Social organizations, student groups, movements and coalitions reiterated their opposition to a 47-billion-colon cutback to the National Child Welfare Agency (PANI) budget for 2017.
The decision was supported by a majority from the Finance Committee of the Legislative Assembly on October 20th
According to a letter that the protest groups addressed to legislators, the cutback is wrong and it leads to dangerous consequences for children and adolescents. They also said that it weakens Costa Rica’s democratic institutions and social capital to respond to the complexity of the social problems affecting minors.
The groups further argued that the cutback violates provisions from the Organic Law of the PANI, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the American Convention on Human Rights and jurisprudence of the Constitutional Chamber.
The budget cutback is included in the draft of the national budget 2017, which the Legislative will have to pass before November 30th.