase, it has greater human resources and more hours of direct support. It provides a specialized response, designed from a gender and human rights perspective, in support of women who are or have been victims of trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation. Access to the service, which has national jurisdiction, is purely voluntary. From March 2011 to November 2013, 66 women received assistance from the service, whose 2014 report indicates that it provided direct support for women (generating a personalized intervention strategy for their full recovery, providing emotional support, containment and legal sponsorship, help in overcoming the crisis, family re-bonding, orientation and social and employment counselling for social reintegration); risk assessment (making arrangements with the woman and, if necessary, with the Ministry of the Interior, the judiciary and other actors having jurisdiction in the area); processing and regulation of immigration documents for Uruguayan and foreign nationals through the Rapid Response Plan;^[23] guidance and counselling for family members (both as regards family re-bonding and in prevention and protection tasks); referral and coordination with other institutions; and voluntary returns for Uruguayan and foreign nationals (providing information and counselling).^[24] In terms of prevention, Inmujeres has developed skills and sensitivities, from 2009 to the present, throughout the country, but especially in border departments. Detection and support tools have been developed, such as the support protocol for women victims of trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and the intervention protocol for embassies and consular offices abroad. MTSS has audit protocols for the Inspectorate-General of Labour and Social Security (IGTSS). At the request of MTD, through Decree No. 398/013 (Annex 2), tourist service providers are required to take action to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in tourism. That initiative is based on the principles of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and provides, inter alia, that companies shall adopt a code of conduct on the sale of children, sexual exploitation and use of children in pornography, and shall disseminate their rights and prevent commercial sexual exploitation, child pornography and sex tourism involving boys, girls and adolescents; shall take measures to prevent their employees or intermediaries from offering sexual services to tourists; shall report acts related to sexual exploitation through the 0800 5050 hotline and to the competent authorities; shall ensure that their promotional programmes are free of any express or implied reference to plans for sexual exploitation; and shall facilitate the presentation of prevention materials. As of today, moreover, over 1,000 tourism service providers display posters on their premises bearing the text Somos Empresas Responsables. Condenamos la Explotación Sexual de Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes [we are responsible businesses and condemn the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents]. Their cooperation has also been obtained in carrying out and delivering other information exchange and dissemination activities (“building bridges”, fun runs, leafleting, stickers and banners).

73. MInterior created the Directorate-General for Combating Organized Crime and INTERPOL under Act No. 18719 (2010) to work on organized crime and associated offences: sexual exploitation and human trafficking, with two offices: one dealing with human trafficking, the other with sexual exploitation. Within MInterior, the Ministerial Working Committee to address human trafficking was formed in 2012^[25] and has worked to develop a MInterior National Plan of Action for 2014–2015, as well as a specific research protocol on the subject.

74. MInterior is promoting staff training on this subject, in particular for those who work in operational units (police headquarters and organized crime units), administrative units (Civil Identification, Migration and Highways) and have jurisdiction in the area of documentation and movement of persons at the national level and at border posts (Table 1).

75. In 2014, as part of the project “Uruguay United to end violence against women and girls”, CNLCVD and SIPIAV organized an international seminar on trafficking in persons: an exchange of tools and compared experiences of justice systems. Training was given to 30 officials of the judiciary, 30 from the Office of the Public Prosecutor and 30 from the Ministry of the Interior, apart from quotas for Civil society, while quotas were also set for civil society and the support services of MIDES and INAU.

76. As of 2008, in Act No. 18250 on migration, the crimes of human trafficking and migrant smuggling of migrants were for the first time classified using the definitions established by the United Nations’ Palermo Protocol. Article 80 of the Act extends to complainants, victims, relatives and witnesses in cases of human trafficking the provisions established on the participation of victims in judicial proceedings and the compensation provided for by Act No. 18026 on war crimes and crimes against humanity.

77. The Ministry of Defence has developed training measures through the working group to support training and development in human rights in the framework of the development and consolidation of peace, to ensure that citizens deployed to the various peace missions will not countenance, facilitate or participate in the serious crime of human trafficking.

78. The judiciary has provided training for judges, strengthened the justice system and made progress in inter-agency coordination, as was mentioned in the 2012 supplementary report (Table 3).

79. At the regional level, the meeting of Interior and Justice ministers of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) has worked on the theme of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, adopting various decisions, agreements, declarations and provisions (Annex 3). At MERCOSUR’s Meeting of Ministers and High-Level Authorities on Women’s Affairs (RMAAM), a MERCOSUR handbook on support for women victims of trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation was drafted (MERCOSUR/CMC/REC Nº.09/12), the campaign “MERCOSUR Free of Trafficking in Women” was launched, and a “linkage mechanism to support women victims of international trafficking” was created (MERCOSUR/CMC/DEC.Nº. 32/12).

80. The MERCOSUR handbook^[26] seeks to organize actions to assist women victims of international trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation, and is made up of conceptual and legal elements as well as operational aspects to provide proper support for women during the actions.

81. The campaign “MERCOSUR Free of Trafficking in Women” is a regional campaign whose objectives are to disseminate information and protection mechanisms, as well as support for public servants and social workers throughout MERCOSUR in detecting possible situations of trafficking in women. The materials are available in MERCOSUR’s three official languages.

82. The linkage mechanism to support women victims of international trafficking forms a linked MERCOSUR network of agencies involved in supporting women victims of international trafficking in cases involving the MERCOSUR countries. The mechanism is currently being set up.

Recommendation (paragraph 31)

83. Over the last five years, progress has been made in the adoption of temporary special measures as a strategy to reduce inequalities in society. Examples that could be mentioned are the Act on affirmative action for persons of African descent and the Political Participation Act.

84. The concept of temporary special measures for women was integrated into the previously reported draft bill on gender equality.

85. As was reported in depth in the 2012 supplementary report, the Act to promote participation in politics by persons of both sexes includes special measures and temporary special measures that will be implemented only once, during the national and municipal elections of 2014–2015. A bill was also tabled aiming to extend the quota law to the post-election period and is under study in Parliament. At the recent parliamentary elections of October 2014, no great progress was seen in the participation of women in the legislature, as those elected accounted for 17.7 per cent of the total. A comparison of the two periods shows that in 2014 more than twice as many women senators were elected as in 2009, up from 4 to 9 out of a total of 30 senators. That is a very positive development inasmuch as it nearly fulfils the objective of having a third of the senators be women. As regards female deputies, in 2014 the same number (15) were elected as in 2009, but that is actually a backward step in women’s participation in the House of Representatives, considering that 3 of the 15 were also elected as senators (Tables 17 and 18).

86. Within the judiciary, while women account for 63 per cent of its senior members, at the highest levels they are underrepresented, as is signally the case on the Supreme Court, where their representation is nil at present and has been extremely low throughout history. (Tables 19 and 20).

87. Ministerial posts have mostly been occupied by males (Table 21). Among high government officials, at agencies with functional autonomy, decentralized services, autonomous entities and public enterprises, circa 2011, women accounted for between 9 per cent and 29 per cent of the total (Table 22).

88. At the departmental level, on average 17.8 per cent of those elected to departmental boards were women (Table 23).

89. At the third level of government, 25 per cent of those elected to municipal governments were women. Flores has only one municipality—Villa Ismael Cortinas—and it is headed by a woman, while two of the three municipalities in Paysandú have female mayors. The departments of Cerro Largo, Florida and Treinta y Tres have even representation of men and women, with one municipality for each. In the remaining departments the number of women is declining. Apart from those already mentioned, there are still eight departments where all mayors are men. At the municipal level, honorary councillors are also elected year by year. At the first elections, women accounted for 19 per cent of those elected; women occupied 66 of the 348 posts contested.

Recommendation (paragraph 33)

90. The General Education Act (No. 18437) establishes that State education shall be governed by the following principles: it shall be free, secular and ensure equal opportunity, in addition to the principles and purposes established in the Act. The State shall provide special support to particularly vulnerable persons and groups and shall act to include persons and groups who are the object of cultural, economic and social discrimination so that they can achieve real equality of opportunity in access to, continuity of and success in education. It shall also promote action to change stereotypes that discriminate against people by age, gender, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

91. The right to education for all was reaffirmed, and also that the education of children from age 4 to the secondary level is a right and a duty of those responsible for children (father, mother or guardian). In addition, it is a condition of some social welfare programmes that children be enrolled in school and sent for periodic health checks.

