Guatemala manages to identify the risk of child labor in municipalities

12 de June de 2020

With the support of the ILO, ECLAC and the Regional Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labor, the Government applied the Child Labor Risk Identification Model in the 340 municipalities of the country.

The Government of Guatemala, within the framework of the World Day Against Child Labor, presented the results of the application of Phase I of the Child Labor Risk Identification Model (MIRTI) in the country. The event was held virtually and was organized by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (MINTRAB); the Thematic Table for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor, of the Specific Cabinet for Social Development; the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

The meeting had the participation of Griselda González; Private Secretary of the Vice Presidency; Narda Ortiz, Vice Minister of Social Security and Employment of the MINTRAB; Erick Colmenares, Deputy Director of Social Welfare at MINTRAB; Claudia Peneleu, Head of the Unit for the Protection of Working Adolescents of the MINTRAB; Ana López, Regional Coordinator of the ILO Child Labor Program; Noortje Denkers, ILO Officer, and Andrés Espejo, ECLAC Officer.

The Child Labor Risk Identification Model is a statistical tool developed jointly by the ILO and ECLAC, within the framework of the Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean free of child labor, to identify the territories with the highest probability of child labor and determine in which geographic areas and population groups preventive efforts should be concentrated. With the results, it is possible to define which multisectoral actions are most relevant to interrupt the trajectory of the child's trajectory in each territory.

The implementation of the Model in Guatemala was coordinated by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, with the active participation of the institutions that are members of the Thematic Table for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor and the Departmental Commissions for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor ( CODEPETI).

MIRTI results in Guatemala

National file here .

Regional tabs here .

Departmental files here .

Through the implementation of the Model, it has been identified that, of the 340 municipalities in the country, the risk of child labor is high in 98 municipalities, medium in 132 municipalities and low in 110 municipalities. Complete information nationally, by region and by department is available in the official files of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.

Vice Minister Ortiz pointed out that Guatemala joined the regional proposal for the application of the Model, which has allowed them to have a guiding tool for the actions of national policies that help accelerate the processes of prevention and eradication of child labor. In addition, he added that, in the face of the health crisis, the government is convinced of the importance of strengthening intervention mechanisms that ensure the well-being of children and adolescents in the country; Therefore, the results collected by MIRTI are a significant contribution. Finally, he announced that the implementation of Phase II of the Model will begin to achieve the territoriality of the actions.

From ECLAC, Andrés Espejo argued that, in the current context of the pandemic, the challenge facing the region is not to go backwards in what has already been advanced and to try to continue to reduce the national child labor figures steadily. With the application of the MIRTI, he points out, it is confirmed that the incidence of child labor is higher when children and adolescents are also affected by other types of exclusions. It also reaffirmed ECLAC's commitment to the Government of Guatemala to continue working together in the implementation of Phase II of the MIRTI.

From the ILO, Ana López mentioned that Guatemala has managed to advance on the issue and that the MIRTI is a qualitative leap to continue improving actions and accelerating the rate of reduction of child labor. He also highlighted the joint work between the different institutions and sectors for the implementation of Phase I of the MIRTI and stated that the results will be an excellent input for decision-making at the municipal level. Finally, he reiterated the will and willingness of the ILO to accompany Guatemala on its path towards achieving goal 8.7 of the 2030 Agenda, on ending child labor in 2025.

Finally, the Private Secretary of the Vice Presidency, Griselda Gonzáles, reiterated the government's commitment to continue strengthening coordination mechanisms and landing concrete actions in favor of Guatemalan children, for which she expressed the availability of maintaining strategic alliances with institutions such as the ILO. Along these lines, he pointed out that the sum of the achievements of each country will make the region progress and achieve the regional goals within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, one of which is goal 8.7.

About the results of the application of the model

In applying the model, in the first place, the most relevant risk and protection factors associated with child labor associated with the context and at the family and individual level were identified.

Subsequently, taking the data from the 2018 Population Census and the Living Conditions Survey (ENCOVI) from 2014, the logistic model was developed. Based on it, it was determined in which municipalities there is a greater probability of child labor and which ones and to what extent the factors affect this probability. For the estimation, the municipalities were grouped into three risk groups: low, medium and high.

In order to characterize the municipalities of the different risk groups in each region and department, demographic, socioeconomic, education, health and disaster risk information was included from available official sources.

Based on all this information, after the analysis, national recommendations were made and for each region in the areas of formalization of employment (especially for women), care for the indigenous population and rural areas, health, education, social protection and awareness.

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