The Fight Against the Worst Forms of Child Labour

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The Fight Against the Worst Forms of Child Labour

• El Salvador

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Child labour in ESSource Multi-purpose home
survey (4th. quarter 2003)
DISTRIBUTION BY GENDER Total Girls Boys 288,221 195,126 93,095
DISTRIBUTION BY GEOGRAPHIC ORIGEN Total Urban Rural 288,221 111,344 176,877
DISTRIBUTION BY AGE GROUPS Total 5 a 9 years old 10 a 14 years old 15 a 17 years old 288,221 21,005 141,746 125,470
CHILDREN THAT STUDY AND WORK IN THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOUR (Sugar cane, garbage collection and fishing) (School Census 2004) 18,673
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National Strategy Against Child Labour

1. Laws in force on the national level
2. National initiatives against child labour
3. National Plan
4. Strategic actions of the government of El
   Salvador
5. Direct Action Programmes
6. Support of key actors

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1. Laws in force

• The Fight Against the Worst Forms of Child Labour
• The Constitution
• Establishes 14 as the minimum age for entering
  the work force
• Prohibits dangerous work by children less than 18
  years old
• Treaties 138 and 182 of the ILO
• The Labour Code regulates the minimum age for
  entering the work force and develops prohibitions
  for participation of minors under 18 years old in
  dangerous and unhealthy jobs

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National initiatives against Child Labour

• The National Committee is made up of
• Minister of Labour and Social Security
• Minister of Education
• Minister of Public Health and Social Assistance
• Minister of the Interior
• Minister de Agriculture and Livestock
• Minister of Economy
• Minister of Foreign Relations
• A representative of the National Secretariat of
  the Family
• A representative of the National Youth
  Secretariat
• Director of the Salvadorean Institute for
  Integral Development of Children and Adolescents
  (ISNA).
• The vice-presidents of the labour sector and
  employer sector of the National Superior Labour
  Council
• A representative of the non-governmental
  organisations belonging to the Board of ISNA
• El Executive Director of the National Commission
  of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (CONAMYPE).

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Functions of National Committee

• Main functions of the National Committee
• Plan, coordinate, direct, define, prioritise,
  manage and approve all matters related to the
  elimination of the worst forms of child labour.
• Propose the directives and guidelines for drawing
  up plans, programmes, projects and planning
  activities aimed at the elimination of child
  labour, especially in its worst forms.
• Integrate and coordinate efforts aimed at the
  Eradication of Child Labour developed by the
  National and International Organisations
• Provide follow-up to the programmes and projects
  related to the eradication of child labour
  through a technical committee that serves as a
  support mechanism
• Establish priority areas to be developed in
  efforts aimed at eradicating child labour in El
  Salvador.

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Unit against child labour in the Labour
Ministry(MINTRAB)

• GENERAL FUNCTION
• Uphold the national and international laws in
  force related to child labour and the eradication
  of its worst forms. It has three areas of
  specific action 1. with international
  organisations 2. inter-institutional relations
  and 3. internal relations (Department of
  inspection, General Directorate of Social
  Security and Employment).
• SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS OF THE UETI
• Coordinate the working relationships of the
  different dependencies of the Ministry of Labour
  and Social Security and its regional offices.
• Serve as a centre of documentation and
  consultation against child labour in the country.
• Supervise and cooperate in the execution of
  projects on progressive eradication of the worst
  forms of child labour being carried out by the
  governmental and non-governmental organisations.
• Train and advise different sectors of society
  about the various ways of participating in the
  national strategy against the eradication of
  child labour.
• Design projects and actions for the prevention
  and eradication of the worst forms of child
  labour to eventually be financed by the IPEC-ILO
  and other organisations international technical
  cooperation organisations.
• Manage international cooperation for programmes,
  projects and actions of the Unit of Eradication
  of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, among other
  things

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3. National Plan

• 3. National Plan
• It is an instrument of public policy that
  develops the presidential commitment expressed in
  the SECURE COUNTRY government plan
• The plan is a key instrument to guide the actions
  that make it possible to secure a country free of
  the worst forms of child labour a country where
  children develop in an integral context, capable
  of building their life project and having the
  concrete opportunities to make it a reality.
• Areas of attention described in the plan
• Strengthening of the legal framework,
  institutional strengthening, educational
  attention, attention in health, recreation,
  culture, sports, improvement of income as well
  communication and consciousness raising.

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4. Main strategic actions of the Government of El
Salvador

• Strengthening of the legal framework,
  institutional strengthening, educational
  attention, attention in health, recreation,
  culture, sports, improvement of income, as well
  communication and consciousness raising.
• Attention to the special educational conditions
  of working children in the 2021 EDUCATIONAL PLAN
  (EVERYONE IS EQUAL Programme).
• Inclusion of the child labour issue as one of the
  priority areas of attention in the SOLIDARITY
  NETWORK programme (attention to the rural
  population of at least 100 municipalities in
  extreme poverty).
• First country in region to have included, in a
  permanent way and using national resources, a
  module of child labour module in the
  Multi-purpose Home Survey

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5. Direct Action Programmes

• MINTRAB, in coordination with the ILO, is
  currently executing 13 direct action programmes,
  through non-governmental organisations, all of
  which have as their main priority areas of
  action
• Promote the inclusion of working children in the
  educational system
• Raise consciousness and mobilise social actors in
  support of the strategy of eradication of child
  labour
• Promote actions to improve health (physical,
  mental and occupational) and create opportunities
  for recreation
• Integration of opportunities to improve
  productive capacities of families of working
  children (professional training, learning,
  promotion of businesses, access to employment
  etc.)
• Action programmes benefit
• 9,200 working boys and girls
• 16,000 boys and girls in risk of working
  (population with which prevention is carried out)
• 5,000 members of family groups
• Action programmes are executed in 32
  municipalities around the country in the
  following sectors
• - Sexual exploitation of children
• Fishing, extraction of shellfish
• Garbage collection
• Sugar cane harvest
• Urban work

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Results of Direct Action Programmes

(as of September 2005) (as of September 2005) (as of September 2005) (as of September 2005)
Sector Boys Girls Total
Total 4721 2264 6,985
Sugar Cane 3032 1011 4043
Fishing 1295 938 2233
Garbage collection 200 157 357
Urban Labour (Markets) 194 158 352
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6. Support of Key actorsSuccessful experiences

• Organisations of cooperation OIT (with USDOL
  funds and Italian cooperation), BID (projects in
  sugar cane sector), UNICEF (sexual exploitation),
  USAID (treatment of individuals)
• Participation of organisations in support
  programmes to target population in emergency
  situations (Hurricane STAN) CARE, GTZ, OIT and
  FUNDAZUCAR, to rebuild the productive capacities
  of rural communities.
• Employer sector (Social Responsibility in
  Business)
• Sugar Association contracting of 8
  promoter/monitors of child labour and financing
  of actions in favour of education.
• COCA COLA promotion of a project to raise the
  productive capacity of young people belonging to
  sugar cooperatives.
• TELEFONICA project of promotion of education of
  working children in Sonsonate department through
  scholarships.

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Thank you...