Government Policies and Programs to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor
The Government of Brazil has been a member of ILO-IPEC since 1992.[564] In 2003, USDOL funded an ILO-IPEC program to support the government’s Timebound Program to eliminate the worst forms of child labor within a specified time period.[565] Also in 2003, USDOL funded a program to improve access to and quality of basic education in areas with a high incidence of child labor.[566] In past years, USDOL funded projects in Brazil through ILO-IPEC including a regional program to combat the problem of hazardous child domestic work; a program that addresses the commercial sexual exploitation of minors in two border cities between Brazil and Paraguay;[567] and a child labor survey. The survey report was published in April 2003.[568] In addition, the Government of Brazil, along with ILO-IPEC, the other MERCOSUR governments and the Government of Chile, has developed a 2002–2004 regional plan to combat child labor.[569]
The federal government administers numerous programs under different ministries and has formed various commissions to combat and address issues related to child labor in Brazil.[570] These programs to eradicate child labor are listed in the Government of Brazil’s multi-year plan.[571] The 2004 – 2007 multi-year plan, which is currently being formulated through a process of popular consensus, will include funds for programs to combat child labor.[572]
In September 2002, the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE) created the National Commission to Eradicate Child Labor (CONAETI), whose main goal is to implement ILO Conventions 138 and 182. The CONAETI will also work to increase coordination among federal efforts to address child labor and elaborate a National Plan for the Eradication of Child Labor.[573] In May 2000, the MTE established the Tripartite Commission,[574] which produced a list of 81 activities in September 2001 defined as “worst forms” of child labor.[575] The CONEATI will reevaluate this list in 2003.[576]
Each Brazilian state has a Special Group to Combat Child Labor and Protect the Adolescent Worker (GECTIPA), which is responsible for reporting upcoming local activities and their outcomes to the MTE.[577] In 2003, the GECTIPAs will be responsible for raising awareness and working with the private sector to set up a framework for a youth apprenticeship program. In addition, these groups will produce a child labor mapping system, which will be available in November.[578] In some regions, councils defend the rights of children and adolescents at the federal, state, and municipal levels.[579]
In 2003, the President of Brazil issued an Executive Order for a government-wide initiative to combat the sexual exploitation of minors.[580] The Federal Ministry of Social Assistance (MAS) oversees a program to create centers and networks to assist children and adolescents who are victims of sexual abuse and exploitation.[581] Government service providers are receiving training from USAID on the special needs of child and youth victims of trafficking.[582] At the end of 2002, the Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with the UN Drug Control Program, announced a program to combat trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation, funded in part by the government of Portugal.[583] Early in 2002, Brazil initiated a Global Program to Prevent and Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, which includes the targeting of victims who are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.[584] The Ministry of Tourism implemented an international campaign to raise awareness on sex tourism, and the National Human Rights Secretariat mounted a national awareness raising campaign against the sexual exploitation of children.[585] Also during the year, federal and state police monitored the internet for sex traffickers.[586] A Parliamentary Investigative Commission on Sexual Tourism began functioning in September 2001 in the city of Fortaleza.[587]
The MAS Program on the Eradication of Child Labor (PETI) gives stipends to families who remove children from work and keep them in school.[588] In addition, PETI offers target children an after school program which includes school reinforcement, sports and art-related activities.[589] In October 2003, PETI had provided services to approximately 810,000 children.[590] In cooperation with the MTE, MAS also has a program that provides skills training to adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17 for future employment and encourages them to become involved in the social development of their communities.[591] The Ministry of Education (MEC) has developed Bolsa Escola, a preventive counterpart to the PETI program, which provides mothers with a monetary stipend. In return, the mothers agree to ensure that their children maintain at least an 85 percent attendance rate in school.[592] Bolsa Escola, now providing stipends to mothers for nearly nine million children throughout Brazil, is the largest program of its kind in the world.[593] The government has also designed special classes to address the problem of students who are forced to repeat grades,[594] created a school lunch program which seeks to promote children’s attendance,[595] and raised the average wage paid to teachers by 12.9 percent nationally and up to 49.2 percent in the Northeast region.[596] These programs are partly supported through the Fund to Combat Poverty.[597]
