In 1998, the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that 2.9 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 14 in Panama were working.¹³⁴⁵ In 1994, the Government of Panama reported that 4.5 percent (12,603) of children between the ages of 10 and 14, and 9 percent (47,692) of children between the ages of 10 and 17 were economically active.¹³⁴⁶

More than 60 percent of children who work in Panama are employed in the agricultural sector.¹³⁴⁷ Agricultural work by children, especially among the indigenous population, is sometimes dismissed as traditional and part of local culture.¹³⁴⁸ Children working in agriculture is particularly common during harvesting periods for crops like sugar cane, coffee, and tomatoes.¹³⁴⁹ On plantations, farm workers are paid according to the amount they harvest, which encourages parents to bring their children with them to the fields to increase their overall output. In many rural communities, the lack of day-care possibilities result in entire families participating in the harvest. Many children are also involved in subsistence farming¹³⁵⁰ or work alongside their families on fields owned by independent producers where there is less scrutiny of child labor.¹³⁵¹

Children in Panama also work as domestic servants and in the urban informal sector. Sixty-nine percent (5,896) of economically active girls between the ages of 10 and 17 are employed in domestic work.¹³⁵² A Ministry of Women, Youth, Family, and Childhood survey found some 50,000 children and adolescents working on the streets of Panama’s towns and cities.¹³⁵³ Juvenile delinquency rates among these children working tend to be high. A 1998 study of Panama’s juvenile detention centers found that the vast majority of detainees had been working as street vendors, car washers, and supermarket packers when they were arrested for delinquency. Children also perform personal errands for staff and customers, which sometimes leads to participation in criminal activities.¹³⁵⁴

Commercial sexual exploitation has become a growing problem in Panama.¹³⁵⁵ While prostitution is legal in Panama, child prostitution and child pornography are not.¹³⁵⁶

Primary school attendance rates are unavailable for Panama. While enrollment rates indicate a level of commitment to education, they do not always reflect a child’s participation in school.¹³⁵⁷ In 1996, the gross primary enrollment rate was 105.5 percent, and the net primary enrollment rate was 89.8 percent.¹³⁵⁸ Ten percent (35,819) of primary school age children were not enrolled in school in 1997.¹³⁵⁹ Nationwide, 78 percent of children reached the fifth grade; in remote provinces, only 51 percent did so.¹³⁶⁰ A Panamanian government study estimated that 80 percent of working children between the ages of 10 and 14 drop out of school.¹³⁶¹

Matriculation fees and indirect costs such as uniforms, books, and school supplies, make schooling inaccessible for poor families.¹³⁶² Lack of transportation and other barriers to access make school attendance less likely in remote and rural areas, where over 80 percent of school age children do not attend school during the harvesting season.¹³⁶³ Language can represent an additional barrier to pursuing an education for children of the indigenous population, who often do not speak Spanish as their first language.¹³⁶⁴

The Constitution of Panama (Article 66), the Labor Code (Article 117), and the Family Code (Articles 510-13) establish parameters for employing children between the ages of 14 and 18.¹³⁶⁵ Article 117 of the Labor Code prohibits the employment of minors younger than 14 years of age, as well as those younger than 15 who have not completed primary school.¹³⁶⁶ Article 716 of the Family Code, however, permits minors between the ages of 12 and 14 to perform farm or domestic labor as long as the work is light and does not interfere with schooling.¹³⁶⁷

According to Article 118 of the Labor Code, minors under the age of 18 are prohibited from working in nightclubs, bars, or other places where the consumption of alcoholic beverages is allowed, as well as in other sectors such as transportation and energy, underground work, and the handling of explosives and flammables.¹³⁶⁸ With the exception of work in nightclubs, these provisions may be waived if a minor performs the job as part of vocational training and work is conducted under adult supervision.¹³⁶⁹ Children younger than 16 may work no more than six hours a day, and children under 18 may work no more than seven hours a day. Furthermore, minors under the age of 18 may not do night work.¹³⁷⁰

Prostitution is legal in Panama. However, Article 501 of the Family Code and Article 215C of the Penal Code criminalize child prostitution and child pornography for minors.¹³⁷¹ According to Article 226 of the Penal Code, facilitating the seduction of a minor or engaging in or witnessing a lewd act is punishable by two to four years imprisonment, and this penalty can be increased if profit, deceit or other circumstances compound the gravity of the crime, or if the victim is under the age of 12. Facilitating the prostitution of a female under 12 or a male under 14 is punishable by imprisonment for three to five years.¹³⁷²

