Selected Child Labor Measures Adopted by Governments
| Ratified Convention 138 6/28/2001 |
X |
| Ratified Convention 182 2/2/2000 |
X |
| ILO-IPEC Member |
X |
| National Plan for Children |
X |
| National Child Labor Action Plan |
X |
| Sector Action Plan (Commercial Sexual Exploitation) |
X |
Incidence and Nature of Child Labor
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics estimated that approximately 6.8 percent of children ages 5 to 14 years were working in 2001.[607] In this age group, 9.1 percent of males and 4.5 percent of females were working.[608] Child labor is more prevalent in northeastern Brazil than in any other region, and it is more common in rural areas than in urban areas.[609] Children work in numerous rural activities, such as mining, fishing, producing charcoal, and harvesting sugar cane, cotton, sisal, citrus, and other crops. In urban areas, common activities for children include shining shoes, street peddling, begging, and working in restaurants, construction, and transportation.[610] Many children and adolescents are employed as domestic servants,[611] and others work as trash pickers,[612] drug traffickers,[613] and prostitutes.[614]
Basic education (grades 1 through 8) is free and compulsory for children ages 7 to 14 years.[615] In 2001, the gross primary enrollment rate was 148.5 percent, and the net primary enrollment rate was 96.5 percent.[616] Gross and net enrollment ratios are based on the number of students formally registered in primary school and therefore do not necessarily reflect actual school attendance. In spite of high rates of enrollment, the low quality of public schools and high rates of repetition continue to be problems.[617] In addition, child labor contributes to the widespread “age-to-grade” distortion of children in the Brazilian education system.[618] In 2001, 11.9 percent of working children ages 5 to 15 years were not attending school.[619]
Child Labor Laws and Enforcement
The minimum age for general employment in Brazil is 16 years and the minimum age for apprenticeships is 14 years.[620] The 1990 Statute on Children and Adolescents prohibits employees under the age of 18 from working in unhealthy, dangerous, and arduous conditions; for long hours that impede school attendance; at night; or in settings where their physical, moral, or social well-being is adversely affected.[621] Brazil’s Penal Code provides for prison terms and fines to anyone caught prostituting another individual or running a prostitution establishment, with increased penalties when adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 years are involved.[622] Although it is illegal in Brazil to transport women across international borders for the purposes of prostitution, the Penal Code does not address the issue of internal sex trafficking.[623]
The Ministry of Labor and Employment (MLE) is responsible for inspecting work sites for child labor violations. In the first 8 months of 2003, labor inspectors conducted more than 11,000 inspections involving workers under the age of 14.[624] Inspections increasingly target informal employment, in part due to the declining number of children working in the formal sector.[625] Employers who violate Brazil’s child labor laws are subject to monetary fines, but fines are rarely applied because inspectors typically negotiate agreements to have employers desist from labor law violations before levying fines.[626] The MLE’s Special Groups to Combat Child Labor and Protect the Adolescent Worker guide child labor inspection efforts, conduct awareness-raising activities, and cooperate closely with other agencies involved in protecting children’s rights.[627] Data from the Special Groups reports is used by the MLE’s Secretariat of Labor to update a map of child labor, which is used for planning future child labor eradication programs.[628]
Labor inspectors from the MLE often work closely with prosecutors from the Federal Labor Prosecutor’s Office (Ministério Público do Trabalho—MPT).[629] MPT prosecutors may investigate cases of child labor, bring charges against violators, and levy fines.[630] The MPT’s National Coordinating Group to Fight Child Labor sets priorities and coordinates the agency’s activities regarding child labor.[631] In many municipalities, labor inspectors and prosecutors are aided by a network of legally-mandated Guardianship Councils that serve as reference centers for at-risk children and adolescents.[632]
Current Government Policies and Programs to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor
The Government of Brazil implements a number of innovative programs to prevent and eradicate child labor. The principal program to remove children from working in the most hazardous forms of child labor is the Program to Eradicate Child Labor (Programa de Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil—PETI). Through PETI, families with children working in selected hazardous activities receive stipends to remove their children from work and maintain them in school.[633] In addition, PETI offers an after school program to prevent children from working during non-school hours. The program includes tutoring, sports, and cultural activities.[634] PETI is administered by the newly created Ministry of Social Development and Combating Hunger (Ministério de Desenvolvimento Social—MDS), in conjunction with state and local authorities, and it provided services to over 810,000 children in 2004.[635]