The World Bank provides loans to the government of Brazil for projects that aim to improve primary education mainly in the poorer region of the Northeast.[598] In June 2003, the Bank approved a USD 60 million loan to the state of Bahia for a second phase of a program to improve access, quality and management of primary and secondary schools in the region.[599] The IDB is assisting the MEC with three projects that address shortcomings in secondary and higher education.[600] In addition, the IDB approved a USD 500 million loan to Brazil in August 2002 to support country investment in monetary transfer payment programs for poor families.[601]
Incidence and Nature of Child Labor
In 2001, based on statistics from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, it is estimated that 12.7 percent of children ages 5 to 17 years in Brazil were working.[602] Of all males between the ages of 5 and 17 years, 16.4 percent were working; of all females between the ages of 5 and 17, 9 percent were working.[603] Child labor occurs more frequently in northeastern Brazil than in any other region and is particularly common in rural areas.[604] The number of working boys is nearly double that of working girls.[605] Children work on commercial citrus, sugar cane, and sisal[606] farms; in traditional sectors of the Brazilian economy, including the footwear, mining and charcoal industries;[607] and as domestic servants[608] and scavengers in garbage dumps.[609] Children are involved in prostitution,[610] pornography,[611] and the trafficking of drugs,[612] and are victims of internal trafficking networks that transport them to mining and construction sites and tourist areas for the purposes of prostitution.[613] A 2002 report revealed that adolescent girls are being trafficked internationally with falsified documents for the purposes of prostitution.[614] Children are also reported to serve as “soldiers” in drug gangs that control most of Rio de Janeiro’s shantytowns.[615] Many working children are found in the informal sector, and nearly half receive no income.[616]
Basic education (grades 1 through 8) is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 14.[617] In 2000, the gross primary enrollment rate was 162.3 percent, and the net primary enrollment rate was 97.0 percent.[618] Child labor contributes to the “age-to-grade” distortion of children in school, a widespread characteristic of the Brazilian education system. This distortion refers to the large number of children in the country who are enrolling and/or attending school at a grade level below that which is considered appropriate for their age group.[619] In 2001, 80.3 percent of working children between the ages of 5 and 17 were attending school.[620]
Child Labor Laws and Enforcement
After a 1998 Constitutional amendment, the minimum age for general employment was raised from 14 to 16 years and the minimum age for apprenticeships from 12 to 14 years.[621] The 1990 Statute on Children and Adolescents prohibits children under the age of 18 from working in unhealthy, dangerous and arduous conditions, at night, or for long hours that impede school attendance. It also prohibits children less than 18 years of age from carrying heavy loads and working in settings where their physical, moral or social being is at risk.[622] Trafficking is also addressed in Brazilian laws. Under the Penal Code, it is illegal to hire workers with the intention of transporting them to another state or national territory.[623] However, the Code does not address the issue of internal sex trafficking.[624] Brazil’s Federal Criminal Statute provides for prison terms and fines to anyone caught prostituting or trafficking another individual (internationally), or running a prostitution establishment with increased penalties for adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 years.[625] Located throughout the country, offices of the Centers for the Defense of Children and Adolescents are responsible for reporting violations of children’s rights.[626]
The Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE) is responsible for training inspectors to determine child labor work site violations.[627] In the first 8 months of 2002, an estimated 3,250 inspectors conducted more than 19,500 inspections involving cases in which workers were under the age of 18.[628] Employers that violate Brazil’s child labor laws are subject to monetary fines, but the initial levying of fines usually occurs only after several violations.[629] In 2002, labor inspectors from the MTE worked with prosecutors from the Federal Labor Prosecutor’s Office (MPT),[630] who can impose larger fines than labor inspectors.[631] The MPTs National Commission to fight Child Labor focuses its strategy in specific sectors, including trash picking, commercial sexual exploitation, apprenticeships, and family-based work.[632]
The Government of Brazil ratified ILO Convention 138 on June 28, 2001 and ILO Convention 182 on February 2, 2000.[633]
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