In 1998, the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that 15 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 14 in Guatemala were working.⁷⁶⁸ According to the National Census of 1994, an estimated 46 percent of Guatemala’s population was under 15 years old, and more than 13 percent (500,000) of children between the ages of 7 and 15 work.⁷⁶⁹ In 1994, working children represented approximately 12 percent of the total economically active population in the country.⁷⁷⁰ A high percentage of working children in rural areas are members of the indigenous population, who comprise nearly half the total population of Guatemala.⁷⁷¹ Many children under the age of 14 work without legal permission and, increasingly, with falsified age documents. Such children generally receive no social benefits, social insurance, vacations, or severance pay, and earn below-minimum salaries.⁷⁷²

A majority of working children in Guatemala work in the informal sector and in agriculture. Most children who work in rural areas are not paid for their labor. Children of the rural poor frequently join other family members to work on family plots or as seasonal migrant laborers on commercial farms producing crops such as coffee and sugarcane.⁷⁷³ Children are also employed in stone quarries, where they crush stones to make gravel. Children who work in stone quarries risk injury from flying shards of rock, suffer from muscular-skeletal problems associated with lifting heavy loads, and are susceptible to other risks stemming from harsh working conditions with few or no safety measures.⁷⁷⁴

Children also work as domestic servants, shoeshine boys, beggars, street performers, and in construction.⁷⁷⁵ The Guatemalan Ministry of Labor estimates that between 3,000 and 5,000 children are employed in the fireworks industry.⁷⁷⁶ Approximately 10 percent of the children in this industry work in factories, while younger children, under the age of 14, typically work in home-based workshops on piecework taken in by their families.⁷⁷⁷ Children working in the fireworks sector are exposed to explosive chemicals such as potassium nitrate and gunpowder, which can cause burns if ignited and deleterious health effects through prolonged exposure.⁷⁷⁸ Most factories have inadequate safety and protective equipment, and home-based workshops generally provide no protective equipment.⁷⁷⁹

The Ministry of Labor has noted an increase in child prostitution in the towns along the borders with Mexico and El Salvador.⁷⁸⁰ Thirty-six years of armed conflict has left an estimated 50,000 widows and 150,000 orphans, mostly within the indigenous population. Since many of those affected lost sources of income from the deaths of family members, they are vulnerable to being drawn into prostitution as a means of earning a living. There have been instances of women and children from El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras being trafficked into Guatemala by organized rings for the purposes of prostitution. Guatemala has also been reported as a transit point for smuggling of persons into the United States.⁷⁸¹

In 1995, the primary net attendance rate was 69.8 percent,⁷⁸² and the primary net enrollment rate was 73 percent.⁷⁸³ Approximately 50 percent of children in 1995 enrolled in primary school reached grade five. In 1997, primary gross enrollment was 88.1 percent, and primary net enrollment was 73.8 percent.⁷⁸⁴

School attendance tends to be lower in rural areas.⁷⁸⁵ Many children who live in the rural areas are indigenous, and nearly one-half of the population of children who do not attend school are of indigenous heritage.⁷⁸⁶ There is also a social separation in the schools between those who speak an indigenous language and those who speak only Spanish.⁷⁸⁷ Though the Government of Guatemala is making efforts to reduce matriculation fees and other direct costs of education, the indirect costs of education, such as books, supplies, and uniforms, contribute to lower attendance by children of poor families.⁷⁸⁸

Article 102 of the Guatemalan Constitution prohibits minors under the age of 14 from being employed in any kind of work without authorization from the Ministry of Labor.⁷⁸⁹ Article 102 also states that employers may not employ children under 14 in work that is incompatible with their physical capacity or likely to harm their moral health.⁷⁹⁰

According to the Labor Code, children younger than 14 may not work for more than six hours a day, and children between 14 and 18 years of age may not work for more than seven hours a day. Furthermore, minors under the age of 18 may not be employed in hazardous or unhealthy places.⁷⁹¹ Work permits may be issued for children under the age of 14, provided that the child is working due to conditions of extreme poverty, is engaged in light work that is not harmful to the child’s physical or moral health, and is meeting the compulsory education requirements in some way.⁷⁹² The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare is responsible for granting work permits to underage workers. Between 1995 and 1999, the Ministry granted only 507 permits to underage workers.⁷⁹³

The Childhood and Youth Code was drafted to support the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and established additional protections against economic exploitation for children. As of February 2000, however, implementation of this code has been suspended indefinitely.⁷⁹⁴

Although adult prostitution is not illegal in Guatemala, child prostitution is addressed under Penal Code Article 188, entitled “Corruption of Minors,” which protects all minors under 18 years of age.⁷⁹⁵ Procuring and inducing a person into prostitution are crimes that can result in either fines or imprisonment, with heavier penalties if minors are involved.⁷⁹⁶

