02007-04112
LAW LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
NICARAGUA
CHILDREN’S RIGHTS: INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL LAWS AND PRACTICES
Executive Summary
Nicaragua has issued many legislative enactments to comply with the
international legal instruments to which it has subscribed. Chief among them are: the
inclusion of the Convention on the Right of the Child as an express constitutional
mandate; the promulgation of the Code of Childhood and Adolescence and the General
Law on Education; extensive amendments to the Penal Code protecting minors; adoption
of a new General Law on Health with its Program of Comprehensive Care for Women,
Children, and Adolescents; and creation of a new Labor Code, raising the minimum
working age and protecting young workers from being exploited.
I. Introduction
This report covers international treaties on children’s issues to which Nicaragua has become a
party, Constitutional provisions, and some of the most relevant statutes and national policies issued for
the protection of children and adolescents.
II. Implementation of International Rights of the Child
Treaty Ratifications
Nicaragua is a party to the following international treaties related to the right of the child:
• Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by U.N. General Assembly resolution 44/25 of
November 20, 1989.1 Nicaragua signed the Convention on February 6, 1990, and ratified it on
October 5 1990.2
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights.3 Nicaragua voted in favor of it at the time it was
adopted by the U.N. Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly, on December 10, 1948.4
1 The Convention on the Rights of the Child, with a Preamble and 54 articles, was adopted by the U.N. General
Assembly Nov. 20, 1989, and entered into force Sept. 2, 1990. G.A. Res. 44/25, annex, 44 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49) at 167,
U.N. Doc. A/44/49 (1989); 28 Int'l Legal Materials 1448 (1989) (an unofficial source). For an online text, see the Offic