GUATEMALA'S CHILD LABOR UPDATE

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 000054 SIPDIS SIPDIS DOL/ILAB TINA MCCARTER DEPT FOR DRL/IL TU DANG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI USAID PGOV GT SUBJECT: GUATEMALA'S CHILD LABOR UPDATE REF: A. 07 STATE 158223 ¶B. 07 GUATEMALA 901 The following information updates 2006 information (ref B) on the worst forms of child labor. Responses are keyed to Ref A. ¶A. Laws and regulations proscribing the worst forms of child labor: The Guatemalan government did not promulgate any new laws on child labor in 2007. The Guatemalan Labor Code sets the minimum age for employment at 14 years. In exceptional cases, the Labor Inspectorate may authorize work permits to children under the age of 14, although such authorization is not common. In 2007, the Inspectorate did not issue any such permits. The legal workday for children under the age of 14 is capped at six hours per day and 36 hours per week, and they are prohibited from working at night, overtime, or in dangerous occupations. The minimum age for military recruitment is 18 years. Military service is voluntary. Guatemala's child labor laws are consistent with International Labor Organization (ILO) standards. Guatemala ratified Convention 182 and has developed a list of occupations considered to be the worst forms of child labor, as called for in the Convention. ¶B. Regulations for implementation and enforcement of proscriptions against the worst forms of child labor: Civil fines and administrative remedies are available to government agencies that enforce child labor laws. The Labor Code mandates sanctions for violations of labor laws, including child labor provisions. The Penal Code criminalizes all forms of trafficking, defines the categories of perpetrators of trafficking offenses, and establishes prison terms of seven to 12 years for persons found guilty of trafficking. The Child Workers Protection Unit of the Ministry of Labor is charged with implementing and enforcing child labor laws and educating minors, parents, and employers on the rights of minors in the labor market; however, like most Guatemalan government entities, the unit lacked resources to adequately punish and deter violations. The extent to which complaints were investigated and violations prosecuted was limited due to Guatemala's weak labor inspection and labor court systems. The 2006 budget for the Child Workers Protection Unit was Q329,740 (approx. USD 43,400). The Ministry of Labor employed roughly 300 labor inspectors and had a total of 37 courts of first instance (eight in the capital dedicated to labor cases, and 29 outside the capital for both labor and family law cases) and five appellate courts (four for labor cases and one for both labor and family law cases). In 2006, the Labor Inspectorate investigated four child labor cases and 247 cases involving adolescents aged 14 to 17. (Note: We are still awaiting official year-end 2007 statistics from the Ministry of Labor, which we requested some time ago. We have not yet received a response due to the recent government transition. End note.) The Public Ministry detained 15 individuals on charges of sexual commercial exploitation of a minor. No cases were brought against employers of children under the age of 14. The government, through a USG-supported NGO, provided awareness raising and training activities for labor inspectors responsible for enforcing labor laws, including child labor provisions. ¶C. Social programs specifically designed to prevent and withdraw children from the worst forms of child labor: The Defense of Children's Rights Unit of the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office and the Social Welfare Secretariat of the QOmbudsman's Office and the Social Welfare Secretariat of the President's Office are charged with preventing and withdrawing children from exploitative situations. With the cooperation of ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC),the government has enacted programs to combat child labor in fireworks production, gravel production, domestic service, trash collection, the coffee industry, and the commercial sex industry. One of the programs offers scholarships and free meals during the year to encourage families to send their children to school instead of to work. IPEC continued operating programs as part of a seven-year regional effort to combat commercial sexual exploitation of minors. An international NGO collaborated with several local civil society groups in executing a program to strengthen the capacity of the government and civil society to prevent children from engaging in hazardous labor. In 2007, the Guatemalan government, in collaboration with NGOs, conducted rescue operations throughout the year, which resulted in the rescue of 20 sexually exploited children. The children were sent to Casa Alianza, a shelter for street children and child victims of abuse, for protection and attention. Judges, national police, and the Public Ministry referred 60 additional cases to Casa Alianza. During 2007, Casa Alianza continued to attend to 56 cases of sexually exploited minors, and the Secretariat of Social Welfare attended to six cases. "Casa del Migrante," a Guatemalan NGO-operated shelter for trafficked victims on the Guatemalan-Mexican border, attended to 700 trafficking cases, including cases involving minors. ¶D. Comprehensive policy aimed at the elimination of the worst forms of child labor: The Guatemalan government established a National Commission for the Elimination of Child Labor in 2002 and has made a public commitment to eradicate the worst forms of child labor. The Constitution provides for free compulsory education for all children up to the sixth grade. However, less than half the population completed primary education. UNICEF reported that from 2000 to 2005, 73 percent of children enrolled in rimary school reached the fifth grade. Completionrates were lower in rural and indigenous areas. ¶E. Progress toward eliminating the worst forms of child labor: Guatemala is making slow but continual progress toward eliminating the worst forms of child labor. Child labor is linked to the country's widespread poverty, especially in the rural areas. The Ministry of Labor, based on the 2006 Employment Survey conducted by the National Institute of Statistics, estimated that 75.4 percent of Guatemala's workforce was employed in the informal sector. The informal and agricultural sectors employed children under 14 years of age, usually in small family enterprises. Economic necessity forced most families to have their children work to supplement family income, particularly in rural and indigenous communities. In 2007, child labor was used in the food processing and fresh produce industries, as well as in flower production and fireworks production. The Ministry of Labor estimated that approximately 3,700 children were illegally employed in fireworks production. Trafficking victims included minors from Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua who were trafficked both internally and across Guatemalan borders to Mexico and the U.S. for commercial sex and labor exploitation. According to the most recent official data from the National Survey on Life Conditions (ENCOVI) conducted by the National Institute of Statistics, an estimated 528,000 children, or 18 percent, (68.7 percent boys, 33.3 percent girls) between ages 7 and 14 worked in Guatemala in 2006. Of the 18 percent, 12.7 percent attended school while working; 5.6 percent did not attend school. Child labor was more prevalent in rural areas (71.7 percent) than in urban areas (28.3 percent). Children worked in the following sectors: agriculture (63.7 percent),commerce (19.1 percent),manufacturing (9.7 percent),social and health services (4.6 percent), construction (1.9 percent),and transport and communications Qconstruction (1.9 percent),and transport and communications (0.8 percent). The majority worked in western Guatemala, with an estimated 34 percent in the country's southwest region and 22 percent in the northwest region. The majority (74.5 percent) worked as unskilled laborers requiring no specific skill, 14.7 percent as service workers and commercial vendors, 8.9 percent as artisans, printing press operators, and assembly line workers, 1.1 percent as machine operators and assemblers, 0.7 percent as laborers in the agricultural and fishing sectors, and 0.1 percent as office workers. Derham