The judicial authorities charged with overseeing the protection and care of minors are the Superior Tribunal for Minors and the Superior Tribunal for Families. The Ministry of Youth, Women, Children and Family Affairs investigates cases of abuse against children, proposes and reviews laws, and monitors government performance in regard to children’s issues. The Ministry of Labor also enforces child labor provisions by responding to complaints and has the authority to order the termination of unauthorized employment.¹³⁷³

The Government of Panama is unable to enforce child labor provisions in rural areas and in many informal sector industries, particularly isolated border areas, due to insufficient staff.¹³⁷⁴ Child labor on coffee and banana plantations near Panama’s border with Costa Rica often receives little attention.¹³⁷⁵

On October 31, 2000, the Government of Panama ratified International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 138 on the Minimum Work Age and ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.¹³⁷⁶ Panama has also ratified the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.¹³⁷⁷

The Government of Panama and ILO’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 1996. The Ministry of Women, Youth, Family, and Childhood has taken the lead in designing and implementing projects responding to child labor. The Ministry has proposed Training and Assistance Centers for children living in urban areas such as Panama City and Colón, and for those living in the rural areas including Chiriquí, Veraguas, and Coclé.¹³⁷⁸

The Committee for the Eradication of Child Labor, established by executive decree in July 1999 was retained by the administration elected in 2000 and operates under the guidance of the First Lady’s Office. The Panamanian Government is receiving technical assistance from ILO-IPEC in organizing the committee. The government sent teams into the coffee fields to investigate the child labor, and ILO-IPEC, with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), is supporting baseline surveys in the sugar cane and coffee sectors of Panama.¹³⁷⁹

A National Child Labor Survey, which is also being funded by USDOL, is being conducted in Panama as part of ILO-IPEC’s Statistical Information and Monitoring Program on Child Labor (SIMPOC).¹³⁸⁰

In Panama, education is compulsory through the ninth grade, and between the ages of 6 and 15.¹³⁸¹ As a member of the Education for All initiative, the Government of Panama has been focusing on improving the quality and accessibility of primary education. The government is in the process of developing a new curriculum for basic education and conducting evaluations of a series of basic education pilot programs to determine what strategies to adopt for the national education programs.¹³⁸² The government is also working to increase access to education for the poor, particularly in rural areas and within the indigenous population.¹³⁸³

The World Bank has approved a US$35 million loan to improve the quality of basic education in Panama. The funds will be used to upgrade, expand and rehabilitate run-down or inadequate school buildings to accommodate a growing number of students in primary and secondary school. They are expected to benefit about 60 percent of Panama’s children attending primary and secondary school, primarily children living in remote and poor areas.¹³⁸⁴

Government spending on education in 1996 amounted to 5.3 percent of gross national product (GNP), and accounted for approximately 21 percent of all government spending.¹³⁸⁵

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.¹³⁸⁶

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.

¹³⁴⁵ World Bank, World Development Indicators 2000 [CD-ROM], Washington, D.C., 2000 [hereinafter World Development Indicators 2000 ].

¹³⁴⁶ Condición del trabajo infantil y juvenil en los cañaverales de las Provincias Coclé y Veraguas (Panama City: Comisión de los Asuntos de la Mujer, Derechos del Nino, La Juventud y la Familia, 2000), 14 [hereinafter Condición del trabajo infantil y juvenil ].

¹³⁴⁷ Condición del trabajo infantil y juvenil at 16.

¹³⁴⁸ U.S. Embassy-Panama, unclassified telegram no. 001934, May 18, 2000 [hereinafter unclassified telegram 001934].

¹³⁴⁹ Country Reports 2000 — Panama at Section 6d.

¹³⁵⁰ Ibid. at Section 6d.

¹³⁵¹ Independent producers sell their products to the bigger plantations or producers. Prominent government officials have called children working as sugar cane cutters a “cultural phenomenon.” Unclassified telegram no. 001934. See Also Condición del trabajo infantil y juvenil at 14.

¹³⁵² Ibid.

¹³⁵³ “Programas y proyectos contra el trabajo infantil” (Panama City: Ministerio de la Juventud, la Mujer, la Niñez y la Familia, 2000), 2 [hereinafter “Programas y proyectos contra el trabajo infantil”].

