PERU: UPDATE TO GSP WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR

UNCLAS LIMA 004712 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE PASS TO USDOL FOR TINA MCCARTER DEPARTMENT FOR DRL/ILL LAUREN HOLT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD SOCI PGOV PHUM PE SUBJECT: PERU: UPDATE TO GSP WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR REF: A. A) 05 LIMA 3714 ¶B. B) STATE 184972 ¶1. Post submits the following additional information to last year's update of the 2004 Worst Forms of Child Labor Report. Responses are keyed to items in Ref A. A) Formal institutional mechanisms to investigate and address complaints relating to allegations of the worst forms of child labor. ¶2. The Government of Peru (GOP) employs 236 labor inspectors, with 150 working in Lima. The Ministry of Labor (MOL) has announced plans to add 200 inspectors in 2007. According to the MOL, inspectors carried out 33,874 visits in ¶2005. Inspectors investigated all types of labor violations, including those related to child labor. In total, the MOL's inspection force levied approximately 4,500 fines in 2005, for a total of USD 11 million. ¶3. In 2005, the MOL's Office of Labor Protection for Minors (PMT) issued 1,326 permits authorizing children to work; 1,086 were issued to adolescents between 16 and 17 years old. Parents or legal guardians must apply for a permit, and employers cannot hire a minor without one. Each permit requires an on-site inspection to ensure compliance with Peruvian labor law. The PMT is completing visits to sites issued permits in 2005. ¶4. In 2005, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents (DEMUNA) completed work on a decentralized child labor reporting and tracking system to comply with Peru's signing of the Palermo Protocol. ¶5. The MOL's labor inspectors focus on the formal sector, even though more than half of Peru's working population is employed in the informal sector. In order to cover the informal sector, the MOL, along with the DEMUNA, the ministry of Women and Development (MIMDES),and the Center of Social Studies and Publications (CESIP, a Peruvian NGO) has created labor advocacy offices in all of Peru's 1,800 municipalities. Thirty percent of these offices receive funding directly from local governments; the rest rely primarily on volunteer staffs. DEMUNA is responsible for raising awareness about child labor and for reporting major violations. Although most municipalities lack the financial resources to support local DEMUNA offices, the MOL plans over the next five years to give the offices the authority and capacity to issue work permits, investigate infractions, and impose and collect fines within their respective jurisdictions. B) Existing social programs to prevent and to assist in the removal of children engaged in the worst forms of child labor. ¶6. In 2004 the GOP created the Inter-Institutional Network of Local Execution (RIEL),a locally staffed committee that reports on child labor conditions in Puno, where approximately 240,000 children are engaged in the mining and artisanal industries. ¶7. On November 1, 2006 the Department of Labor began, with the cooperation of the GOP, a five-year, $5 million project to reduce child labor in Lima, Callao, Trujillo, and Iquitos. The program helps at-risk children between the ages of 11 and 15 years old to stay in school and assists children who are already working to return to school. More than 5,000 children are expected to benefit from the program. The Department of Labor is also working with the GOP to implement a national child labor survey to document the incidence and nature of child labor nationally. The project is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2007. ¶8. In September 2006, the DOL-funded program, EDuFuro, ended. The program brought mobile education centers to 3,000 youth working in mines in the region of Puno and taught basic reading, writing and math. The program succeeded in persuading many of the children participating to continue their education in permanent schools. ¶9. The GOP has defined brick-making as a sector relying on child labor. In 2006, MIMDES and CESIP promoted joint development programs in Guachipa, a municipality near Lima, where thousands of children were engaged in brick-making. MIMDES and CESIP have helped community leaders organize worker associations and pressure local governments to extend basic services. CESIP also has secured private sector money from companies to fund the construction and improvement of four Guachipa elementary schools. As a result, several hundred children attend school instead of working. ¶10. In 2005, MIMDES coordinated the production of a video designed to warn tourists and business travelers about the legal sanctions against sexual exploitation of children. The video aired on all LAN Peru flights between Lima and Iquitos in November 2005. MIMDES also conducted a four-month long training session for Iquitos police officers that trained 600 policemen in identifying and investigating cases involving the sexual exploitation of children. ¶11. In 2006, the MOL signed a contract with CESIP to provide legal assistance and information to domestic workers about their labor rights under the law. C) Comprehensive polices for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor. ¶12. In mid-2005, the MOL completed the National Action Plan for Child Labor, which formalized a Supreme Decree issued on September 30, 2005. In June 2006, a third revision of the plan was released to the public. The plan contains reports on progress achieved in combating child labor and details objectives in meeting the overall goal of eradicating child labor. D) Whether the country is making continual progress toward eliminating the worst forms of child labor. ¶13. The strong commitment expressed by the current government to eradicate child labor suggests progress will continue. According to the MOL, the rate of children entering the workforce has slowed: from 1996 to 2001, the percentage of children holding jobs increased by 13 per cent. From 2001 to 2006, the increase was 3 per cent. ¶14. The MOL's budget for 2006 is approximately USD 70 million, a 5.5 million decrease since 2005. In 2005, approximately USD 35 million of the total budget was earmarked for implementation of the National Action Plan for Child Labor. In 2006, the portion of funds for PNAIA grew to about USD 5.9 million, evidence of how seriously the GOB takes the child labor problem. STRUBLE