92. The Gender Network was established by ANEP’s Central Management Council (CODICEN). At UdelaR, a thematic gender network has existed since the year 2000; at its behest, implementation of the Quality Management with Gender Equity Model was begun in seven faculties, together with a committee to prevent and eradicate sexual harassment in the workplace.

93. Since 2007, Education and Gender Days have been held each year as a joint project of Inmujeres and ANEP-CODICEN; their target audience is the faculty of the educational subsystems. The aim is to address various issues from a gender perspective, to provide conceptual and methodological tools for work in schools (Table 24). GBV and rights training is given annually as a form of continuing education for teachers and ANEP technicians through a decentralized training system that replicates the courses given in the capital, as well as awareness activities in all departments of Uruguay. Five decentralized activities were carried out in 2012 (215 participants), while in 2013 fourteen were carried out in various departments with a total enrolment of 700 participants.

94. In 2013, an inter-agency working group for ethno-racial equity at the National Public Education Administration was created within CODICEN.

95. As regards university education activities, incorporation of gender training has been uneven: at the University of the Republic, since 2012 a postgraduate degree programme in gender and public policy has been offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences, and a few subjects are included in degree programmes in certain faculties (Social Sciences, Economy, Law) but most are not mandatory. The Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences - Uruguay, has since 2012 been granting a postgraduate diploma in gender and public policy. Also worthy of mention is the inclusion in the Uruguayan educational system of a postgraduate diploma in African heritage and public policy, a joint initiative of Inmujeres, the UdelaR Faculty of Social Sciences and MIDES.

96. It should be noted that at the ages of 3 or 4 and 13 or 14, the start and end points of basic education, male enrolment is 3 per cent higher than female. After the age of 15, however, female enrolment outstrips male by 4.9 per cent. The gap continues to widen in secondary and tertiary education, a pattern that repeats itself year after year (Table 25).

97. Apart from university education (Tables 26 to 28), high school was the stage where female participation was greatest (53.8 per cent in middle school and 54.9 per cent in upper middle). Males, on the other hand, slightly predominated in primary and initial education (51.8 per cent and 50.8 per cent, respectively). At public universities, the 2012 Web census showed that of 85,905 students, 63.8 per cent were women and 36.2 per cent were men; the same female/male ratio was found at the postgraduate level.

98. In every age bracket, more women complete the relevant educational levels. The difference is greater the higher the educational level and age bracket looked at: completion rates in primary education are very similar for both sexes (97.8 per cent and 96.3 per cent, or a difference of 1.5 percentage points in favour of women). Middle school completion shows a gap of 19.7 percentage points (72.6 per cent and 58.3 per cent, women and men respectively). Finally, women complete upper secondary education 30.7 per cent more often than men (44.6 per cent and 30.9 per cent respectively).

99. MEC centres are educational and cultural spaces created in order to facilitate access to education, to scientific and technological innovation and to cultural products and services, thus implementing democratization and decentralization policies for all Uruguayans. The project seeks to promote equal opportunity for all citizens, promoting social integration and citizen participation. Various strategies have been employed at the MEC centres to treat the gender equality dimension. MEC provides the educational and cultural content to promote science and technology, human rights, and digital literacy. As of 2013 there were 123 centres in operation in all departments.

Recommendation (paragraph 35)

100. In general terms, disaggregation of statistical data by sex has only recently been implemented within the Government. The national budget for 2010–2015 (Act No. 18719) establishes in its article 6 that “in the design, development, implementation and monitoring of public policies carried out by national budget agencies, the provisions of article 2 of Act No. 18104 of 15 March 2007 and of PIODNA shall apply”. That article provides that the “State shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the gender perspective is integrated into the design, development, implementation and monitoring of public policies”.

101. As regards integration of women into the labour market, between 2007 and 2013 there was an increase in the “private employee” category—which accounted for 57.7 per cent of all employment in 2013—such that the increase was greater among men (53.9 per cent to 57.2 per cent) than among women (from 58.4 per cent to 57.2 per cent). In the “public employee” category, the gap still favours women (12.7 per cent men, 17.1 per cent women). Again, in the “self-employed without business premises” category, the number of women fell by almost half (5.2 per cent to 3.3 per cent); but there were still almost twice as many women as men (Table 29).

102. As regards compliance with the principle of “equal pay for work of equal value”, that is a general principle that is enshrined in national legislation. Uruguay has ratified ILO Convention 100, by virtue of Act No. 16063 of 1989. Collective bargaining has been useful in reducing the wage gap between men and women. Inmujeres and civil society are currently making periodic evaluations of the changing gender wage gap.

103. Between 2007 and 2013 the wage gap trended downward. For 2008—when the gap was greatest—women’s income was 87.3 per cent of men’s. It reached 91.2 per cent (the highest proportion for the period) in 2012 (Figure 1). On women’s income relative to men’s, per hour worked in their main occupation according to years of education, the income gap widens with increasing number of years of education throughout the period; those with between 4 and 6 years of education had proportional incomes of from 83.1 (in 2007) to 79.1 per cent (in 2013); those with 16 or more years of education had proportional incomes of from 68.9 (in 2007) to 71.6 per cent (in 2013) (Table 30).

104. In terms of horizontal and vertical segregation in the labour market: for 2007, in the “science and engineering professional” category there were more than twice as many women as men (14.0 per cent women, 6.0 per cent men), a similar situation to the categories of “clerk” (17.4 per cent women, 8.4 per cent men) and “service worker” (21.3 per cent women, 8.3 per cent men). The situation is reversed for the occupations of “agricultural worker” (8.2 per cent men, 1.9 per cent women), “craft and related trades worker” (21.2 per cent males and 5.7 per cent women) and “plant and machine operator” (10.8 per cent men, 2.1 per cent women). Compared to 2013, the same general distribution applies, but it should be pointed out that participation in “service work” is up for both sexes (14.8 per cent and 29.6 per cent) while the “corporate manager” category in general (Table 31) is down significantly.

105. These data show that the labour market in Uruguay is still markedly segmented by gender. The changes in this indicator between 2007 and 2013 reflect a process of change undergone by the labour market in Uruguay, with a greater focus on the development of services and a sustained increase in industrial activity, though the baseline in previous decades was admittedly quite low.

106. Since 2008, CTIOTE has been promoting the incorporation of gender equality clauses into bargaining by wages councils, with an emphasis on equal pay for work of equal value, equal access to high-level positions and training, elimination of discrimination in hiring and promotion, guarantee and protection of maternity and joint responsibility, and prevention and punishment of sexual and moral harassment.

107. The fifth round of the Wages Council, in 2012–2013, looked at 834,747 workers, of whom 704,051 were “formal” workers (those who contribute to some type of social security fund) and 130,716 “informal” workers (who make no contributions to any social security fund). In 2006, only 17 of 137 bargaining panels adopted gender clauses in the private sector, and only 3 in the public sector; in 2012, 67 per cent of the panels did adopt gender clauses (122) and 52 per cent (95) agreed to specific clauses related to the sector, ten points more than in the previous round (Table 32). The gender clauses included such benefits as: additional maternity leave, leave for victims of domestic violence, leave for prostate exams or an additional day for Pap tests, creation of child care options for workers’ children, furlough days for special care for employees having dependents with disabilities, among others.

108. INEFOP’s programme PROIMUJER, as mentioned in the 2012 report, seeks to reduce inequalities related to the status of women in access to training and employment by improving their employability and providing job placement support, In 2013, 707 women participated in the programme; it is important to note the progressively declining funding allotted to it between 2011 and 2013 (Tables 33 to 37).