Guatemala’s law does not specifically prohibit trafficking of persons; however, various laws can be used to prosecute traffickers.⁷⁹⁷ On January 23, 1999, a new immigration law came into effect, which makes alien smuggling a crime punishable by imprisonment.⁷⁹⁸

Guatemala ratified ILO Convention 138 on the Minimum Age for Employment on April 23, 1990, and ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor on October 11, 2001.⁷⁹⁹

The Government of Guatemala signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Labor Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) in 1996.⁸⁰⁰ In 1999, the Government of Guatemala adopted a National Plan of Action on Child Labor.⁸⁰¹ In 2000, a National Plan for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor and Protection of Adolescent Workers was finalized by public and private sector stakeholders. Institutional weaknesses within the Ministry of Labor are being addressed through this National Plan.⁸⁰² In its’ 2000-2004 agenda for social programs, the Government of Guatemala set a goal of reducing the incidence of child labor by 10 percent by 2004.⁸⁰³

The Government of Guatemala has collaborated with ILO-IPEC on several projects aimed at combating child labor. These projects are designed to remove children from exploitative work, prevent other children from entering child labor in the first place while promoting schooling and recreational opportunities, and develop economic alternatives for their families. The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) has provided funding to support IPEC projects in Guatemala, which include efforts to withdraw children from work in stone quarrying, the coffee sector, the fireworks industry, and broccoli cultivation. The USDOL has also provided funding to support a National Survey on Child Labor, developed by ILO-IPEC’s Statistical Information and Monitoring Program on Child Labor (SIMPOC), which was conducted in Guatemala in 2001.⁸⁰⁴

The Ministry of Labor has reached an agreement with the fireworks manufacturers whereby the manufacturers made a commitment not to hire children under the age of 14. The Ministry of Labor anticipates that this agreement will protect at least 2,000 children.⁸⁰⁵

According Guatemala’s Constitution (Article 74), schooling is compulsory and free from preschool to ninth grade. Children generally start preschool between the ages of 5 and 6 and enter the first grade of primary school at the age of 7. Children typically complete their compulsory education between the ages of 15 and 18.⁸⁰⁶

The Government of Guatemala became a member of the Education for All initiative in 1990, and subsequently developed a plan of action to realize the goals of the Initiative in 1991- 1992. Since then the government has been working to progressively increase access to education and decentralize the provision and management of education.⁸⁰⁷ The key concern of the government has been to improve the quality and relevance of education to children. The government has focused on improving curricula to increase literacy among Guatemalans with multilingual and inter-cultural education, and on promoting non-formal and vocational options for education. Institutionally, the goals have been to increase the budget of the Ministry of Education and optimize its efficiency by promoting increased stakeholder participation and decentralizing the management of education.⁸⁰⁸ The recently released Government Plan for the Educational Sector for the years 2000-2004 continues to focus on these goals.⁸⁰⁹

Some of the programs established to address the educational needs of non-formal students fall under the auspices of Guatemala’s “Extra-school” program. The “Extra-school” program uses correspondence courses and modified school hours to provide working children with a basic education. For example, one program allows students to complete 1,000 hours of school with no time restriction to get primary school certification. Another program involves mail correspondence education with no time restrictions for completion.⁸¹⁰ The Ministry of Education has tried to reduce the cost of education by providing a bag of school supplies to all children in primary school and eliminating matriculation fees for primary school.⁸¹¹ During 1999, the Ministry of Education provided incentive scholarships to 46,000 girls in an effort to promote girls’ education.⁸¹²

In 1996, public spending on total education was 1.7 percent of Guatemala’s gross national product (GNP).⁸¹³ In 1998, public spending on primary education as a percentage of GNP was 0.77 percent.⁸¹⁴ Public spending on primary education was about 51.8 percent of the total public expenditure on education.⁸¹⁵

The following bar chart presents selected government expenditures expressed as a percentage of GNP. The chart considers government expenditures on education, the military, health care, and debt service. Where figures are available, the portion of government spending on education that is specifically dedicated to primary education is also shown.⁸¹⁶

While it is difficult to draw conclusions or discern clear correlations between areas of government expenditure as a percentage of GNP and the incidence of child labor in a country, this chart and the related tables presented in Appendix B (Tables 14 through 19) offer the reader a basis for considering the relative emphasis placed on each spending area by the governments in each of the 33 countries profiled in the report.

⁷⁶⁸ World Bank, World Development Indicators 2000 [CD-ROM], Washington, D.C., 2000 [hereinafter World Development Indicators 2000 ].

⁷⁶⁹ Government of Guatemala, National Census, 1994 National Statistics Institute (INE), 1996, as cited in Progressive Eradication of Child Labor in Gravel Production in Retalhuleu, Guatemala, project document (Geneva: ILO-IPEC, 2001) [hereinafter Progressive Eradication of Child Labor in Gravel Production in Retalhuleu, Guatemala ].