¹³⁵⁴ Unclassified telegram 001934.

¹³⁵⁵ Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Panama. E/C.12/1/ Add.64 (Geneva: United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights 2001). A recent report on a Spanish television channel highlighted a network of child prostitution that operates in the capital. According to local authorities, this report will serve as a basis for a police investigation. The report also indicated that the network included prominent political figures among its clients. “Autoridades investigaran prostitucion infantil en Panama,” CNN en Espanol, June 21, 2000 (www.cnnespanol.com/2000/ latin/PAN/06/21/panama/index.html).

¹³⁵⁶ U.S. Embassy-Panama, unclassified telegram no. 3133, August 11, 2000, [hereinafter unclassified telegram 3133].

¹³⁵⁷ For a more detailed discussion on the relationship between education statistics and work, See Chapter 1, Introduction.

¹³⁵⁸ World Development Indicators 2000 .

¹³⁵⁹ Ibid.

¹³⁶⁰ United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Institute for Statistics, Education for All: Year 2000 Assessment, Country Report, Panama (Paris, 2000) [hereinafter Education for All: Year 2000 Assessment—Panama ]. According to the same source, 90 percent of school-aged children defined as poor in 1997 were in primary school, 91 percent of these Panamanian children were from among the urban poor, 91 percent rural poor, and 83 percent children of indigenous origin. In 1997, 37 percent of school-aged poor children were in secondary school, and 16 percent of these children were of indigenous origin.

¹³⁶¹ “Programas y proyectos contra el trabajo infantil” at 2.

¹³⁶² Education for All: Year 2000 Assessment—Panama .

¹³⁶³ “Programas y proyectos contra el trabajo infantil” at 8.

¹³⁶⁴ Interview with Robert Siberski, U.S. Embassy-Panama, by U.S. Department of Labor official, October 25, 2000.

¹³⁶⁵ Condición del trabajo infantil y juvenil at 38. Article 489 of the Family Code establishes protection from exploitative labor and labor that would endanger the physical, mental, or moral health of minors or impede a child’s access to education as a fundamental right of Panama’s children.

¹³⁶⁶ Ibid. at 36.

¹³⁶⁷ Ibid.

¹³⁶⁸ Government of Panama, Labor Code, Employment of Minors, Article 118, Sections 1-6.

¹³⁶⁹ Condición del trabajo infantil y juvenil at 36.

¹³⁷⁰ Ibid. at 41.

¹³⁷¹ Unclassified telegram 3133.

¹³⁷² Laura J. Lederer, “Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children: A Human Rights Report, Panama” (Washington, D.C.: The Protection Project, January 2001), 2.

¹³⁷³ Country Reports 2000 — Panama at Sections 5, 6d.

¹³⁷⁴ Ibid. at Section 5.

¹³⁷⁵ Unclassified telegram 001934.

¹³⁷⁶ For a list of which countries profiled in Chapter 3 have ratified ILO Conventions No. 138 and No. 182, see Appendix C.

¹³⁷⁷ For a full list of countries that have ratified Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, see (www.unicef.org/crc/opsx-tableweb.htm). For a full list of countries that have ratified Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, see (www.unicef.org/crc/opcac-tableweb.htm).

¹³⁷⁸ “Programas y proyectos contra el trabajo infantil” at 10-19.

¹³⁷⁹ IPEC, Preparation and Design of IPEC Project Documents: USDOL Budget FY 2001, project document (Geneva: ILO-IPEC, January 2001).

¹³⁸⁰ IPEC, Statistical Information and Monitoring Program on Child Labor in Central America, project document (Geneva: ILO-IPEC, 1999).

¹³⁸¹ Country Reports 2000—Panama at Section 5. See Also Education for All: Year 2000 Assessment—Panama.

¹³⁸² Education for All: Year 2000 Assessment—Panama.

¹³⁸³ Ibid.

¹³⁸⁴ “World Bank Supports Better Education for Panama’s Rural and Indigenous Children,” press release no. 2000/ 054/LAC, Washington, D.C., September 8, 2000.

¹³⁸⁵ UNESCO, World Education Report 2000: The Right to Education—Towards Education for All throughout Life , June 27, 2000 (www.unesco.org/education/highlights/wer/wholewer.pdf).

¹³⁸⁶ 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.