109. Social security policies developed since 2005 have aimed at inclusion and formalization of new groups. Improved coverage of retirement and pensions was also sought.^[27] It is noteworthy that the increased pension coverage, on different grounds, has especially benefited women. Act No. 18395 (2008) eases the prerequisites for access to the pension scheme, in particular for women (Chapter V), who may claim an additional year of service for each child born alive or adopted, where the adoptee is a minor or disabled, up to a maximum of five additional years. Between 2009 and 2012, the notional extra year of service for each child was granted, on average, to 9,000 women. In 57.7 per cent of all cases, women’s pension claims included per-child notional years of paid work, enabling many of them to attain the minimum to apply for a retirement pension. The social security system’s coverage during workers’ active life showed that the proportion of contributors in relation to the economically active population increased by almost 16 per cent. The increase in the number of contributory jobs for women was 18.4 per cent; for domestic workers specifically, it was 73.5 per cent according to the figures for 2014. Unemployment benefits paid to women between 2009 and 2013 increased 43.6 per cent; for domestic workers especially, the increase was 128.5 per cent. Direct discrimination against women has however been identified in the fully-funded retirement scheme in that different tables of life expectancy are used for the two sexes.

110. ILO Convention No. 102 on minimum standards of social security was approved by Act No. 18609 (2009).

111. As regards the provision of maternity, paternity and breastfeeding leave, legislation was approved that brought significant improvements in terms of care and maternity and paternity leave (Act No. 19161, Annex). The Act provides for a maternity subsidy for workers dependent on a private activity, self-employed workers engaged in activities covered by BPS, and owners of businesses having a single taxpayer. Those workers are entitled to stop work six weeks before the anticipated date of childbirth and may not resume work until 8 weeks after the birth. In no case shall the time off be less than 14 weeks. The Act establishes a paternity grant equivalent to up to 10 days’ leave for private sector workers. It also provides for parental subsidies for the care of newborns, reducing the working day by half for fathers or mothers, until the newborn is six months old. In the public sector, the provisions of the 2012 Public Officials Statute remain in force: 13 weeks of leave and workday reduction by half for 9 months after the return from leave, plus 10 days of paternity leave. In public companies and decentralized services, arrangements are as dictated by their bylaws. Under Act No. 18436 on public and private workers, adoptive parents are entitled to work half-time (equivalent to the half-time schedule for breastfeeding) after their return from leave for legitimation by adoption.

112. Since 2008, Inmujeres has been implementing^[28] the public policy “Quality Management with Gender Equity Model” at public and private agencies and enterprises through inter-agency coordination.^[29] Its main objective is to promote gender mainstreaming in the management of public and private organizations while continuing to take into account their employees’ skills and optimizing them to enhance the organizations’ efficiency and competitiveness as well as social justice. It is a guide, constituting a certifiable standard, that recognizes organizations that work for gender equality and incorporate it into human resources management and so gradually eliminate discrimination, inequalities and disparities through four levels of gender mainstreaming in organizational management. Each of the four levels is certified through annual audits by competent institutions. One of its core components provides for an organizational diagnosis that enables an analysis of how the total payroll is distributed by sex, in particular (so promoting the reduction of wage disparity at the organizations), as well as co-responsibility policies and programmes.

Recommendation (paragraph 37)

113. The Domestic Labour Act regulates daily hours of work and break times, weekly days of rest, night’s rest, severance pay and special severance allowance. It sets wages and categories and assigns unemployment insurance coverage, confers the right to medical assistance by any health care provider, and empowers IGTSS (MTSS) to perform home inspections with a warrant issued by the competent court.

114. The process of regulation of domestic work and the implementation of the policy on domestic work has made great strides over the past five years. In 2013, 49 per cent of those who perform domestic work were formally registered with Social Security (BPS); in 2009–2013 a 21.8 per cent increase in the number of domestic workers so registered was observed.

115. Since December 2013, under an agreement between BPS and the State Insurance Bank (BSE), the fulfilment of obligations related to insurance for work accidents and occupational diseases has been guaranteed. Domestic workers’ registration with BPS brings with it mandatory accident insurance.

116. As regards audits of compliance with the regulations in force, IGTSS (a unit of MTSS) carries out a home inspection programme on its own initiative.

117. At the same time, the collective bargaining exercise for the domestic work sector was established at Wages Councils that have been active since 2008. The exercise sets wage increases, working conditions and training opportunities through the National Employment and Vocational Training Institute (INEFOP). There has been a 98 per cent increase in wages in the sector.

118. In recent years public information and rights awareness campaigns, on labour legislation and rights, have been periodically conducted by Inmujeres, MTSS, BPS and IMPO. They are primarily conducted in August, when Uruguay marks Domestic Workers’ Day (19 August)—which is a day off for all domestic workers.

119. As regards international standards, Uruguay in June 2012 ratified ILO Convention No. 189 on domestic work—the first country to do so.

Recommendation (paragraph 39)

120. Establishment of SNIS (Act No. 18211 of 2007) has been one of the main redistribution components of the social welfare matrix. The drafting of public policies that guarantee men and women health services of an established quality standard, as well as the expansion of some key components such as the network of primary health care, have been substantive components in the improvement of conditions so as to guarantee full enjoyment of the right to health. Enrolment in SNIS has steadily increased since its implementation. The sex and age distribution of the membership of FONASA, the National Health Fund, has remained practically unchanged from the previous period, at 49 per cent female and 51 per cent male, with members aged between 20 and 40 forming the largest group. As of 2013 SNIS had enrolled more than 1,500,000 beneficiaries, an increase of 226 per cent compared to 2007 (Tables 38 to 43).

121. MSP has been restructured, resulting in a new ministerial organization chart following the creation of the Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health, reporting to the Strategic Health Planning Division and the Directorate-General of Health. The Department comprises the Women’s Integral Health Programme; STD/AIDS; Violence and Health; Strategic Area for Sexual and Reproductive Health Promotion and Men’s Support Area. The Gender Mechanism created by Ordinance No. 62/2011 has not formally been included in the Ministry’s organization chart. It consists of an inter-directorate working group, made up of representatives of MSP’s Directorates-General and the National Health Board (JUNASA), the responsible Coordinator being the Strategic Health Programming Department (Gender component).

122. MSP has developed a system of performance targets as a funding tool that aims to contribute to changes in the care model. In that context, integral health care providers are paid for the completion of “targets” determined by the health authority, as priority actions to achieve the goals set in the national health policies. The purpose of the targets is to strengthen the health care processes that guarantee the entire population comprehensive, accessible, and effective health care; they are defined by MSP through the identification of rates of health events that must be corrected. In that way, MSP acts to promote best practices in health care. Target No. 1 relates to children and women, pregnancy, lactation, domestic violence, and checkups for children up to 2 years. It encourages proper checkups for children and pregnant women, and promotes research on domestic violence. Specific checks on early childhood development are included^[30] (Figure 2).

123. As regards sexual and reproductive health, major progress has been made in recent years in the form of new guarantees of full enjoyment of the right to health, sexual and reproductive health, and sexual and reproductive rights.

124. The legislation on the right to sexual and reproductive health (Act No. 18426, Annex) has been strengthened, laying the foundations of the State’s commitment to those rights and legally endorsing the public policies needed to guarantee them; as have the Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy Act (Act No. 18987, Annex) and the Assisted Reproduction Act (Act No. 19167, Annex). In addition, the General Education Act incorporates sex education as a cross-cutting thrust of the National Education System.

125. Act No. 18426 (2008) called for the creation of sexual and reproductive health services and of coordination between the health and education sectors regarding sex education (Table 44). In September 2010 regulations were adopted giving legal warrant for all the benefits already being offered. Regulation 369 (2004) should be emphasized; it guaranteed pre- and post-abortion care and advice to women finding themselves pregnant against their will. In that way, the health system helped reduce the risk to the life and health of women with unwanted pregnancies in the context of a legal system that penalized the practice of abortion.