While PETI focuses on removing children from hazardous work, the emphasis of the Family Stipend (Bolsa Família) program is preventing child labor by supplementing family income and encouraging school attendance. The Family Stipend program was formed in October 2003, when a number of separate transfer programs were merged to reduce administrative inefficiencies and potential duplication.[636] The program provides a monetary stipend ranging from 15 to 95 Brazilian Reals (USD 5 to 34) to impoverished families who agree to keep their children in school and meet other conditions related to health and nutrition.[637] While 1.15 million families were assisted by the program in November 2003, the government intends to expand the program to reach 11.4 million families by 2006 and cover the 40 million people estimated to live in poverty in Brazil.[638]
Other federal programs to promote education include the Youth Agent (Agente Jovem) program, which provides skills training for future employment and community development activities for at-risk youth between the ages of 15 and 17. In 2001, 6.7 million children in Brazil benefited from at least one of the nation’s social programs related to education. This corresponds to roughly 15.5 percent of all children between 5 and 17 years of age. Data indicate that 98.9 percent of children participating in social programs were enrolled in school, compared with an enrollment rate of 88.1 percent for non-participating children.[639] In addition, the Ministry of Education offers programs to reduce the age to grade distortion in Brazil[640] and a school lunch program that seeks to promote children’s attendance.[641] In addition, as of May 2003, the National Forum on Garbage and Citizenship had helped to remove more than 46,000 children from working in trash dumps and placed them in schools across Brazil.[642]
The National Plan to Fight Sexual Violence Against Children and Adolescents provides the policy framework for the government’s programs to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.[643] These efforts are carried out by a number of government agencies, including the National Human Rights Secretariat, and include initiatives to assist victims and raise awareness.[644] The primary program to assist child victims of commercial sexual exploitation is the Sentinel Program, which establishes local reference centers to provide victims with psychological, social, and legal services.[645] In addition, the government’s Global Program to Prevent Trafficking in Persons is working to establish a database on trafficking in persons, including the trafficking of children and adolescents, strengthen efforts to combat the practice, and develop pilot programs to assist victims.[646]
The National Commission to Eradicate Child Labor (CONAETI) coordinates the implementation of ILO Conventions 138 and 182 in Brazil.[647] CONAETI has developed a National Plan to Eradicate Child Labor and proposed a series of legal reforms to help bring national laws into full compliance with the conventions.[648]
In January 2004, Brazilian president Luis Inácio Lula Da Silva launched The Child-Friendly President Action Plan 2004-2007. The plan details nearly 200 activities to benefit children, including efforts to combat child labor and sexual exploitation. The plan calls for overall spending of 55.9 billion Brazilian Reals (USD 19.7 billion), but these funds must first be approved by the Brazilian Congress.[649] With the support of ILO-IPEC, the Government of Brazil and the other governments of MERCOSUL[650] developed a 2002–2004 regional plan to combat child labor. The plan includes an awareness raising campaign, which was officially launched in April 2004.[651]
USDOL funds several projects to support Brazilian child labor initiatives, including one regional program through ILO-IPEC to reduce hazardous child domestic work and another to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents in two border cities between Brazil and Paraguay.[652] USDOL also funds an ILO-IPEC program to support the government’s Timebound Program to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. This program targets domestic labor, prostitution, hazardous agriculture, and additional informal sector activities. [653] A program to strengthen basic education in selected areas of Brazil with a high incidence of hazardous child labor is funded by USDOL through Partners of the Americas.[654]
The World Bank supports various programs in Brazil to improve education and reduce poverty, including a USD 572 million loan to assist Brazil in its implementation of the Family Stipend (Bolsa Família) program.[655] IDB is assisting the Government of Brazil with projects that address shortcomings in secondary and higher education.[656]
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