US embassy cable - 04BUENOSAIRES2228

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BUENOS AIRES 002228 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOL/ILAB TINA FAULKNER, DRL/IL MARINDA HARPOLE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, KOCI, KWMN, ELAB, AR 
SUBJECT: WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR 2004 UPDATE 
 
 
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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE INCIDENCE AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR 
AND RELATED GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS 
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1.  In 2002, the Ministry of Labor estimated that 7.1 percent 
of children ages 5 to 14 were working in Argentina.  Such 
statistics have not been updated to reflect the severity and 
consequences of the 2001 economic crisis.  According to the 
Minister of Health, there are more children than adults 
living in poverty.  An estimated 75 percent of Argentine 
children come from poor homes.  Despite the lack of updated 
labor statistics, CONAETI estimated in June 2004 that up to 
1.5 million children, or 23% of the child population are 
child laborers.  The rate is believed to be higher in rural 
than urban areas. 
 
2.  The GOA has been a member of ILO-IPEC since 1996 and has 
two principle agencies that deal with child labor issues: 1) 
the National Commission for the Eradication of Child Labor 
(CONAETI) and 2) the National Council for Childhood, 
Adolescence, and Family (CONNAF).  CONAETI was established in 
August 2000 to evaluate and coordinate efforts to prevent and 
eradicate child labor. In 2002, CONAETI established a 
National Plan for the Prevention and Elimination of Child 
Labor.  Until May 2003, the United Nations Development 
Program (UNDP) also provided support to the Argentine 
Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security and CONAETI 
for their efforts to eradicate child labor. 
 
3.  CONNAF, on the other hand, has begun conducting awareness 
raising activities on the rights of children and the sexual 
abuse of children, and in 2000-2001 provided training to 
government officials on issues such as commercial sexual 
exploitation of children.  Since that time, it has worked 
with local governments and NGOs to support a National Network 
of Children's Rights Offices, which coordinates services for 
and protects the rights of at-risk children.  CONNAF has also 
established a program to coordinate national efforts with 
regional MERCOSUR partners to address the commercial sexual 
exploitation of children.  Together with the Attorney 
General, the Ministry of Justice, Security and Human Rights, 
the National Council of Women, and UNICEF, CONNAF also 
developed an action plan for the elimination of child 
prostitution.   The GOA is involved in the planning and 
management of a 2-year ILO-IPEC project to combat child labor 
in rural areas and a 1-year ILO-IPEC project to eradicate 
child labor among street workers and garbage pickers in 
Buenos Aires, both initiated in 2002. 
 
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ILO-IPEC PROJECTS WITH GOVERNMENT 
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4.  In September 2003, CONAETI began a national child labor 
survey with technical assistance from ILO-IPEC,s SIMPOC that 
will be completed December 2004. In April 2004, the GOA, the 
ILO, and the Sub-Secretariat of Technical Programming and 
Labor Studies of the Minister of Labor, Employment, and 
Social Security announced their plans to conduct another 
survey on child labor-related activities in Argentina.  The 
survey will encompass Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Jujuy, Salta, 
and Tucuman in the Northwest and Chaco and Formosa in the 
Northeast.  As a result of child labor increasing in urban 
environments, this is the first survey that involves the same 
number of urban and rural zones. 
 
5.  In addition, the GOA, along with ILO-IPEC, the other 
MERCOSUR governments, and the Government of Chile, developed 
a 2002-2004 regional plan to combat child labor by agreeing 
to develop a regional strategy, build capacity to prevent and 
eradicate child labor, and analyze and share information on 
the problem.  The plan includes a commission for child 
labor-related issues in addition to a regional graphic 
campaign with the ILO. 
 
6.  Graphic and information campaigns are key to the GOA's 
general plan to combat and prevent child labor.  In April and 
November 2003, IPEC approved the financing of graphic and 
information campaigns throughout the country.  Through 
advertising on radio, television, and in newspapers, the GOA 
hopes to raise public awareness of child labor.  CONAETI 
believes that the future of the fight against child labor is 
public involvement.  In May 2004, the Carlos Carella Theater 
in Buenos Aires held a performance to inform the public about 
the causes and consequences of child labor followed by a 
forum conducted by government officials. 
 
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URBAN INCIDENCE OF CHILD LABOR AND THE NATIONAL PROGRAM TO 
COMBAT AND PREVENT IT 
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7.  Child labor in urban zones is a recent phenomenon dating 
back to the 1990s that has increased following the 2001 
economic crisis.  Children work in urban sectors such as 
trash recycling, street sales, begging, shoe shining, 
domestic labor, in small and medium businesses, small-scale 
garment production, food preparation, and brickwork.  Street 
laborers, or  cartoneros, are most visible.  In March 2004, 
the ex-Minister of Labor accused the courts of legalizing the 
labor (prohibited by Law 20.744) of 1,700 Buenos Aires 
adolescent cartoneros.  Her investigation revealed that these 
children worked nights collecting trash on the streets 
instead of attending school.  The number of cartoneros has 
increased since the 2001 meltdown with 8,153 people working 
in Buenos Aires, 16.9 percent being under 18 years of age. 
Before the economic crisis, there was an estimated 1,600 
children working the streets of Buenos Aires.  In 2004, the 
Council of Child and Adolescent Rights studied five sectors 
of Buenos Aires and found there to be 1,350 children working 
on the streets.  This number extrapolated to include the 
entire city is approximately 2,700 children.  This statistic 
does not reflect the children in Buenos Aires who are working 
in the domestic sector. 
 
