In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. To date, the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean have been implementing a series of measures to deal with the rapid spread of the virus among the population, as well as formulating and redesigning responses to reduce the economic and social impact on families.

The world of work is one of the most impacted. Many businesses and jobs are at risk. Vulnerable groups such as people in informal jobs or women in precarious jobs must be at the center of the policy response. However, it is key not to leave children and adolescents behind because the environment in which they grow up has been altered, therefore, their development is also at risk.

According to ECLAC, children and adolescents from vulnerable families affected by the pandemic could advance their entry into the world of work and, in addition, do so in precarious and unsafe conditions. This would increase child labor rates in the region.

In the case of the group of adolescents who had managed to enter sheltered jobs, the situation may increase their vulnerability to unsafe and informal jobs. Even for those who were already in child labor, the situation of precarious and dangerous work could worsen. 

The countries of the region are alert. Argentina, Brazil, Guatemala, Panama and Peru are redoubling their efforts to prevent the increase in child labor rates as a result of COVID-19.

In Argentina, measures are being applied to strengthen and protect the most vulnerable families. These measures are also aligned with the National Plan for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor and Protection of Adolescent Labor 2018-2022. In this sense, the measures include families with at least one minor person who carries out a productive activity or more than one, who also lives in rural areas and in regions where there is a higher incidence of child labor.

Additionally, the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security of Argentina will train 26 territorial agents from 16 provinces, 8 coordinators of Provincial Commissions for the Eradication of Child Labor and representatives of the union sector, on how COVID-19 affects work children and adolescents by increasing the vulnerability of the family nucleus.

In Brazil, as part of the emergency protection measures, the number of beneficiaries of social programs has increased. The Bolsa Familia Program has increased the amount of the monthly transfer, especially for families with working children and adolescents. In addition, the Ministry of Citizenship works to adapt the Program for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor to the situation of the pandemic, emphasizing child domestic work and intensive tasks in the home itself, since these situations can be aggravated due to the isolation measures and as a strategy so that more adults in the family can work.

To protect permitted adolescent work, Brazil has included child labor as an urgent control category. Adolescents are not allowed to continue working in person and the Federal Government has issued measures to protect the employment and income of this group, such as anticipating vacations, remote work, suspension of contracts and the proportional reduction of hours and work salaries with the supplementary payment of a government bonus for each job position.

Regarding Guatemala, from the coffee growing sector, the Foundation for Coffee Growing for Rural Development (Funcafé), which since before the pandemic had been running educational and awareness programs against child labor, has managed to adapt its services to isolation measures and to help children and adolescents of coffee-growing families continue to receive education. In addition, in the case of boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 6, it also offers food and nutrition services. In this way, educational and food services prevent child labor in families.

In Panama, the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development has reinforced its efforts to provide support to the most vulnerable families, including those who have children in child labor. Emphasis is placed on continuing to strengthen the capacities of local governments, which already had a digital platform for monitoring child labor that allows virtual attention to cases.

In Peru, the National Steering Committee for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor (CPETI) has made a diagnosis based on the analysis of the results of the application of the Child Labor Risk Identification Model applied in the country. Consequently, it has been decided to continue with strategies proposed before the pandemic, such as focused action, strengthening intersectoral work, interventions to strengthen children and adolescents from a rights perspective, as well as maintaining support for production chains no child labor.

These are some of the responses that are being articulated and implemented in this context. At the same time, the region is planning, now more than ever, to broaden the scope of the call to end child labor and continue efforts to advance the achievement of Target 8.7 of the 2030 Agenda.

Thus, countries, employers 'and workers' organizations, members of the Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean free of child labor, come together to commemorate the World Day against child labor on June 12 under the slogan "Now more than never #SinTrabajoInfantil ”.

Join and follow the campaign on Facebook and Twitter at: 

• https://www.facebook.com/redcontraeltrabajoinfantil  
• https://twitter.com/SinTrabinfantil