VZCZCXYZ0010
RR RUEHWEB
DE RUEHPE #4712/01 3521908
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 181908Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY LIMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3394
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 4184
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 7128
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0009
RUEHGT/AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA 0992
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ DEC QUITO 0885
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 1000
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
UNCLAS LIMA 004712
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE PASS TO USDOL FOR TINA MCCARTER
DEPARTMENT FOR DRL/ILL LAUREN HOLT
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD SOCI PGOV PHUM PE
SUBJECT: PERU: UPDATE TO GSP WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR
REF: A. A) 05 LIMA 3714
B. B) STATE 184972
1. Post submits the following additional information to last
year's update of the 2004 Worst Forms of Child Labor Report.
Responses are keyed to items in Ref A.
A) Formal institutional mechanisms to investigate and
address complaints relating to allegations of the worst forms
of child labor.
2. The Government of Peru (GOP) employs 236 labor
inspectors, with 150 working in Lima. The Ministry of Labor
(MOL) has announced plans to add 200 inspectors in 2007.
According to the MOL, inspectors carried out 33,874 visits in
2005. Inspectors investigated all types of labor violations,
including those related to child labor. In total, the MOL's
inspection force levied approximately 4,500 fines in 2005,
for a total of USD 11 million.
3. In 2005, the MOL's Office of Labor Protection for Minors
(PMT) issued 1,326 permits authorizing children to work;
1,086 were issued to adolescents between 16 and 17 years old.
Parents or legal guardians must apply for a permit, and
employers cannot hire a minor without one. Each permit
requires an on-site inspection to ensure compliance with
Peruvian labor law. The PMT is completing visits to sites
issued permits in 2005.
4. In 2005, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children and
Adolescents (DEMUNA) completed work on a decentralized child
labor reporting and tracking system to comply with Peru's
signing of the Palermo Protocol.
5. The MOL's labor inspectors focus on the formal sector,
even though more than half of Peru's working population is
employed in the informal sector. In order to cover the
informal sector, the MOL, along with the DEMUNA, the ministry
of Women and Development (MIMDES), and the Center of Social
Studies and Publications (CESIP, a Peruvian NGO) has created
labor advocacy offices in all of Peru's 1,800 municipalities.
Thirty percent of these offices receive funding directly
from local governments; the rest rely primarily on volunteer
staffs. DEMUNA is responsible for raising awareness about
child labor and for reporting major violations. Although
most municipalities lack the financial resources to support
local DEMUNA offices, the MOL plans over the next five years
to give the offices the authority and capacity to issue work
permits, investigate infractions, and impose and collect
fines within their respective jurisdictions.
B) Existing social programs to prevent and to assist in the
removal of children engaged in the worst forms of child labor.
6. In 2004 the GOP created the Inter-Institutional Network
of Local Execution (RIEL), a locally staffed committee that
reports on child labor conditions in Puno, where
approximately 240,000 children are engaged in the mining and
artisanal industries.
7. On November 1, 2006 the Department of Labor began, with
the cooperation of the GOP, a five-year, $5 million project
to reduce child labor in Lima, Callao, Trujillo, and Iquitos.
The program helps at-risk children between the ages of 11
and 15 years old to stay in school and assists children who
are already working to return to school. More than 5,000
children are expected to benefit from the program. The
Department of Labor is also working with the GOP to implement
a national child labor survey to document the incidence and
nature of child labor nationally. The project is expected to
begin in the first quarter of 2007.
8. In September 2006, the DOL-funded program, EDuFuro,
ended. The program brought mobile education centers to 3,000
youth working in mines in the region of Puno and taught basic
reading, writing and math. The program succeeded in
persuading many of the children participating to continue
their education in permanent schools.
9. The GOP has defined brick-making as a sector relying on
child labor. In 2006, MIMDES and CESIP promoted joint
development programs in Guachipa, a municipality near Lima,
where thousands of children were engaged in brick-making.
MIMDES and CESIP have helped community leaders organize
worker associations and pressure local governments to extend
basic services. CESIP also has secured private sector money
from companies to fund the construction and improvement of
four Guachipa elementary schools. As a result, several
hundred children attend school instead of working.
10. In 2005, MIMDES coordinated the production of a video
designed to warn tourists and business travelers about the
legal sanctions against sexual exploitation of children. The
video aired on all LAN Peru flights between Lima and Iquitos
in November 2005. MIMDES also conducted a four-month long
training session for Iquitos police officers that trained 600
policemen in identifying and investigating cases involving
the sexual exploitation of children.
11. In 2006, the MOL signed a contract with CESIP to provide
legal assistance and information to domestic workers about
their labor rights under the law.
C) Comprehensive polices for the elimination of the worst
forms of child labor.
12. In mid-2005, the MOL completed the National Action Plan
for Child Labor, which formalized a Supreme Decree issued on
September 30, 2005. In June 2006, a third revision of the
plan was released to the public. The plan contains reports
on progress achieved in combating child labor and details
objectives in meeting the overall goal of eradicating child
labor.
D) Whether the country is making continual progress toward
eliminating the worst forms of child labor.
13. The strong commitment expressed by the current
government to eradicate child labor suggests progress will
continue. According to the MOL, the rate of children
entering the workforce has slowed: from 1996 to 2001, the
percentage of children holding jobs increased by 13 per cent.
From 2001 to 2006, the increase was 3 per cent.
14. The MOL's budget for 2006 is approximately USD 70
million, a 5.5 million decrease since 2005. In 2005,
approximately USD 35 million of the total budget was
earmarked for implementation of the National Action Plan for
Child Labor. In 2006, the portion of funds for PNAIA grew to
about USD 5.9 million, evidence of how seriously the GOB
takes the child labor problem.
STRUBLE