8.  Domestic labor is another sector in which an increasing 
number of children have begun to work since the 2001 crisis. 
However, it is difficult to measure and regulate given that 
it takes place within the privacy of the home.  The GOA often 
has to rely on schools to report incidents of child 
exploitation as domestic labor because it is an invisible 
sector.  In 2004, 150 cases of child domestic labor have been 
reported by the Buenos Aires schools to the Council of Child 
and Adolescent Rights. 
 
9.  Children in Argentina are also involved in prostitution, 
pornography, sex tourism, and drug trafficking, but precise 
statistics are unavailable.  In early 2003, the GOA first 
became a participant in a two-year ILO-IPEC regional project 
to prevent and eliminate commercial sexual exploitation of 
children in the Tri-Border area.  This issue is particularly 
relevant in 2004 because it is the first year that Argentina 
was included in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.  Luz 
de Infancia is one of the programs in the Tri-Border Area 
that focuses on combating and preventing child sexual 
exploitation. 
 
10.  CONAETI approved another project in 2003 to address 
child labor in urban areas.  The national urban plan is 
pursued through local projects and organizations that are 
financially supported by the GOA.  Although lacking a 
comprehensive prevention policy, the urban plan does consist 
of a network of information campaigns, outreach, and child 
victim identification in the city of Buenos Aires.  By 
offering such services ranging from health to education to 
recreation, Buenos Aires aims to provide its youth with a 
social welfare system that will increase their civic 
awareness and participation, thereby protecting them from 
exploitation. 
 
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RURAL INCIDENCE OF CHILD LABOR AND THE NATIONAL PROGRAM 
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11.  Child labor has traditionally been more prevalent in 
rural zones, where children perform agriculture-related labor 
concerned with tea, tobacco, tomatoes, strawberries, and 
flowers.  The national rural program consists of three 
stages: 1) providing compensation and training to parents to 
increase their economic levels so that they can take their 
children out of the labor sector and ensure their long-term 
enrollment and attendance in school; 2) a social dialogue 
table as part of the commission of the province of Misiones 
for various organizations, companies, and public officials; 
and 3) an ILO-approved child labor investigation in San 
Vicente in Misiones.  A coordination unit evaluates the 
progress and continuity of the rural program. 
 
12.  Provincial governments are also working to combat child 
labor primarily through cooperation with UNICEF to raise 
awareness of the importance of education and promote family 
and community involvement in educational design; and provide 
alternative income opportunities for families of child 
laborers so they can attend school.  The Inter-American 
Development Bank provided a loan to the GOA in 2001 aimed at 
supporting the provinces in improving the quality, equity and 
efficiency of the education system, thereby promoting 
increased future employment opportunities for young people 
from poor families.  The GOA has also received funding from 
the World Bank to reform the third cycle of basic education 
(grades seven to nine) in Buenos Aires Province. 
 
13.  In April 2004, an agreement to create specialized 
commissions in each province was signed by the Ministry of 
Labor, the National Commission for the Eradication of Child 
Labor, the Federal Council of Labor, as well as by the 
provinces of Buenos Aires, Entre Rios, Corrientes, Misiones, 
Tucuman, Jujuy, Catamarca, La Rioja, Mendoza, Rio Negro, 
Pampa, and Salta.  Eleven provinces did not sign the 
agreement: Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Cordoba, 
Santa Fe, San Luis, San Juan, Neuquen, Chubut, Santa Cruz, 
and Tierra del Fuego.  Concerns have been raised over the 
efficacy of the provincial commissions since the degree of 
child labor and resources to combat it vary from one province 
to the next.  In June, CONAETI and MERCOSUR announced a joint 
campaign with the provincial commissions to combat child 
labor. 
 
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EDUCATIONAL ISSUES: CONSEQUENCES OF CHILD LABOR 
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14.  Education is free and compulsory in Argentina for 10 
years, beginning at age 5.  In 2000, the gross primary 
enrollment rate was 120.1 percent, and the net primary 
enrollment rate was 107.5 percent.  According to a government 
survey in 2001, 99.1 percent of children ages 6 to 12 
attended school, and 97.2 percent of children ages 13 to 14 
attended school.  In 1999, 90.3 percent of children who 
enrolled in primary school in Argentina reached grade five 
suggesting that continuing enrollment is most relevant to the 
issue of child labor.  Therefore, some serious educational 
problems persist. 
 