126. Coordination and referral teams were formed on sexual and reproductive health throughout Uruguay; 140 such teams exist, made up of professionals in gynaecology, social work and psychology, as well as obstetricians, midwives and nurses, fitting the number of their members to the number of users. The teams make up a network coordinated by the Sexual and Reproductive Health programme area and the Women’s Health Programme and operate on the basis of bi-monthly meetings and compulsory continuous training, partly through distance education. Inland, there are an average of three per department, though there are more in Canelones and Maldonado with their urbanized areas, while the rest are in the Department of Montevideo. The coordination and referral teams coordinate and deliver comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, providing counselling on voluntary interruption of pregnancy, counselling and supply (through universal free access) of reversible and irreversible contraceptive methods (IUD insertion, tubal ligation), and sexological care. For their part, the sexual and reproductive health services provide universal, free pregnancy control, in-patient childbirth services, and prevention of cervical and breast cancer by means of Pap smears and free, periodic mammograms for women between 40 and 65 years of age. Beginning in 2011, an investigation into routine domestic violence was established as a performance goal and psychotherapy was made part of SNIS institutions’ mandatory benefits. Among the provisions enacted is priority support for women and children in situations of violence.

127. In October 2012 the Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy Act (IVE, No. 18987) was adopted; it decriminalizes the termination of pregnancy under certain circumstances and on certain conditions. The Executive Branch adopted the Act by decree in November 2012. After its approval, however, initiatives were set in motion opposing the decriminalization of abortion, which culminated in a repeal referendum, at which fewer than 9 per cent of eligible voters voted yes, clearly indicating that the citizenry were unwilling to accept its repeal. From December 2012 to November 2013, 6,676 interruptions of pregnancy were carried out, with no reports of maternal mortality on that account and only two cases of serious complications, one of them because of an unsafe abortion. Health system coverage is 40 per cent public and 60 per cent private. Of all women treated, 18 per cent were under 19 years of age, while 82 per cent were 20 or more. Of those who consulted on a VTOP, 6.3 per cent ended up continuing the pregnancy. An average of 70 per cent used birth control after the VTOP.

128. Conscientious objection is provided for in the regulatory decree of the IVE Act, and 30 per cent of the gynaecologists employed by SNIS declared such an objection; this caused major difficulties in the Department of Salto, where all professionals did so. In that particular case specific measures are being taken to overcome the serious difficulty and ensure access to abortions in the Department. The situation resulted in a nullity action presented in 2012 before the Court of Claims (TCA) seeking to have 10 of the 42 articles of the Act’s regulatory decree on conscientious objection suspended. TCA unanimously voted to order “precautionary” suspension for those appealing against the articles until the adoption of a final decision, expected next year.^[31]

129. It should be noted that regulations under Act No. 19167 (2013), on assisted human reproduction, were promulgated on October 30, 2014; the Act facilitates access to low-complexity procedures for women with fertility problems. For users of the State Health Services Administration, care is free of charge; for policyholders of a mutual insurance company there is a co-payment depending on whether it is their first, second or third attempt. There is in any event a 50 per cent reduction in the cost of this type of technique.^[32]

130. The national plan for prevention of cervical cancer was established in Uruguay in 2012. One component is vaccination against human papillomavirus. The tetravalent vaccine against HPV (serotypes 6, 11, 16 and 18) was introduced in 2013 and is offered to all girls at the age of 12. Pap smears have been free, in the public and private programmes both, since 1 July 2013. As already reported, women are entitled to one day off work each year to have the Pap test and mammogram (Act No. 17242, 2000). Women covered under SNIS are entitled to a free mammogram every two years. The Pap test is one of the mandatory requirements for obtaining the occupational health card.

131. From 2008 to the present, the sex education programme is being implemented in all educational subsystems, as mandated in the General Education Act (Act No. 18437). Its content has been based on the exercise of rights, citizenship and equitable development; additional priorities are academic quality, professional standing and a link to the various levels of the System, allowing for a deeper focus on the gender perspective and sexual diversity. Priority has been given to actions undertaken at the secondary level, through workshops on sex education at the basic levels of the Council for Technical-Vocational Education (CETP) and with the input of teachers serving as contact points at the Secondary Education Council (CES); and to defined programmes that are already in operation. In teacher training, a compulsory seminar in the Common Core has been set, together with an optional seminar for fourth-year students. A group of teachers has also been formed to serve as contact points at teacher training institutes and colleges nationwide, contributing to the production of knowledge and more sophisticated didactic/methodological concepts and providing the necessary inputs to enhance the quality of the educational process. Inmujeres has cooperated with ANEP to publish a guide for teachers on sexual diversity and to produce a virtual course on gender and sexual diversity, to be developed on the platform of ANEP’s sex education programme. A guide entitled “It’s Good to Talk... Sex Education for Families”^[33] has been published for families, as another step in the systematic implementation of sex education in the Uruguayan education system. MInterior, in coordination with ANEP, printed 30,000 copies for distribution to its staff and vocational students.

132. As was reported in 2007, there have been a number of changes in the membership and operation of the Advisory Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health. The Commission had a number of vicissitudes because of changing Ministers and the difficulty that it had no secretarial services to help it fulfil its duties, and met only irregularly.

133. In November 2006 a National Commission was formed for the monitoring and reduction of women’s deaths occurring in pregnancy, childbirth, Caesarean section, puerperium and abortion; it began its operations in March 2007.^[34] Since 2010 active notifications have been provided of the death or survival of women on account of pregnancy, as well as intake numbers at intensive care centres. The situations are analysed, with the cases in which there was delay, and the institutions are then informed (Table 45 and Figure 3).

Recommendation (paragraph 41)

134. Since 2012 a project has been under way that seeks social inclusion and universal access to HIV-AIDS prevention and comprehensive care for the most vulnerable populations in Uruguay; the project is approved by and agreed with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It targets transvestites, transgendered persons and transsexuals, including sex workers, and men who have sex with men, and extends also to the prison population. Women living with HIV are not part of its target group. The actions proposed in the project will make for a stronger SNIS, deepening its comprehensive approach and improved response to the HIV epidemic in Uruguay; appropriate health services are expected to be developed for the above target populations, while community organizations among them will be strengthened and a multisectoral commitment made to the inclusion of the target groups, diminishing the stigma and discrimination that affects the most socioeconomically vulnerable.

135. Inmujeres has developed a guide, aimed at those who implement public policies, that addresses HIV from a gender and human rights perspective. Informational materials have been produced for technicians, operators and MIDES professionals. Inmujeres provides training on the HIV and gender theme to MIDES technical teams providing direct care to homeless people. In addition, four national meetings of women with HIV were held with the organizational support of Inmujeres and MSP; the meetings provided information sharing and training on health care, social resources and violence and sought to create organization and meeting places embodying a gender and human rights perspective.

136. On 31 July 2014, Inmujeres, in conjunction with MSP, installed several public dispensers of male and female condoms and lubricant in MIDES offices to help prevent sexually transmitted infections and promote the low-cost availability and use of female condoms.

137. HIV infections have been trending upward. Between 1983, when the first case was recorded in Uruguay, and November 2012, there were 11,492 reported infections. Over the last four years, there have on average been 844 cases a year, and in 2011 the virus affected 28.5 of every 100,000 inhabitants. That phenomenon may be explained by slower development of full-blown AIDS thanks to improvements in therapeutic treatment and better observance thereof, and greater availability of testing. It is noteworthy that the infection is also affecting more women. Although currently 65.5 per cent of cases are among men and 34 per cent among women, since the middle of the 1990s the disparity has been progressively dwindling; in 2011 there was one female case for every 1.5 male cases.

138. For 2011, 8.6 persons per 100,000 inhabitants were reported to have AIDS. AIDS mortality showed a steady rise until 2005, at which point it stabilized. Over the last five years there has been an annual average of 163 deaths. AIDS mortality is much higher among men. In 2011, of the 177 AIDS deaths reported, 76 per cent were of men, 24 per cent of women (Figure 5 and 6).

139. The predominant mode of transmission was sexual, although it appears to have declined by ten percentage points, to 58.7 per cent (Figure 7). Vertical (mother-to-child) transmission was very infrequent among the possible modes of transmission; it has fallen from 40 per cent in the 1990s to 5 per cent today (Table 46).

140. Among the most vulnerable populations are men who have sex with men, injecting and non-injecting drug users, male and transgender sex workers, and persons in detention. Among male and transgender sex workers, the rate of HIV infection is around 19.3 per cent. The transsexual population has a rate of infection almost four times higher than male sex workers.

