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Venezuela
Government Policies and Programs to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor
The Government of Venezuela has been a member of ILO-IPECsince 1996.[4623] In 1997, the government created the National Commission for the Eradication ofChild Labor and Protection of Child Workers.[4624] ILO-IPEC, with the support of the Spanish government, implemented a projectfrom 1999 to 2000 to eliminate the commercial sexual exploitation of girls inVenezuela.[4625] The National Children’s Institute, the government agency responsible for theprotection of children’s rights,[4626]has made efforts to address the commercial sexual exploitation of children byestablishing Local Social Protection networks for children and adolescents whoare at high risk.[4627]The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Health and Social Development hasconducted a study of the child labor situation in the country.[4628]
The government has collaborated with UNESCO to develop anEducation for All plan to increase primary school enrollment and completionrates, improve educational achievement, and expand basic education services andtraining in essential skills for youth.[4629] The World Bank provided financing for a basic education project from 1993-2000that aimed to increase access to education materials, improve teachereffectiveness, and enhance the Ministry of Education’s management capacity.[4630] The Ministry of Education has developed a plan for a national literacy campaignfor 2003-2005 that aims, in part, to reach out-of-school youth.[4631] A 2002 NGO report stated that approximately 1 million children were noteligible to receive government assistance, including public education, becausetheir births were not documented properly.[4632]
Incidence and Nature of Child Labor
In 2000, UNICEF estimated that 9.9 percent of children ages5 to 14 years in Venezuela were working.[4633] Children work in agriculture, street vending, domestic service, artisanry,office work, and services.[4634] Children are also involved in begging, petty theft on the streets,prostitution, and drug trafficking.[4635] Venezuela is a source, destination, and transit country for trafficking inpersons, including children.[4636] Children are trafficked internally and internationally for labor and sexualexploitation.[4637] Children are also trafficked from other South American countries, especiallyEcuador, to work in the capital city of Caracas as street vendors anddomestics.[4638] There are reports that children from Venezuela have been abducted and used assoldiers by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.[4639]
The Constitution mandates free and compulsory education upto the university preparatory level (15 or 16 years of age).[4640] Under Article 53 of the Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents, allchildren have the right to receive a free education at a school or institutionnear their home.[4641] In 2000, the gross primary enrollment rate was 101.9 percent, and the netprimary enrollment rate was 88.0 percent.[4642] In 2000, UNICEF estimated that 92 percent of children ages 5 to 12 attendedprimary school.[4643] Basic education suffers from chronic underfunding, and the economic turmoil inthe country during 2002 led to further drops in education spending.[4644] There are an insufficient number of well-trained teachers in some areas anddropout and repetition rates at the primary and secondary school level arehigh.[4645] Approximately 1 million undocumented children also lack access to basiceducational facilities.[4646]
Child Labor Laws and Enforcement
The Labor Code of 1997 and the Law for the Protection ofChildren and Adolescents set the minimum age for employment at 14 years.[4647] Children ages 12 to 14 can work under certain circumstances with the permissionof the National Children’s Institute and the Ministry of Labor, provided thatthey are employed in work suited to their physical capacity and are guaranteedan education.[4648] Children ages 14 to 16 can work only with the permission of their parent orlegal guardian or another appropriate authority.[4649] In most cases, children under the age of 16 are not permitted to work more than6 hours a day (in 2 shifts of no more than 4 hours each) and 30 hours a week.[4650] Children under the age of 18 cannot work at night.[4651] Article 38 of the Law for Protection of Children and Adolescents prohibitsforced labor, slavery, and servitude.[4652] Forced labor is also prohibited under Article 32 of the Labor Code[4653]and slavery and servitude are also prohibited under Article 54 of theConstitution.[4654] Article 33 of the Law for Protection of Children and Adolescents guarantees theright of all children to be protected against any form of abuse or sexualexploitation.[4655]
Articles 388 and 389 of the Criminal Code prohibit inducingthe prostitution and corruption of minors.[4656] Persons convicted of these crimes can be sentenced to imprisonment from 3 to 18months, and up to 4 years if the minor is younger than 12 years of age.[4657] Laws protecting minors from abuse may be used to prosecute cases of childpornography.[4658] While there is no comprehensive law on trafficking,[4659]Article 40 of the Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents statesthat children have the right to be protected from trafficking, and Article 266provides for a penalty of 2 to 6 years imprisonment for trafficking inchildren.[4660] The Ministry of Labor and the National Institute for Minors enforces childlabor laws. These laws are enforced effectively in the formal sector, but lessin the informal sector.[4661] Insufficient resources, a weak legal system, and corruption hamper efforts tocombat trafficking. There is no evidence that the government prosecuted anycases of trafficking in 2002.[4662]
The Government of Venezuela ratified ILO Convention 138 onJuly 15, 1987, but has not ratified ILO Convention 182.[4663]
[4623]ILO-IPEC, All About IPEC: Programme Countries, [online] [cited July 2, 2003]; available from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/about/countries/t_country.htm.
[4624]The Commission is responsible for collaborating with ILO-IPEC on child labor elimination projects and to encourage and strengthen coordination among national and international public and private institutions in an effort to combat child labor. See UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Initial Reports of States Parties Due in 1992: Supplementary Report, Addendum, Venezuela, CRC/C/3/add.59, prepared by Government of Venezuela, pursuant to Article 44 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, December 1998, para. 181; available from http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/7ab5da65834d643f80256778004a22fd?Opendocument. Various government agencies, such as the Office of the First Lady, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Labor, as well as National Workers Organization are members of the commission. See ILO-IPEC, Ficha Pais: Venezuela, no date; available from http://www.oit.org.pe/spanish/260ameri/oitreg/activid/proyectos/ipec/doc/fichas/fichavenezuela.doc.