15.  Access to schooling is limited in some rural areas of 
the country.  Enrollment has become a greater issue in both 
the urban and rural areas since the 2001 economic crisis as 
children have dropped out of school to work and help support 
their families.  In particular, poverty and school desertion 
have been prevalent in the indigenous communities.  In July, 
the Education Ministry announced the establishment of a 
bilingual program in at least 1,000 of the 2,500 schools 
throughout the country that have indigenous students.  This 
program is to prevent the desertion of students belonging to 
the Wichi, Mapuche, Toba, Mocovi, Kolla, Guarani, and Pilaga 
communities.  The program will also include scholarships to 
be distributed to 5,000 indigenes. 
 
16.  The social inclusion of children is also needed 
throughout the remainder of the country to protect them from 
exploitation.  One out of every five adolescents from the 
Buenos Aires province between the ages of 14 and 21 does not 
go to school, and one million live below the poverty line, 
according to the Ministry of Human Development.  Up to 12,000 
do not know how to read or write.  The Ministry emphasizes 
that it is the responsibility of the state to advance the 
social inclusion of these adolescents through educational 
programs in the provinces. 
 
17.  Therefore, in May 2004, the Ministry of Human 
Development announced a program that will give out 20,000 
scholarships to such adolescents.  Proyecto Adolescentes will 
distribute 20,000 scholarships of 150 pesos per month for one 
year to send these adolescents to school.  In July, President 
Kirchner announced a new program directed at the one million 
18-25 year old Argentines who neither work nor study and are 
considered the most vulnerable and most critical socially 
marginalized group.  This program, administered through the 
Ministry of Social Development, will provide the young adults 
with six-month job placements or scholarships of 100 pesos 
per month.  The IDB is providing 30 million pesos in 
financial support of this initiative. 
 
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CHILD LABOR LAWS AND ENFORCEMENT 
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18.  The Law on Labor Contracts (No. 20.744) sets the minimum 
age for employment at 14 years.  Children of legal working 
age, however, are prohibited from entering employment if they 
have not completed compulsory education, which normally ends 
at age 15.  Children who are under the age of 14 may work 
only in businesses where family members are employed, as long 
as the work is not dangerous to them.  Children ages 14 to 18 
are prohibited from working more than 6 hours a day and 36 
hours a week and must present medical certificates that 
attest to their ability to perform such work.  If permission 
is obtained from administrative authorities, however, 
children ages 16 to 18 may work 8 hours a day and 48 hours a 
week.  Children under the age of 18 are prohibited from 
working between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. and from 
engaging in work that could endanger their safety, health or 
moral integrity. 
 
19.  Slavery and the facilitation of the prostitution of 
children, trafficking of children into or out of Argentina 
for prostitution, and pornography are also prohibited.  As 
previously mentioned, the sexual exploitation of minors 
persists. One example is a case of prostitution in the city 
of Buenos Aires. 
 
20.  Two women were arrested in the Buenos Aires neighborhood 
of Caballito in June 2004 for prostituting a fifteen-year old 
girl who suffered from tuberculosis as a result of 
malnutrition and exploitation.  The women would often offer 
food, shelter, and work to young girls without family or who 
just arrived from the country's interior.  After initially 
being offered employment as domestics in Buenos Aires 
households, the girls were forced into prostitution.  The 
women are currently awaiting trial in Buenos Aires in 
violation of the Law of Profilaxis Venerea and for the 
corruption of minors. 
 
21.  Other forms of child labor are dealt with by the 
Ministry of Labor, which has authority over employers and 
imposes sanctions on the abusers on a case-by-case basis.  In 
January 2000, the GOA enacted a federal law that establishes 
a unified regime of sanctions for the infringement of labor 
laws, but child labor laws are still enforced on a provincial 
or local basis.  Violators of underage employment laws can 
receive a fine of USD 278 to USD 1,388 for each child 
employed.  UNICEF has charged that the commercial sexual 
exploitation of children occurs due to police inefficiency 
and the failure of the judiciary to intervene.  The 
Government of Argentina ratified ILO Convention 138 on 
November 11, 1996 and ILO Convention 182 on February 5, 2001. 
 
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CONCLUSION: A QUESTION OF EFFICACY 
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22.  While the government has made many recent efforts to 
eradicate and prevent child labor, Congress admitted in 2004 
that there are not sufficient inspectors or programs 
established to detect child exploitation.  It also noted the 
lack of sanctions against companies that use children to save 
money since they receive lower wages.  Furthermore, the 
Inspection Monitoring Unit, in charge of finding and 
responding to incidents of child labor, does not have the 
rescue support needed to aid exploited children.  The 
government, the ILO, and labor specialists admitted in 2004 
that one of the principal obstacles to combating and 
preventing child labor is the cultural perspective upheld in 
Argentina.  Many people believe that child labor is not 
harmful to the health and development of the child.  That is 
why CONAETI reiterates the need of public awareness and 
involvement in the future campaign against child labor. 
GUTIERREZ