"Building a future without child labor in Latin America and the Caribbean" is the title of the meeting hosted today by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and it is also one of the objectives that the Spanish Cooperation has been promoting for years together with the International Labor Organization (ILO).

An objective, in addition, to which the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set a date, the year 2025, and a target, 8.7. To achieve this, 30 countries in the region, together with employers 'and workers' organizations, have formed since 2014 the Regional Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labor (IR), an alliance financed by the Spanish Cooperation through AECID and of the Andalusian Agency for International Development Cooperation (AACID).

Spain has been a strategic partner of Latin America and the Caribbean in the sustained fight against child labor . During the last 24 years, AECID has accompanied the countries of the region, in association with the ILO , in a process of strengthening policies aimed at putting an end to this reality.

This continued cooperation reflects Spain's sustained commitment to decent work, and that, although regional trends in the prevention and eradication of child labor are positive, it requires an intensive, sustained and strategic effort and a commitment to the processes to avoid a setback in the rights of children and adolescents in the region. 

To highlight this support and the impact of child labor in Latin America and the Caribbean, the exhibition Have they arrived? The exhibition stages some of the spaces that the 10.5 million working children and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean cannot fully enjoy because much of their time is used in long and exhausting working hours; In this way, it recognizes the need to continue the fight against child labor in order to prepare the human talent that will make the future of work sustainable and fair.

Zulphy Santamaria, Minister of Labor and Labor Development of Panama; Carlos Rodríguez, regional director ai of the ILO Office for Latin America and the Caribbean; Nestor Fernández, director of the AACID, and Elena Montobbio, of the IR Technical Secretariat. The meeting was opened by Juan Pablo de Laiglesia, Secretary of State for International Cooperation and for Ibero-America and the Caribbean, and by Joaquín Nieto, Director of the ILO in Spain.

Among the main discussions, the participants highlighted that sustainable development is not possible without decent work and full employment , and that for this we must invest more in people and ensure that no one is left behind, especially children and adolescents more vulnerable. Consequently, they concluded that achieving this implies accelerating the reduction of child labor, emphasizing its dangerous and criminal forms .

Regarding the Regional Initiative, the Minister of Labor and Labor Development of Panama pointed out that with this platform the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have been able to take advantage of the knowledge, learning and experiences installed in the region since the beginning of the alliance with Spain, which This has led to an improvement in the performance of the public response to the persistence of child labor, making its actions more cost-efficient. As a more recent example of this, he mentioned the Child Labor Risk Identification Model , a tool created by the IR with the support of the ILO and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in the framework of the projects of support from the Government of Spain.

On the other hand, Carlos Rodríguez, regional director ai of the ILO Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, reiterated the ILO's gratitude to AECID and the Spanish people for their sustained support, especially on the issue of child labor, where Important changes have been made on the road to a future without child labor.