Recommendation (paragraph 43)

141. As regards rural women, Uruguay has made progress but also faces challenges: In the area of inclusion policies and infrastructural aspects, the progress in rural electrification should be noted, as 98.7 per cent of the national territory is now electrified; that has allowed an improved quality of life in rural areas. In terms of access to potable water in towns with a population of less than 5,000 and in rural areas without clean water, the problem areas dropped from 25 per cent in 2006 to 13.8 per cent in 2011; at the same time, water supply systems were installed or refitted at 172 schools and small surrounding towns (Figure 8 and 9). Programmes were developed, through the national telecommunications administration (ANTEL), to give rural areas access to telephony, while the CEIBAL connectivity network was also pushed forward.

142. The “energy basket” programme was adapted to the rural environment; this is a pilot programme that seeks to facilitate and regularize families’ access to electricity, gas and water through the promotion of efficient resource use and healthy eating. The programme is headed by the National Department of Energy of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Minerals (MIEM) and MIDES.^[35] Priority is also being given to actions to support social inclusion programmes that promise secure, high-quality access to energy services, to improve the quality of life of women and children. A rural baseline survey was done to measure the social impact of access to energy, based on a sample of communities electrified by the national rural electrification board.^[36] A handbook on gender and energy was also developed for trainers and managers at public and private institutions in the energy sector, to encourage them to incorporate the gender perspective into energy development policies and projects. Further, community training courses were given in energy efficiency and safe use, while women’s participation was promoted by training them to be territorial advisers on energy efficiency and the construction of simple technologies, empowering them in the community in an area that has traditionally been considered male.

143. With regard to financial support and access to credit in rural areas, during the 2007–2013 period, the microfinance programme of the territorial policy area of the Planning and Budget Office (OPP) allocated $3,449,836 to working with local institutions for the development of production enterprises headed by women. The various projects focusing exclusively on support for women entrepreneurs, which are funded out of the Microfinance programme, collectively benefited 342 women (Table 47). In March 2014 the Local Economic Development Division “Uruguay Closer to Home” was created, and since 2014 has included a programme specifically aimed at support for 100 women entrepreneurs in the metropolitan area consisting of the departments of San José, Canelones and Montevideo, whose funding is 3,172,961 Uruguayan pesos.

144. At the institutional level, at most ministries programmes or specific units have been developed that cater for the way policy is implemented in rural areas (MIDES, Ministry of Stockbreeding, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP), MIEM, MSP, Inmujeres, among others). The units have generated input and specific information about the socioeconomic and production characteristics of rural areas, and even gender diagnostics. In a resolution, the Congress of Mayors emphasized the high priority given to rural development in its management. For its part, Inmujeres has formed a group on rural life and gender that aims to mainstream the gender perspective in the policies of various organisms concerned with rural life; it has also coordinated actions with the Specialized Meeting on Family Farming (REAF) and RMAAM. Both of the MERCOSUR bodies have addressed the work component on rural women. The National Settlement Institute (INC), MGAP and Inmujeres are working within that framework on access to land from a gender perspective.^[37]

145. Act No. 18441 sets an 8-hour working day and weekly rest in the rural sector, as well as workers’ compensation arrangements; it has meant a great step forward in regulation of the sector and guarantees of labour rights. However, it makes no specific provision for rural women. Collective bargaining has also been a very important element in establishing labour rights in the rural sector. With the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Inmujeres held consultations in 2011 on rural legislation and existing forms of discrimination against rural women and made recommendations in that regard.

146. From 2010 to 2012, Inmujeres coordinated the project “Uruguay, seeking a land of equity”, involving the training of social development agents from a gender perspective, with FAO support. The project was an interministerial one, involving MGAP, MIEM and MIDES. Inmujeres developed the Socioeconomic and Gender Analysis (ASEG) methodology and the Regional Action Model based on Socioeconomic and Gender Analysis (MIT-ASEG). The model comprises two parts: a socioeconomic analysis that sets out to study the economic, sociocultural, demographic and political systems that form the context of development, as well as their interrelationships; and a gender analysis that focuses on the study of the various roles and functions fulfilled by women and men.

147. Among the notable effects of MIT-ASEG were the establishment of four departmental gender committees to work on a cross-cutting gender perspective in development and the design of a new training methodology with content and workshops appropriate to MIT-ASEG’s three public objectives.^[38]

148. It still remains, however, to make progress on specific policies for salaried rural women, since the recent programmes and actions have focused mainly on the promotion and support of female entrepreneurship in rural areas.

149. In the area of health, MSP is developing the Rural Health Programme. While health care for families and individuals in the rural environment is being enhanced, the guidance manuals do not evince any specific concern for women, who remain isolated and without advice or care in health, domestic violence, and sexual and reproductive health, among other issues. The Preventive Care Patrols (ROPAS) strategy has been implemented by health care teams operating mobile health units with medical and dental equipment to bring services to the rural population, addressing the need for increased access to comprehensive quality care for country-dwellers, with special emphasis on pregnant women. The roster of MSP’s rural health care providers clearly shows the shortcomings, which must be corrected.

150. Of the 2,145 public primary education establishments around the country (78 of them for special education, located in urban areas), 1,131 (54.7 per cent) are located in rural areas (6 of them in rural boarding mode). Despite the number of establishments, the percentage of rural enrolment has not exceeded 6.6 per cent of total common primary education enrolment (2006), with a rural population of 5.1 per cent among children aged 5 to 11, rising to 6.2 per cent in 2012.^[39] In 2014, 1,719 teachers were working in rural schools with an enrolment of 20,257 boys and girls. The comparable figure for 2006 was 20,204. The schools teach the rural basic cycle (7th, 8th and 9th grade), corresponding to the first to the third year of secondary education and open to students having finished primary school. Enrolment in the rural basic cycle showed strong growth between 2000 and 2003, then stabilized until 2007, but rose again in 2008, when it reached an all-time high of 2,028 (up by 13.7 per cent or 244 students), then fell off slightly in 2009 (37 fewer students). That system is being implemented at 61 institutions across the country.^[40]

151. In generating statistical information, the various agencies use their own methodological and theoretical definitions to describe the situation in the countryside, and these are not always comparable with one another. Among the most important statistical surveys on the matter are the 2011 national census of households and persons, which put the rural population at 5.32 per cent of the total (approximately 3 per cent men and 2 per cent women), and the agricultural census, which identifies rural production establishments.

152. MGAP defined the family producer in its Resolution No. 527/008,^[41] and established a register of family producers to keep a record of that population and register all members of the family production unit, ensuring the visibility of the women who are not registered as owners of the family production unit. According to data from the current register of family farmers, as of May 2013, 23,102 family producers were registered. Owners of family farms were men in 64.66 per cent of cases, while women accounted for 35.34 per cent. Of all those connected with family farms, an estimated 65,620 persons, 53 per cent were female and 47 per cent male.

153. Since its creation in 1948, INC has administered a policy of transforming the country’s agrarian structure, giving access to land. It is the body that owns and manages State lands; its purpose is the settlement and well-being of families of smallholders and salaried rural workers and the development of settlements in the rural environment. INC’s 2010–2014 Strategic Plan sets out the need to design policies of support for women heads of families so that they can have access to land and promotion of women’s projects involving agricultural activities. INC will be providing for joint ownership of fractions of leases for couples, regardless of marital status, by February 2015 (Table 48). Men now hold title, in whatever form, in 98.4 per cent of the 2,022 cases, women 11.6 per cent.

Recommendation (paragraph 45)

154. The 2011 census was a milestone in the recognition and characterization of population of African descent. People of African descent represent 8.1 per cent of the population of Uruguay, while women account for 50.9 per cent of the population of African descent. However, the group’s distribution nationwide varies between 3 per cent and 17 per cent by Department.

155. In education, the percentage of people who attend school varies according to their age and ethno-racial descent. Young people of African descent have lower attendance rates than those of other ancestry. While women of either group had higher attendance rates than men of African descent, the difference among women according to their ethno-racial ancestry is higher for the group aged 16 to 18. Another census indicator shows the percentage of adolescent women (15-19 years of age) who are mothers: in 2011 it was 9 per cent for those of non-African descent and 14.6 per cent for those of African descent (Table 49).

