Tomorrow! Last session of Expert Voices in the framework of the World Day against child labor

05 de June de 2018

World Day Against Child Labor

Live from the Facebook of the Latin American Network against child labor.

The Regional Initiative will broadcast tomorrow, Wednesday, June 6, at 9:00 am (GMT-5) the fourth and last session of "Expert voices" with the theme "Hazardous work: agriculture and the service sector." The presentation is given by Maró Guerrero, director of the NOEMÍ Project in Argentina, executed by the Center for Development and Self-Management (DyA), who has extensive experience in addressing child labor and in managing several projects for its eradication in countries in the region.

The previous sessions of Expert Voices have allowed the public to learn more about the connection of child labor with different vulnerable contexts and violations of the rights of children and adolescents. All of them have been preparing and offering a slightly broader panorama to now better understand one of the most challenging and urgent aspects in the fight against child labor.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, there is great progress in reducing hazardous child labor (from 9.4 million children and adolescents in 2008 to 6.3 million in 2016, according to the ILO), however, to achieve the Target 8.7 of the 2030 Agenda on ending child labor between now and 2025, it is necessary to strengthen and improve the orientation of policies and actions in the most critical approaches to addressing child labor, such as hazardous work and child labor in the agriculture.

In our region, the majority of working minors are between 15 and 17 years old and, although they have the minimum age for admission to employment, they carry out dangerous activities (due to their nature or condition), exposing their health, safety, morals and even their lives. The most common dangerous activity is agriculture (52% of child labor occurs in this sector, ILO-2016); and it is known that, for example, in the case of adolescents, in addition to family work, they work independently as day laborers on small and large plantations. All this, added to the difficulties and limits in the inspection systems for these activities in rural areas, makes the care and prevention of hazardous child labor more complex.  

According to a joint study by the ILO and FAO in 2016, in the region more than 39% of children and adolescents carried out agricultural work in inappropriate environmental conditions; 15% mentioned having had health problems associated with the activity they did (physical tiredness and fatigue, such as cuts and burns). 30% reported that they spent more than 40 hours per week in agricultural activities.

In this framework, it is crucial to learn to distinguish between what is called hazardous work, what is work and what is training for children and adolescents. For this, the virtual presentation will mention some of the experiences carried out by civil society organizations in countries such as Peru, Mexico, Ecuador and Bolivia, which will help to deepen the reflection.

In this way, the last scheduled session of Expert Voices brings a reflection and opens a quite interesting debate to introduce us and complement the campaign of June 12, World Day Against Child Labor, whose purpose proposed by the ILO this year is to make a call Urgently to recognize the value of a culture of prevention in matters of safety and health at work in favor of young adolescents who work. 

We are waiting for you in Expert Voices! In case you cannot connect at the indicated time, the recording will be available on the same fanpage. 

If you missed previous sessions, you can find them at the following links:

See "How to improve the school-work transition and face the challenge of permitted adolescent work" , with Ernesto Rodríguez, Director of the Latin American Center on Youth.

See "Forced labor and modern forms of slavery" , with Thiago Gurjão Alves Ribeiro, International Advisor to the Brazilian Labor Attorney General's Office.

See "Child and adolescent labor in migratory contexts" , with Mariana Beheran, Coordinator of the Research Unit of the Country Office for Argentina of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

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