Today, October 14, the Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labor (IR) commemorates the 6th anniversary of its constitution in a context of uncertainty and crisis, but more alert than ever and with the sustained commitment to continue improving the policies that reduce the risk of child labor and preserve the progress made in recent years.

The articulated work of the Network of Focal Points of the Regional Initiative, together with the support of its partners - such as the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the Andalusian Agency for International Development Cooperation (AACID), the Department Department of Labor of the United States (USDOL, for its acronym in English) and the Madrid City Council - has managed to institutionalize it as an innovative cooperation platform with installed capacities, which effectively strengthens national responses and advances towards the achievement of target 8.7 of the 2030 Agenda, which calls for an end to child labor in all its forms by 2025.

The current scenario shows that the urgency to prevent and intensify the elimination of child labor is more relevant and necessary than ever to avoid regressive effects. 

According to recent estimates by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), poverty may regress by 15 years in the region, affecting 231 million people, while extreme poverty would regress by 30 years , reaching 96 million people. 

With the widening of inequality gaps, the risk that more children and adolescents will enter or continue in the world of work prematurely and dangerously increases, which would further deepen the vulnerability of their families and lead to to the intergenerational reproduction of the cycle of poverty. 

A few months before starting 2021 and inaugurating the commemoration of the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labor, the Regional Initiative and its Network of Focal Points are preparing for the challenges they will have to face during the recovery phase of the COVID crisis -19, with the aim of not backtracking on the path to achieving goal 8.7.

Farouk Mohammed, Focal Point of Trinidad and Tobago, one of the founding Focal Points of the Regional Initiative, maintains that, since its constitution, it has been able to combine innovation, critical thinking, tripartite participation and share good practices through South-South Cooperation. For Trinidad and Tobago, recognizing the relevance of the Regional Initiative from its inception helped to identify the issue of child labor as a priority for economic development. In line with this, it has made great strides in raising public awareness, establishing the National Steering Committee to promote collaboration and ongoing studies that will drive the development of a policy and plan of action on child labor.

Esmirna Sánchez, Focal Point of Costa Rica, also one of the founding Focal Points of the Regional Initiative, highlights that the platform has managed to mature and be recognized and positioned worldwide. It reaffirms that teamwork, as well as sharing experiences and lessons learned between different countries, is the best way to face and address the reality of child labor.

María Kathia Romero, Focal Point of Peru since its inception, states that the generation of knowledge has constituted a window of opportunity for countries in the challenge of strengthening their national policies. To do this, it points out that the impact on policies is enhanced by regional experiences.

For Susana Santomingo, founder Focal Point and worker representative, the Regional Initiative has had a quantitative and qualitative evolution. A reflection of this is having added 18 more countries since its constitution, as well as three more representatives for the group of employers and workers. Part of this evolution has also been the creation of the Child Labor Risk Identification Model, an ILO statistical tool built in partnership with ECLAC within the framework of the Regional Initiative. In this sense, it highlights that the group of workers values ​​the Regional Initiative for being a highly democratic environment for social dialogue,

The group of Focal Points from the employer sector considers that the Regional Initiative has consolidated itself as a technical instance that, through tripartite dialogue, provides a space of trust and commitment for the eradication of child labor, particularly in its worst forms. In addition, he points out that the most important lessons learned, in both ways, are that when there are clear objectives and tripartite actors share a vision about the route to take, important advances can be made in the fight against child labor. 

In the context of the crisis, Farouk considers that the pandemic poses a serious challenge to the countries of the region by slowing down or eroding the progress made in achieving target 8.7. He comments that greater focus and commitment is needed to ensure that no child or adolescent is left behind and has the opportunity to reach their full potential, despite the crisis.

For the group of workers, according to Susana, one of the challenges at this juncture will be to sustain progress and redouble efforts, taking into account the critical socioeconomic situation that strongly affects vulnerable groups in a region with deep inequality. It also argues that it will be more complex to eradicate the worst forms of child labor before 2025. 

In line with this, Izmir points out that the Regional Initiative must maintain its position as a positive and successful platform for articulated work to face the problem of dangerous child and adolescent labor.

María Kathia adds that it is necessary to increase cooperation between the countries, reinforcing the generation of knowledge for the design of proposals appropriate to the context.

From the group of employers, it is also postulated that the challenge now is not to go backwards, and to continue contributing to prop up the efforts of the education agenda and reduction of informality in the region, to achieve the eradication of child labor.

The Technical Secretariat maintains that the Regional Initiative is essential in the context of COVID-19 because its capacity allows it to face and respond to target 8.7 from different approaches and influence and support the advancement of other national and global goals and objectives in the framework of the 2030 Agenda. The comprehensive approach of the Regional Initiative addresses the reality of child labor from different priority issues at the regional level, which are: agriculture, value chains, decentralization, education, youth employment, migration, indigenous and Afro-descendant populations , and information and communication technologies.

With a view to the International Year 2021, the Network of Focal Points will hold its 6th Annual Meeting virtually from October 27 to 30, 2020 to define priorities, redouble commitments and agree on its action plan on child labor in the context of the crisis associated with COVID-19 and the recovery stage.