156. The educational level attained by people of African descent over age 24 is lower than for those of non-African descent. Among those of African descent, 45 per cent of men and 42 per cent of women had primary school as their highest educational level, while the comparable figure for the rest of the population is close to 34 per cent for both sexes. it should be noted, nevertheless, that among people of African descent, women have a higher educational level than men.

157. Inmujeres has developed a database for self-registration of professionals and technicians of African descent living in Uruguay, to generate a national baseline that will enable support measures and public policies to be instituted for that cohort and the population of African descent as a whole. The 2011 census data showed that 9.7 per cent of the population of African descent are professionals (some 25,000 persons), of whom 66 per cent are women and 34 per cent men.

158. In 2013, women of African descent were more active on the labour market than women of non-African descent (58 per cent and 54 per cent), although less so than their male counterparts. Although the activity rate of women of African descent is higher than that of women of other ancestry, their unemployment rate was 12 per cent in 2013 (and 18 per cent in 2007), higher than for women of non-African descent but also men as a whole (Table 50).

159. By occupational category,^[42] the population of African descent is more represented among “private employees” (59.6 per cent in 2007, rising to 61.3 per cent in 2013); within that group, the employment rate is higher among women (4.2 per cent in 2007 and 2.9 per cent in 2013), while for the population of non-African descent the difference is much less. Greater job insecurity was found in the category “self-employed without premises”, which had twice as many persons of African as of non-African descent for both periods—8.8 per cent men, 9.4 per cent women in 2007, as opposed to 4.2 per cent men and 4.8 per cent women; the 2013 rates for those of African descent were 3.3 per cent for men and 5.5 per cent for women. The opposite is found in the “employer” category: in both censuses, it contained three times as many persons of non-African as of African descent, both for men and women (Table 51).

160. By type of occupation^[43] there is a large difference in the categories “corporate managers” and “technicians and associate professionals”, where men and women of non-African descent are overrepresented compared to those of African descent. Contrariwise, in 2007 persons of African descent were overrepresented among “unskilled workers” (37.2 per cent of men, 43.9 per cent of women), while among “service workers” there were more women (24.7 per cent) and men were concentrated in “craft and related trades workers” (24 per cent). The same proportions held in 2013 between women and men of African and non-African descent (Figures 10 and 11). One in five women of African descent working for wages does so in domestic service (21.5 per cent).

161. Act No. 18620 (2009), on rights to gender identity and to a change of name and sex in identity documents, recognizes the right to free development of personality in line with one’s own gender identity, regardless of one’s biological, genetic, anatomical, morphological, hormonal, attributed or other sexual characterization, and enables trans persons to change their registered name and sex. From 2010 to date, more than 300 applications have been received for changes of name and sex in the records. More than 1,200 officials have received the appropriate training.

162. Act No. 19075 (2013) provides that the institution of marriage shall not make a distinction “because of the person’s sex” and authorizes same-sex marriage.

163. In 2013 the Standing Advisory Council on Sexual Diversity was created: a “collegiate body to deliberate, advise and propose public policies aimed at eradicating discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity”.

164. The judiciary has implemented Act No. 18620 (2009), which put in place a legal procedure for persons to exercise the right to rectify identity documents in line with their gender identity by application to first-instance family courts.^[44]

165. Since 2006, a working group on women deprived of liberty^[45] has sought to improve the conditions of detention of women deprived of their liberty, as well as to make proposals aimed at expanding the possibilities for social inclusion of women after their provisional or final release. It began its work in April 2006 at the request of MInterior, and since June 2013 has been coordinated by Inmujeres.

166. In 2014, Inmujeres published materials for women deprived of their liberty, and especially a social resources guide, a copy of which they arranged to provide to every female detainee in cooperation with the local services of MIDES, the National Rehabilitation Institute and MInterior.

Recommendation (paragraph 47)

167. The minimum age for marriage was increased from 12 and 14 years of age to 16 for both men and women (or subject to judicial authorization) through Act No. 19075 (Annex). While that is still not in line with the standard laid down in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it is considered a substantial legislative advance.

168. The prohibition in the Civil Code on a widow’s or divorcee’s remarrying within 300 days of the date of her husband’s death or the date of her divorce has not been amended.

169. As regards the withholding of alimony to women who lead a “disorderly life” established in article 183 of the Civil Code, it was modified by the provisions of Acts Nos. 19075 and 19119, which establish a different procedure for determining alimony and eliminate the reference to a “disorderly life”.

Recommendation (paragraph 49)

170. Direct discrimination against women was found to exist in the different ages for the valid recognition, without judicial approval, of one’s own children (12 and 16 years for females and males respectively). Also, with regard to the impossibility for unmarried adolescents to exercise parental authority up to 18 years of age, direct discrimination on grounds of birth was found to exist (whether the child may be subject to the parental authority of the minor parent depends on whether the parents are married to each other), which amounts to indirect discrimination on the basis of gender.

171. Act No. 19119 of 2013 removes the expression “grandparents”, previously used in the Childhood and Adolescence Code, replacing it with “grandfather”; this non-inclusive use of language, which makes grandmothers invisible, amounts to discrimination on the basis of gender that could restrict the determination of parental authority in the situation mentioned.

Article 2

172. Other advances in legislation and the institutional system for the protection of human rights (Annex on the institutional system and Table 52):

173. Act No. 18246 (2007) on common-law marriage recognizes stable couples that have continuously cohabited for at least five years, in order to guarantee rights within non-matrimonial relationships. Among other things, it extends to them the community property regime (the regime that was regulated by the community property provisions of the marriage contract) once their union is legally recognized.

174. Act No. 18590 (2009) modifies the adoption provisions of the Childhood and Adolescence Code, allowing for adoption by spouses or common-law spouses of the same sex.

175. Act No. 18868 (2012) prohibits any requirement for a negative pregnancy test upon hiring or at any other time during an employment relationship.

Article 3

176. PIODNA, which received the relevant information in 2012, was the first comprehensive instrument to address inequalities and cases of discrimination against women in Uruguay (Act No. 18104 of 2007). Inmujeres headed up the participatory process that led to the development of PIODNA, and promoted its implementation and follow-up. An evaluation shows that PIODNA has yielded significant progress, though challenges persist. The State has reported on the progress in its implementation to the General Assembly and publicly each 8 March, International Women’s Day.

177. Based on the information gathered, Inmujeres began to draw up a Strategic Plan for Gender Equality whose goal is to mainstream the gender perspective and human rights in public policy. The Plan’s design will serve to organize the future development of public policy with a focus on human rights and gender equality, and hence to synchronize State planning, programming and budgeting processes with a view to its implementation. That will involve formulating feasible and measurable outcomes, visualizing the State’s gender equality orientations through budget appropriations, building a system of strategic partnerships to achieve the short- and medium-term objectives, and creating public value, essentially, through transactions with the citizenry: fulfilling requests, providing services and ensuring the exercise of rights.

Article 8

178. As regards international representation of the Government by women, of a total of 221 officials serving outside the country, 88 are women, with the following breakdown by level:

179. Level A – Professional: 5; Level B – Technical: 3; Level C – Administrative: 9; Level D – Teacher: 3; Level M – Foreign Service: 68

180. Level M – Foreign Service is further broken down as follows: Ambassador: 2; Minister: 8; Minister Counsellor: 7; Counsellor: 15; First Secretary: 12; Second Secretary: 22; Third Secretary: 2. Out of 55 officials performing ambassadorial duties, 9 are women, distributed as follows, according to their budgeted post: Ambassador: 2; Minister: 5; Minister Counsellor: 2.^[46]

181. Inmujeres represents Uruguay at RMAAM, the Inter-American Commission of Women, the OAS Follow-up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention, ECLAC’s Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

182. The Foreign Ministry has a Gender Committee with two permanent officials responsible for promoting gender mainstreaming in the management of the organization; it is currently in the process of implementing the Quality Management with Gender Equity Model.

Article 11

183. Progress has been made on the design of a national care system (SNC) by identifying some challenges to the comprehensive, inter-institutional process of design and implementation and to gender mainstreaming and the protection of the labour rights of caregivers, among other issues.

