JAMAICA: CHILD LABOR REMAINS A PROBLEM; CONVICTION RATE

NCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINGSTON 000417 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR WHA/CAR (ACADIEUX) (VDEPIRRO) (WSMITH) WHA/EPSC (MROONEY)(FCORNEILLE) INR/RES (RWARNER) SANTO DOMINGO FOR FCS AND FAS HOMELAND SECURITY FOR ALEX GISSER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB PTER ASEC PBTS KCRM CVIS PHUM KFRD SOCI JM XL SUBJECT: JAMAICA: CHILD LABOR REMAINS A PROBLEM; CONVICTION RATE UNCHANGED ¶1. (U) Summary: The Government of Jamaica (GOJ) has taken significant steps to pass and enforce legislation on child labor, although conviction rates in this field, as in others in Jamaica, remain low. Conoff accompanied Tina McCarter and Linda Bermudez of the Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking from May 4-6 to meet various GOJ agencies and NGOs to assess the response to child labor issues in Jamaica. Despite the fact that the GOJ recently increased the compulsory age of education from 16 to 18 and confirmed children's right to education under the Education Act, field research confirms child labor practices remain a concern. End Summary. Background -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Child labor is difficult to detect in Jamaica due to the underground nature of the trade. Sixty percent of Jamaica's workforce is in the informal sector, while eighty six percent of births are to unwed mothers. Children are often pressured to enter the workforce at fourteen, sacrificing their education to provide for their families. While child labor is not prevalent in large industries, due to GOJ regulation and inspections, established sectors often spur cottage industries that employ children. ¶3. (SBU) High incarceration rates and an increase in adult migration have led to large numbers of single parent families or children living with relatives. Janet Cupidon-Quallo of UNICEF reported that roughly four in ten Jamaican children live in poverty. Parents that migrate to North America or the UK send remittances to Jamaica, which account for just over 20 percent of the country's GDP. Efforts by Various Jamaican Ministries -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The GOJ has tried different approaches to combat the child labor problem. Current efforts focus on cooperation with NGOs to maximize the effectiveness of community efforts. The Ministry of Labor (MOL) and the Ministry of Social Security (MSS) have augmented responsibilities for preventing child labor as a result of an International Labor Organization (ILO) project that ended in 2004. During a meeting, Marva Ximmenes, Director of the Child Care Unit of the MOL, highlighted the role of the National Taskforce on Trafficking in child labor prevention. The taskforce was established in 2004 by the MOL, providing a platform for NGOs and GOJ agencies to collaborate on prevention, education and media dissemination of anti-trafficking programs. In addition to maintaining public awareness forums, the taskforce recently completed a national survey to detail the scope of the problem, as a study conducted back in 2000 had revealed that the public then had been largely unaware of the trafficking issues in the country. ¶5. (SBU) Jamaica's Child Care Protection Act (CCPA) of 2004 established both an Office of the Children's Advocate as a watchdog and public awareness-raising arm, as well as the Office of Children's Registry as a repository for mandatory reports of child abuse. Section 6 of the CCPA provides that every Jamaican has a duty to report child abuse. Since establishing a hotline in 2007, reports of abuse have increased significantly, although many are unsubstantiated reports of neglect rather than confirmed cases of child abuse. As a result, the GOJ established parish-wide Centers for Investigating Sexual Offenses Against Children (CISOCA),and have ensured proper training of officers in identifying and categorizing levels of child abuse. The CDA is annually allocated roughly JD 30 million (USD 340,000) to maintain the registry and JD 20 million (USD 225,000) for public relations, education, and community awareness efforts. ¶6. (SBU) Robert Rainford, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ),has the primary responsibility for Jamaica's efforts to address child labor. The Childcare and Protection Act established a Children's Court specializing in crimes that affect Jamaica's youth. The MOJ has also established the Possibility Program with the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport, that focuses on reintegration and rehabilitation of children who live on the streets. Legislative efforts include a draft Child Pornography Bill and an amendment that further defines rape and incest as violations of the Sexual Offenses Act. Finally, the MOJ collaborates with the Ministry of National Security via the Taskforce on Child Abuse to ascertain that recovered missing children are duly reintegrated with their families. Rainford further highlighted the MOJ's Victims Support Unit that includes alert programs, search systems, and support for the rehabilitation of victims of child abuse. Education As A Means To Combat Child Labor -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Our contacts at the DOL noted that robust education systems are a powerful deterrent to child labor, and the GOJ has implemented policies to strengthen education as a social safety net. According to an ILO official, the Ministry of Education is very enthusiastic about child labor prevention efforts and has mandated that such efforts be integrated into national planning mechanisms. Jamaica has a 98 percent school enrollment rate, but attendance hovers around 64 percent because of the expense of school uniforms, lunch and books, coupled with lost wages for not working on family farms or selling items on the street. To address this, the GOJ, under the Ministry of Social Security, has established PATH, a program that provides stipends to pay for educational expenses. However, students must maintain an 85 percent school attendance rate to qualify, resulting in underutilization of the program. ¶8. (SBU) ILO's Tackling Child Labor Through Education (TACKLE) program is funded by the European Union across eleven countries, including Jamaica. The ILO's Nasolo Thompson discussed the evolving nature of child labor, particularly involving young women for sexual tourism, but admitted that child labor in the underground economy is very difficult to detect. She lamented that Jamaica's Statistical Information and Monitoring Programme on Child Labor is not able to produce entirely reliable numbers. ¶9. (U) USAID also utilizes livelihoods programs and education outreach as important tools to prevent child labor. Children First, an organization in Spanish Town that teaches vocational skills to roughly 300 school dropouts, receives most of its funding from USAID. Additionally, a recent program that targeted 71 poor performing schools to increase literacy and numeracy levels was among the most successful USAID projects to date, graduating all but two schools. ¶10. (U) COMMENT: Despite GOJ and NGO efforts, only three cases of child labor have been brought to the attention of the court in the country's history. (NOTE: The GOJ has a low conviction rate for most crimes, including violent crimes such as murder, with a conviction rate of about five percent. END NOTE) One case was successfully prosecuted, while the other two remain in the Resident Magistrate's circuit court. The complex nature of the issue, coupled with the inability to quantify and detect abuse, has resulted in a disconnect between a desired intent to address the problem and actual results. Ms. Bermudez and Ms. McCarter were unable to clear this cable prior to their departure; they will submit their findings for comment prior to dissemination of the annual report on child labor. MOSS