Youth Statute is being debated in Rio Grande do Sul.

Nicolas Pasinato, from the portal On the 21

After nine years of processing, the Youth Statute is close to being approved. On March 27th, the bill will be voted on in the Senate. While the date hasn't arrived yet, debates are being held to learn more about the proposal and discuss some points that still cause disagreement, such as the age range that the Statute will cover, if approved.

This Friday (15) it was the turn of the people of Porto Alegre to get to know the project more closely, through a public hearing. The meeting took place in the Plenarinho of the Legislative Assembly and was attended by different organizations, as well as parliamentarians linked to the proposal.

The rapporteur for the bill in the Senate's Social Affairs Committee, Paulo Paim (PT), coordinated the hearing. Celebrating his birthday that day, Paim said that the greatest gift he could receive on his 63rd birthday would be the approval of the Statute. Also present at the Social Affairs Committee (CAS) was the National Secretary of Youth of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, Severine Macedo. She noted that the construction of a public policy agenda for youth is recent and credited the last two federal governments with the advances in these areas.

Severine recalled the approval, in 2010, of the Youth Amendment, which she considers a landmark for having included youth in the Brazilian federal constitution. She also mentioned the creation of the National Youth Secretariat, the National Youth Council, and the Projovem program. She also highlighted some programs created, such as Prouni, the Quota Program, and Juventude Viva, which prevents violence against young black people.

According to the secretary, the greatest importance of the Statute's approval lies in the confirmation that these policies will not depend on governments to be maintained. Furthermore, she emphasized the value of the proposal as a way to value the country's youth. "Young people are not problems for society as they have been seen for many years. Youth is not a transitional phase between young adulthood and adulthood. It is a stage of life that carries specificities of origin, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, which can lead to greater or lesser inclusion," she says.

She points out some of the rights that the Statute will promote, if approved. "The right to participate in all sectors of society, the right to education, professional training and work. The right to diversity and equality, to practice different religions, to have access to health and culture," she exemplifies, also adding that the legislation in question is the first to intensely defend the rights of diversity and the young LGBT population.

Regarding half-price tickets for cultural or sporting events, Severine Macedo argues that this right should be offered not only to young students, but also to working youth who earn up to one minimum wage.

Disagreement regarding age range

There is disagreement regarding the age range that the law should cover. According to the bill that passed through the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Committee (CCJ), it would be from 15 to 29 years old. The Statute of Children and Adolescents (ECA) defines adolescents as people up to 18 years old. From this, questions arose about which Statute would represent young people in this age range and the possibility of creating an opening for lowering the age of criminal responsibility.

Federal Deputy Manuela D'Ávila (PCdoB), rapporteur of the original bill and who presented the substitute that was sent to the Senate, strongly defended maintaining the age range of 15 to 29 years. According to her, a false controversy is being created between the Youth Statute and the ECA (Statute of Children and Adolescents). "The Youth Statute does not conflict at any point with the rights provided to young people between 15 and 18 in the ECA. (In the Statute) we do not talk anywhere about criminal law. There is no possibility of conflict and holding young people aged 15 to 18 criminally responsible," she said.

To demonstrate what, according to her, is inconsistent in this controversy, Manuela asks: "Don't teenagers aged 15 to 18 have the right to half-price tickets? Don't they have the right to interstate travel if they are in university and to a free sex life? Are we going to leave young gay people aged 15 to 18 unprotected just because they are teenagers too?" Manuela also adds that this will not be the first time that one piece of legislation overshadows another.

Maria Izabel da Silva, representative of the Secretariat of Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic and of the National Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, in turn, justifies the concern of the ECA (Statute of the Child and Adolescent): "our only political and legal concern is that those who defend the end of the developing being, which resides in the age of 15 to 17 years, will later litigate any discussion that deals with the reduction of the age of criminal responsibility." The ECA stipulates that young people between 15 and 18 years of age will serve socio-educational measures when they commit any type of crime.

Manuela argues that half-price tickets are only for young students and says that pressure needs to be put on the government.

The federal congresswoman also emphasized that 33% of the project was built with popular participation, through a special commission. Furthermore, she highlighted the pressure exerted on the government to bring the project to this final stage. "The government wasn't convinced it wanted to approve the Statute. And now we all have unity around a text. We must build and transform rights into law independently of the will of the governments we are part of. Because governments come and go, but rights must remain written in law," she argued. "Social movements have to exert pressure. Governments can only have strength if there is pressure," she concluded.

Regarding half-price tickets, Manuela argues that they should only be offered to young students. "We have a policy that was just approved by the government that already guarantees workers' access to culture, which is the Culture Voucher. I believe that expanding this right would be redundant," she states.