184. Among other endeavours, Inmujeres has helped to mainstream the gender perspective in all SNC proposals and guidelines, to give visibility to caregivers, inside and outside the home, as a target population of SNC, to frame the importance of professionalization and regulation of the care sector, both within the family and in the labour market, and to make visible the care needs of middle-class families.

185. Pilot projects have been undertaken, particularly on consideration of children with disabilities at the design and training stages of Child and Family Care Centres (CAIF). Two courses were given to 56 personal assistants in the departments of Montevideo, Canelones, Treinta y Tres, Rocha and Artigas. In addition, the Personal Assistant Programme for persons with severe disabilities was strengthened, creating a new economic benefit for people in receipt of a disability pension because of severe disability who are seriously dependent. The Programme helps pay to hire a personal assistant to support beneficiaries in the activities of their daily lives.

186. The National Institute of Senior Adults, a unit of MIDES. has taken over regulation of long stay homes for older adults, and is implementing training programmes for caregivers. A National Plan on Ageing and Old Age has also been drawn up for 2013–2015 to articulate State strategies for the well-being of all senior adults, most of whom are women.

187. A socio-educational-labour programme (Networked Youth) was created to promote the exercise of their rights by young people disconnected from the educational system and the formal employment market and belonging to households with incomes below the poverty line. The programme is providing support to 3,071 participants in various departments (53 per cent female and 47 per cent male), 25 per cent of them being women with dependent children.

188. Women’s employment rates are lower than men’s on every measure, regardless of place of residence, ethnic ancestry, household poverty or age. Activity and employment rates for women show a disparity of about twenty percentage points relative to men (54.5 per cent vs 73.9 per cent and 50.0 per cent vs 70.2 per cent, respectively). Women’s unemployment rates are still higher than men’s nationwide (8.2 per cent vs 5.0 per cent) (Table 53). As regards unemployment, young women from 14 to 18 years of age are worst off.

189. In 2014 the second national survey on time use was conducted. It showed that women’s unpaid workload is twice that of men. True, men are gainfully employed for more hours than women, but when unpaid work is factored in, women have an overall weekly workload that is significantly greater. Sixty-six per cent of women’s labour is unpaid work, while among men it is only 33 per cent of their work (Figures 12 to 14).

190. Complaints received by IGTSS are monitored and actioned under the Sexual Harassment Act, Act No. 18561. Inmujeres is developing training programmes for inspectors, lawyers and officials of IGTSS for the purpose of improving their implementation.^[47] Trials at labour relations tribunals have been much abbreviated under Act No. 18572 of 13/9/09, dealing very summarily with cases of sexual harassment in the workplace to provide compensation for non-material damage; the procedure was created almost at the same time under Act No. 18561 of 11/9/09. There is a process similar to an action for amparo to compensate victims of sexual harassment in the workplace (Act No. 18561 of 11/9/09). In the field of education, ANEP has drawn up a protocol on situations of sexual harassment in the teacher-student relationship that entered into force as of October 2014.

Article 13

191. Proposals have been made for universalization of physical activity and sport throughout the population, with special emphasis on youth. With that in mind, the first Comprehensive National Sports Plan was designed. MTD has increased the number of public sports grounds with goal of bringing physical activity and sport closer to the people. At all sports grounds, women’s participation has increased. As of 2014, 112 sports grounds were in operation across all departments (Table 54). Emphasis should be placed on the promotion of the development of women’s football at the level of children and youth through such programmes as “Goal to the Future” as well as coordination with the national organization of children’s football.

192. The National Social Tourism System has been developed to give the greatest possible number of people an opportunity to enjoy leisure and recreation, enabling travel to quality tourist sites at affordable prices; it is a joint endeavour of BPS and MTD. Women, both workers and senior women, are in the majority among the system’s users as well as in specific programmes aimed at women (quinceañera debutantes, domestic workers, Women’s Commune) (Tables 55 and 56).

193. The Call for Women Entrepreneurs 8M, a MIEM programme, arranges for female-run enterprises to present projects that will spur development of key areas of their production or of services that involve production chains of interest to the Ministry. Projects must include technological improvements and/or innovations in product, process, organization, marketing, improvements in quality management and/or certification, resulting in the creation of real jobs. The programme is intended for women 18 and up who head production and/or service enterprises that are also managed by women or cooperatives in which the number of women members exceeds 60 per cent of the total. In 2012, 57 projects were submitted, of which 17 were successful. A total of 2,500,000 pesos was awarded (Tables 57 to 63).

^[1] Made up of: MDN, MIDES, MEF, MEC, MGAP, MIEM, MInterior, MRREE, MSP, MTSS, MTOP, MTD, MVOTMA, Inmujeres, INAU, INE, CI, BBF, Human Rights Secretariat, AMRU, Cladem Uruguay, CIEDUR, CNSmujeres, Cotidiano Mujer, FMM, MYSU, RMR, PIT-CNT.

^[2] BHU, BPS, CODICEN-ANEP, CHLCR, Inmayores-MIDES, INDDHH, INE; INJU, INC, IMPO, MPF, OPP, PJ, UDELAR.

^[3] In compliance with the ruling handed down by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Gelman vs. Uruguay.

^[4] In its first three years the programme has generated 2,046 first work experiences for young people in the State, some 70 per cent of them young women.

^[5] http://www.inmujeres.gub.uy/innovaportal/v/14763/6/innova.front/biblioteca_virtual

^[6] In April 2007, SIPIAV accepted the objective of defending the right to non-violence, focusing mainly on children and adolescents. SIPIAV is chaired by the National Institute for Children and Adolescents (INAU) and draws its membership from MIDES, MSP, MInterior, ANEP, PJ and CSOs; it receives UNICEF and UNDP support. Its objectives are to put in place a national care system through an inter-agency approach that responds to the problem of violence against children and adolescents; and to strengthen the system to promote, protect and guarantee the rights of boys, girls and adolescents, making progress on the achievement of strategic agreements involving State and civil society organizations.

^[7] The Plan is technology-based and seeks to give boys. girls, adolescents, young people and their families, especially in the country's poorest regions, the opportunity to have access to new technologies through the allocation of a laptop. To that end, a laptop computer is distributed to each student in Uruguayan public schools and, in the basic cycle of middle school, to each teacher, while connectivity is available in all schools and many public spaces. Progress continues to be made in the production of educational content and the creation of new platforms and software to popularize stewardship, ethno-racial dimension and other educational content with a gender perspective.

^[8] http://www.inmujeres.gub.uy/innovaportal/file/5137/1/Folleto%20Acoso%20_web.pdf

^[9] It was taught at the National Police School and totalled 32 hours of class time. Attendance was 41 persons: 4 from Montevideo, 3 from Canelones and 2 from each remaining headquarters.

^[10] The CNCLVD is made up of Inmujeres, as chair; the Ministry of Social Development; the judiciary; the Ministry of the Interior; the Ministry of Public Health; the Ministry of Education and Culture; the National Institute for Children and Adolescents; the National Public Education Administration; the Congress of Mayors; and three civil society representatives belonging to of the Uruguayan Network against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

^[11] The actions of the judiciary are consolidated and presented in recommendation No. 27.

^[12] Decree 382/2012 of 22/11/12 http://archivo.presidencia.gub.uy/sci/decretos/2012/11/min_772.pdf

^[13] https://www.minterior.gub.uy/genero/images/stories/guia_de_procedimiento_policial.pdf

^[14] The information is not just for statistical purposes; it also helps in the development of a protection and prevention strategy, offering the possibility of providing relevant, quality information to the justice system on the present situation and its background.

^[15] https://www.minterior.gub.uy/genero/images/stories/protocolo_violencia_domestica.pdf

^[16] In accordance with article 11 of Act No. 17514 and articles 3 and 4 of Act No. 17726.

^[17] Number and percentage of criminal proceedings opened for the crimes of femicide, homicide and murder / number and percentage of criminal sentences (conviction or acquittal) for the crimes of femicide, homicide and murder. For the period 1/4/13–31/3/14.

^[18] Number of girls, teenage girls, adult women and senior women murdered in the last twelve months in the different femicide scenarios, multiplied by 100,000 and divided by the number of women living in the country. (Source: developed from data provided by the Observatory of Violence and Criminality of the Ministry of the Interior and population projections calculated by the National Statistical Institute.)