[4625]ILO-IPEC, Los Proyectos IPEC en breve: Venezuela, Caracas, 2003; available from http://www.oit.org.pe/spanish/260ameri/oitreg/activid/proyectos/ipec/doc/fichas/ficha_nina_madre.doc.
[4626]National Children's Institute, Instituto Nacional del Menor, [online] [cited October 21, 2003]; available from http://www.inam-msds.gov.ve.
[4627]UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Initial Reports of States Parties Due in 1992, para. 187.
[4628]U.S. Embassy- Caracas, unclassified telegram no. 3537, December 2001. There is no information available on the results.
[4629]UNESCO, Education for All 2000 Assessment: Country Reports-Venezuela, prepared by Ministry of Education, pursuant to UN General Assembly Resolution 52/84; available from http://www2.unesco.org/wef/countryreports/venezuela/contents.html.
[4630]World Bank, Basic Education Project, [online] November 3, 2003 [cited November 3, 2003]; available from http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=104231&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P008218.
[4631]Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports, Plan de Alfabetización Nacional, [online] [cited July 2, 2003]; available from http://www.me.gov.ve/mecd/portal/.
[4632]The study was conducted by the NGO Community Centers for Learning. See U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices- 2002: Venezuela, Washington, D.C., March 31, 2003, Section 5; available from http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18348pf.htm. Under Title II, Chapter II, Article 17 of the Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents, all children have the right to be identified after birth. Article 22 further states that children have the right to obtain public identification documents that demonstrate their identify and that the State shall assure that there are program and measures to determine the identity of all children and adolescents. See Ley orgánica para la protección del niño y del adolescente, 2000; available from http://www.cajpe.org.pe/rij/bases/legisla/venezuel/ve42.htm.
[4633]The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) study defines “currently working” to include children who were performing any paid or unpaid work for someone other than a member of the household, who performed more than 4 hours of housekeeping chores in the household, or who performed other family work. See Government of Venezuela, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS): Standard Tables for Venezuela, UNICEF, 2000; available from http://www.childinfo.org/MICS2/newreports/venezuela/venezuela.htm.
[4634]U.S. Department of State, Country Reports- 2002: Venezuela, Sections 5 and 6d.
[4635]Ibid., Section 5. For additional information on child involvement in prostitution in Venezuela, see ECPAT International, Venezuela, in ECPAT International, [database online] [cited June 18, 2003]; available from http://www.ecpat.net/.
[4636] U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report- 2003: Venezuela, Washington, D.C., June 2003; available from http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2003/21277.htm.
[4637]Children are generally trafficked internally from rural to urban areas. See U.S. Department of State, Country Reports- 2002: Venezuela, Section 6f. Children are generally trafficked internationally from Venezuela to Europe and the United States. See U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report- 2003: Venezuela.
[4638]U.S. Department of State, Country Reports- 2002: Venezuela, Section 6f.
[4639]Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, "Colombia," in Child Soldiers 1379 Report, London, 2002, 26; available from http://www.child-soldiers.org/cs/childsoldiers.nsf/6be02e73d9f9cb8980256ad4005580ff/c560bb92d962c64c80256c69004b0797?OpenDocument.
[4640]Right to Education, Constitutional Guarantees: Venezuela, [database online] [cited July 2, 2003]; available from http://www.right-to-education.org/content/consguarant/venezuela.html. See also U.S. Department of State, Country Reports- 2002: Venezuela, Section 5.
[4641]Ley del niño y del adolescente, 2000, Article 53.
[4642]World Bank, World Development Indicators 2003 [CD-ROM], Washington, D.C., 2003.
[4643]Government of Venezuela, (MICS): Standard Tables for Venezuela, Table 11.
[4644]U.S. Department of State, Country Reports- 2002: Venezuela, Section 5.
[4645]UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Right of the Child, Venezuela, CRC/C/15/Add.109, Geneva, November 2, 1999, D.7. para. 28; available from http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/ed03929b951dfeb080256810005797ca?Opendocument.
[4646]U.S. Department of State, Country Reports- 2002: Venezuela, Section 5.
[4647]Children under the age of 14 are prohibited from working in businesses, establishments, and industrial, mining, and commercial enterprises. See Ley de reforma parcial de la Ley Orgánica del trabajo, No. 5152, (June 19, 1997), Article 247; available from http://natlex.ilo.org/txt/S97VEN01.htm. See also Ley del niño y del adolescente, 2000, Title II, Chapter 3, Article 96.
[4648]Ley orgánica del trabajo, 1997, Article 247, para. 1.
[4649]Ibid., Article 248.
[4650]Ibid., Article 254.
[4651]Ibid., Article 257.
[4652]Ley del niño y del adolescente, 2000, Article 38.
[4653]Ley orgánica del trabajo, 1997, Article 32.
[4654]Constitución de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela,1999, Article 54; available from http://www.georgetown.edu/pdba/Constitutions/Venezuela/ven1999.html.
[4655]Ley del niño y del adolescente, 2000, Article 33.
[4656]Criminal Code of Venezuela as cited in Interpol, Legislation of Interpol Member States on Sexual Offenses Against Children- Venezuela, [database online] [cited July 2, 2003]; available from http://www.interpol.int/Public/Children/SexualAbuse/NationalLaws/csaVenezuela.asp.
[4657]Ibid.
[4658]Ibid.
[4659]U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report- 2003: Venezuela.
[4660]Ley del niño y del adolescente, 2000, Article 266.
[4661]U.S. Department of State, Country Reports- 2002: Venezuela, Section 6d.
[4662]Ibid., Section 6f.
[4663] ILO, Ratifications by Country, in ILOLEX, [database online] [cited July 2, 2003]; available from http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/newratframeE.htm.
