VENEZUELA: UPDATE OF WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR

UNCLAS CARACAS 003623 SIPDIS SIPDIS DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/AND AND DRL/IL (TDANG) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI SUBJECT: VENEZUELA: UPDATE OF WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR REF: 2005 CARACAS 002499 ¶1. Venezuelan law protects children from exploitation in the workplace, but enforcement is often lacking. The Ministry of Labor and the National Institute for Minors enforces child labor policies effectively in the formal sector, but less so in the informal sector. According to official Ministry of Labor statistics, 45 percent of all Venezuelan employees worked in the informal sector in October 2006. Among minors in the workplace, the percentage that are employed in the informal sector is considerbly higher -- almost 70 percent, according to the Foundation for the Training in the Investigation of Human Resources. ¶2. The law permits children between the ages of 12 and 14 to work only if the National Institute for Minors or the Ministry of Labor grants special permission; children between the ages of 14 and 16 may not work without the permission of their legal guardians. Those under 16 years of age may by law work no more than 6 hours per day or 30 hours per week. Minors under the age of 18 may work only between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. ¶3. Minors may not work in mines or smelting factories. They are also prohibited by law from working in occupations that risk life or health or could damage intellectual or moral development; or in public spectacles. The Venezuelan government decreed two increases in the minimum wage for adolescent workers and apprentices in 2006, raising the wage to 384,225 Bolivares a month (one dollar = 2150 Bolivares). ¶4. Centro Comunitario de Aprendizaje y Por los Derechos de la Ninez y Adolescencia (CECODAP),a leading Venezuelan NGO promoting the rights of children and adolescents, recently issued an annual report documenting the plight of many children in the workplace. Citing a Ministry of Labor study, CECODAP notes that there are approximately one million minors working in Venezuela of which a large percentage do not receive the benefits due to them under Venezuelan law. CEPODAP estimates, based on the same Labor Ministry study, that: -- 72 percent of children and adolescents working do not have the proper work permits; -- 59.5 percent work more than 6 hours a day and 30 hours a week; -- 27 percent receive a one-hour break; -- less than 4 percent have a work contract -- only 2 percent are registered with the social security system; -- one percent receive paid vacations -- less than one percent earn the minimum wage. ¶5. Venezuela is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. The law prohibits inducing the prostitution and corruption of minors, but here too enforcement is lacking. Laws against child trafficking provide for fines of one to 10 months' salary. Penalties for the prostitution or corruption of minors range from 3 to 18 months in prison and up to 4 years in prison if the minor is younger than 12 years old. The Venezuelan government does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. BROWNFIELD