^[19] Their enabling legislation is found in Act No. 17514, which focuses on protection of the victim and the rest of the family group, as well as art. 117 et seq. of the Childhood and Adolescence Code (CNA), regarding the protection of threatened or violated rights of children and adolescents.

^[20] Order No. 7647, Circular 34/09 of 2 April 2009. The Regulations were approved in the Plenary Assembly of the fourteenth Iberian American Judicial Summit (March 2008, Brasilia), where 100 standard minimum regulations were agreed to guarantee access to justice for vulnerable persons, without any discrimination. They constitute an important advance in the identification and systematization of the basic postulates of a model of justice that is equally accessible to all and pays special attention to the most vulnerable sectors of society, seeking to mitigate the difficulties and overcome the barriers that prevent those persons from fully exercising the rights guaranteed them by law under the justice system.

^[21] Judicial actions in situations of domestic violence and child abuse are mainly taken under Act No. 17514 and the Childhood and Adolescence Code, and are usually referred to as CNA cases.

^[22] The Committee is currently made up of 10 government institutions (MRREE, BBF, INAU/CONAPESE, PJ, MEC and MPF, MIDES, MInterior, MSP, MINTUR, MTSS) and 3 nongovernmental ones (Casa Abierta, El Paso and the Uruguayan Network against Domestic and Sexual Violence), as well as IOM and the United Nations (UNDP).

^[23] The Plan allows foreign nationals to begin the process of obtaining legal residence in Uruguay and a temporary identity card valid for 2 years, so as to gain access to the formal labour market and to health care.

^[24] The predominant age in the population served is between 18 and 30, the age most often found worldwide among victims of trafficking, and the main form of exploitation is sexual. Cases were also recorded among women 30 to 56, mainly for domestic service. As regards the purpose of the exploitation, sexual purposes were most frequent, followed by domestic labour exploitation and then other purposes, such as crime, religious sects, or football.

^[25] Made up of the Directorate-General for Combating Organized Crime and INTERPOL, the National Migration Directorate, the National Directorate of Civil identification, the Highway Police Directorate, the Directorate-General of Information and Intelligence, the National Police School, the Department of International Relations, the Gender Policy Division, and the police headquarters of Montevideo, San José and Canelones.

^[26] http://www.MERCOSURmujeres.org/userfiles/file/Guia_RMAAM_FINAL_web_5_julio_es.pdf

^[27] The welfare and social security system in Uruguay consists of several different mechanisms. Under Act No. 16713, the Social Security Act, the welfare system is based on a mixed regime in which contributions are received and benefits are paid in combination: one part from the intergenerational solidarity pension scheme, the other part from compulsory individual savings for retirement. In recent years the number of recipients of retirement pensions has been constantly increasing, perhaps mainly due to the legislation that has eased accessed thereto, the inclusion of common-law spouses as beneficiaries, and other provisions, derived from international agreements, on the accumulation of years of work in Uruguay and abroad, as well as others relating to redress for victims of political or trade union persecution.

^[28] Membership of the Advisory Committee: Uruguayan Technological Laboratory, UNDP, UN Women, PIT-CNT and National Quality Institute, and Inmujeres. The auditing firms are Uruguayan Technological Laboratory/Systems and Quality Austria (LSQA) and the Uruguayan Technical Standards Institute (UNIT).

^[29] Some of the organizations that participated throughout the period were: UTE, OSE, ANP, ANTEL, University of the Republic, municipal offices of Canelones and Maldonado, Nuvó a Tupperware Brand, CIS.

^[30] One example is determining haemoglobin levels, to diagnose anaemia during the first year of life. Again, an assessment of child development is planned for the four- and eighteen-month checks, in accordance with the recommendations of the national guide to monitoring child development published by the Children's Health Programme. With respect to pregnant women, it was decided, in accordance with the guidelines of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme, to decrease the number of checks on pregnant women considered sufficient from 6 to 5, with greater attention to early detection of pregnancy. Finally, the domestic violence research component relates to all women over the age of 15.

^[31] TCA's judgment empowers gynaecologists to refuse to participate in any procedure, before or after the termination of pregnancy, and authorizes them to provide patients with advice on continuing the pregnancy and even order ultrasounds. At the same time, it was made clear that the suspension of the application of the contested articles shall not prevent the referral of the patient, so that the termination of pregnancy in toto, through every stage, will be carried out by a professional other than the conscientious objector.

^[32] The regulatory decree covers low-complexity procedures to optimize the conditions for successful fertilization. It also covers high-complexity procedures, which involve fertilization occurring outside the woman's body.

^[33] http://www.inju.gub.uy/innovaportal/file/26984/1/esta_bueno_conversar___version_2.pdf

^[34] Its membership was to comprise one representative each of: Women's Integral Health and Gender Programme, Population Data Consultative Unit, departmental health directors, ASSE, Chair of Gynaecotokology and Department of Forensic Medicine, UdelaR Faculty of Medicine, UdelaR School of Midwifery, Inmujeres and Congress of Mayors. The representative of the Departmental Directors of Health of DIGESA, the Directorate-General of Environmental Health, will be determined by the Department in which the death occurred.

^[35] Participants are: an inter-agency committee of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Housing, Land Management and the Environment; UTE; OSE; ANCAP; and the Office of the President of the Republic through Plan Juntos.

^[36] Among the issues raised were whether there were sex-specific energy use requirements, for example because of division of labour by sex, barriers to energy access, access to credit based on land ownership or resources, administration and decision-making on energy resources, and entitlement to or payment for the service.

^[37] Consultations were held on access, ownership, use and control of land from a gender perspective, and work in ongoing on voluntary tenure guidelines in the same vein, to recognize and redress existing inequities.

^[38] In all, 510 persons from various social organizations and the Government were trained in MIT-ASEG methodology in the course of 12 training events in 4 departments (Rocha, Salto, Paysandú and Canelones). As a result, more than 60 social, productive and cultural projects embodying a gender perspective were presented, of which 21 were approved. One of the projects won the 2011 contest for women entrepreneurs developed by MIEM and supported by Inmujeres.

^[39] Many small establishments serving a small student body.

^[40] Statistical yearbooks for 2006 to 1012, MEC.

^[41] http://www.mgap.gub.uy/portal/agxppdwn.aspx?7,1,77,O,S,0,3099%3BS%3B2%3B96

^[42] The occupational categories used are: private employee, public employee, member of a cooperative, employer, self-employed without premises, self-employed with premises, unpaid homemaker, public employment programme.

^[43] The occupation groups considered were: Legislators and senior officials; Corporate managers; Professionals; Technicians and associate professionals; Clerks; Service workers and shop and market sales workers; Skilled agricultural and fishery workers; Craft and related trades workers; Plant and machine operators and assemblers; Elementary occupations.

^[44] A voluntary process is established under article 406.2 of the General Procedural Code (article 69 of Act No. 15750 of 24/6/85, with the amendment introduced by article 374 of Act No. 16320 of 1/11/92).

^[45] Its membership is as follows: Ministry of the Interior (MI), Gender Policy Division—MInterior; Women's Bicameral Caucus; National Drugs Commission/National Drugs Secretariat; MSP Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme; INJU-MIDES, INMUJERES-MIDES; DAIF-INAU; Women’s Secretariat—IM: INR Gender Commission, National Institute of Criminology (INACRI); Parliamentary Commissioner on the Prison System; INR unit No. 5 (Women); Public Defender's Office in Family Matters, UNDP; Growth Foundation; UN Women, CLADEM (Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defence of Women's Rights); MERCOSUR Observatory of Public Policies on Human Rights; Faculty of Psychology and Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences, University of the Republic; Uruguay Grows with You (OPP) and El Abrojo.

^[46] Promotion in the diplomatic career takes place in accordance with the provisions of article 39 of Decree-Law No. 14206, regulated by Decree No. 159/014 of 3 June 2014.

^[47] Leaflet to raise awareness of the legislation on sexual harassment in the workplace and the teacher-student relationship http://www.inmujeres.gub.uy/innovaportal/file/5137/1/imagen_acoso_copia.jpg