The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare of Guatemala designed an operating guide with a cultural relevance approach aimed at the Departmental Committees for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor (CODEPETI), which is based on a study on the approach to child labor from the Indigenous villages.

The objective of the guide is to orient the organization, administration, responsibilities and actions regarding the prevention and eradication of child labor and its worst forms in each area of ​​action of the 21 CODEPETIs in the country.

Guatemala is a country with a diverse and large indigenous population, so policies must respond to this complex reality. Given this, it is relevant that the CODEPETIs organize and guide their actions from a multicultural, multiethnic and multilingual perspective. 

This instrument has been developed in a participatory manner with the contributions of its members at the national level and with the support of the ILO. The document establishes and defines the positions, functions and duration of the members of the CODEPETI; and a series of criteria is indicated to determine cases of child labor and to address the problem in indigenous communities.

For example, it highlights the need to contextualize the productive activities carried out by the peoples and communities according to their values ​​and worldview to improve the processes of treatment of cases of child labor, considering elements of the principles and values ​​of indigenous peoples.

According to data from the National Survey of Living Conditions (ENCOVI) 2014 , around 1.5 million people between 7 and 17 years of age are indigenous, that is, 40.2% of the total population in the country, and the The participation rate of indigenous children and adolescents in work is higher than that of non-indigenous people. 

Faced with this reality, the guide becomes a fundamental basic instrument for the authorities involved, on whom the political and social responsibility falls mainly to find relevant alternatives to stop child labor in one of the most vulnerable groups, such as indigenous populations. , without threatening them and protecting their practices and culture.

Find the guide  here .