26 March 2002

Labor Department Programs to Address Child Labor in El Salvador

(Goal is to eliminate worst forms of child labor, improve education)
(650)

The White House issued a fact sheet on March 24, outlining programs
offered by the U.S. Department of Labor to address the problem of
child labor in El Salvador.

These programs, according to the White House, are designed to
"increase access to and improve the quality of basic education
alternatives in El Salvador, particularly in areas with a high
incidence of child labor" and to "provide educational opportunities to
children removed from, or at risk of entering, hazardous labor
conditions."
    
Following is the text of the fact sheet"

(begin fact sheet)

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(San Salvador, El Salvador)

For Immediate Release
March 24, 2002

FACT SHEET: U.S. DEPT. OF LABOR PROGRAMS TO ADDRESS CHILD LABOR IN EL
SALVADOR

Education Initiative:

In FY 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor's International Child Labor
Program (ICLP) plans to award a competitively bid $4-million
cooperative agreement to increase access to and improve the quality of
basic education alternatives in El Salvador, particularly in areas
with a high incidence of child labor.

The Education Initiative (EI) will provide educational opportunities
to children removed from, or at risk of entering, hazardous labor
conditions. The strategic goals of the EI are to raise awareness of
the importance of education for all children; to strengthen formal and
transitional education systems; to strengthen national institutions
and policies on education and child labor; and to ensure the long-term
sustainability of these efforts. Proposals for the EI award in El
Salvador are currently being reviewed.

The implementing organization will work in close collaboration with
the Salvadoran Ministry of Education to develop activities to increase
enrollment and attendance at educational settings, reduce dropout
rates, increase promotion to next grade, and increase mainstreaming of
children to formal schooling or to vocational education leading to
improved employment.

Time-Bound Program:

In June 2001, El Salvador took the lead in Central America to become
one of the first IPEC countries to initiate a comprehensive, national
Time-Bound Program to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.

The Time-Bound Program, funded by ICLP in collaboration with local
government and international organizations, reflects a firm commitment
from the Government of El Salvador to eliminate the worst forms of
child labor within a five to ten-year period.

The government of El Salvador has identified the following worst forms
to be addressed in the Time-Bound Program: fishing, sugar cane and
fireworks production, the commercial sex industry, and garbage
scavenging. The Time-Bound Program will directly benefit approximately
26,000 working or at-risk children under the age of 18 as well as
5,000 families in a 4-year period ending in 2005.

International Child Labor Program:

The International Child Labor Program (ICLP) began funding projects to
progressively eliminate child labor in Central America in 1998 and has
funded a variety of sector-specific, country and regional programs
over the past four years.

The governments of Belize, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, and Panama
are benefiting from ICLP-funded child labor projects totaling close to
$25 million.

The ICLP funds the majority of its projects through a cooperative
agreement with the International Labor Organization (ILO). The ILO's
International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) has
developed a number of approaches to eliminating child labor,
particularly in its worst forms. These approaches include research,
awareness raising, and direct action through the provision of social
services to working children and their families.

These projects are implemented with the active participation of
governmental and non-governmental organizations, including employers
and workers groups, local community organizations and faith-based
groups.

(end fact sheet)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)