⁷⁷⁰ Ibid.

⁷⁷¹ Ibid.

⁷⁷² Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2000 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 2001), Section 6d [hereinafter Country Reports 2000—Guatemala ].

⁷⁷³ U.S. Embassy-Guatemala City, unclassified telegram no. 01865, June 22, 2000 [hereinafter unclassified telegram 01865].

⁷⁷⁴ Progressive Eradication of Child Labor in Gravel Production in Retalhuleu, Guatemala .

⁷⁷⁵ U.S. Embassy-Guatemala City, unclassified telegram no. 02084, July 17, 2000.

⁷⁷⁶ Country Reports 2000—Guatemala at Section 6d.

⁷⁷⁷ Ibid.

⁷⁷⁸ Combating Child Labor in the Fireworks Sector of Guatemala , project document (Geneva: ILO-IPEC, 1999).

⁷⁷⁹ Ibid.

⁷⁸⁰ Country Reports 2000—Guatemala at Section 6f.

⁷⁸¹ Ibid.

⁷⁸² USAID, GED 2000: Global Education Database [CD-ROM], Washington, D.C., 2000.

⁷⁸³ World Development Indicators 2000 .

⁷⁸⁴ Ibid.

⁷⁸⁵ Country Reports 2000—Guatemala at Section 5.

⁷⁸⁶ Unclassified telegram 01865.

⁷⁸⁷ Ibid.

⁷⁸⁸ United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Institute for Statistics, Education for All: Year 2000 Assessment, Country Report, Guatemala (Paris, 2000) [hereinafter Education for All: Year 2000 Assessment — Guatemala ].

⁷⁸⁹ Gisbert H. Flanz, ed., Constitutions of the Countries of the World (New York: Oceana Publications, January 1997), 27 [hereinafter Constitutions of the Countries of the World ].

⁷⁹⁰ Ibid.

⁷⁹¹ Código de Trabajo de la Republica de Guatemala (Guatemala City: Ministerio de Trabajo y Previsión Social, 1996), 44, 51-53.

⁷⁹² Ibid.

⁷⁹³ Country Reports 2000—Guatemala at Section 5.

⁷⁹⁴ Ibid.

⁷⁹⁵ U.S. Embassy-Guatemala City, unclassified telegram no. 002507, August 22, 2000.

⁷⁹⁶ Country Reports 2000—Guatemala at Section 6f.

⁷⁹⁷ Ibid.

⁷⁹⁸ Ibid.

⁷⁹⁹ For a list of which countries profiled in Chapter 3 have ratified ILO Conventions No. 138 and No. 182, see Appendix C.

⁸⁰⁰ Progressive Eradication of Child Labor in Gravel Production in Retalhuleu, Guatemala [hereinafter Progressive Eradication of Child Labor ].

⁸⁰¹ Ibid.

⁸⁰² Country Reports 2000—Guatemala at Section 6d.

⁸⁰³ Progressive Eradication of Child Labor. See also Country Reports 2000—Guatamala at Section 6d.

⁸⁰⁴ IPEC, Statistical Information and Monitoring Program on Child Labor Central America, project document (Geneva: ILO-IPEC, October 1999).

⁸⁰⁵ Interview with Juan Francisco Alfaro, Minister of Labor for Guatemala, by U.S. Department of Labor official, August 16, 2000. In an effort to reduce accidents in home-based fireworks production, the president has issued a decree, which is expected to be approved in 2001, outlining safety and monitoring regulations to guide the production, storage, and sale of fireworks. Draft Presidential Decree, “Proyecto de Reglamento para la Importación, Almacenaje, Transporte, Uso y Comercialización de los Componentes para Fines de Fabricación de Pirotécnicos,” 2000 [document on file].

⁸⁰⁶ Constitutions of the Countries of the World at 27.

⁸⁰⁷ Education for All: Year 2000 Assessment — Guatemala .

⁸⁰⁸ Ibid.

⁸⁰⁹ Interview with Nery Macz, Guatemalan Ministry of Education, and Demetrio Cojti, vice minister of Education, by U.S. Department of Labor official, August 16, 2000.

⁸¹⁰ Ibid.

⁸¹¹ Ibid.

⁸¹² Country Reports 2000—Guatemala at Section 5.

⁸¹³ World Development Indicators 2000 .

⁸¹⁴ Education for All: Year 2000 Assessment — Guatemala .

⁸¹⁵ Ibid.

⁸¹⁶ See Chapter 1, Section C, 5, for a fuller discussion of the information presented in the box. See also Appendix B for further discussion, and Tables 14 through 19 for figures on government expenditure over a range of years.