The National Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (Conanda) has a new composition, in accordance with Decree No. 11,473, published in the Official Gazette of the Union on Thursday (6). The new legislation authorizes the largest number of advisors in the collegiate’s history and also determines parity in government and civil society representation.
The decree increases from 11 to 15 the number of holders of government representatives and sets at 15 the number of participating civil entities, in addition to the 30 respective substitutes.
Changes
The new configuration of Conanda also occurred due to the creation of new ministries, such as the Indigenous Peoples and Racial Equality. By this week’s decree, the National Youth Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic will also form part of the council.
The new text revokes Decree 10,003/2019. The national secretary for the Rights of Children and Adolescents of the MDHC and president of Conanda, Ariel de Castro Alves, explains the losses that must be overcome. “The previous decree represented a terrible authoritarian intervention by the then government in Conanda, generating a huge setback that had never occurred before, as it removed parity and established 11 representatives of the government and 9 of civil society”.
The previous decree established that the President of Conanda was always appointed by the President of the Republic from among the members of the collegiate body. In 2023, the council will again have the attribution of choosing the president of the collegiate body in a democratic way, with the annual alternation between presidents and vice-presidents, from the government and civil society.
Still in the previous decree, the Conanda assemblies were quarterly and by videoconference. The new decree establishes monthly and face-to-face assemblies.
The Conanda
Created in 1991, Conanda is commanded by the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship (MDHC). The new council members took office in February for the 2023-2024 biennium, with the commitment to develop general norms for the formulation and implementation of the National Policy for Attending to the Rights of Children and Adolescents.
The next assembly is scheduled for April 19th and 20th, when transitional rules will be discussed regarding the filling of vacancies for the representation of civil society. Participation in Conanda, in the standing commissions and in the thematic groups, is considered to provide a relevant, non-remunerated public service.
