US embassy cable - 04PANAMA2153

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 PANAMA 002153 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR DRL/IL (MARINDA HARPOLE), EB, WHA/PPC, AND WHA/CEN 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN 
DOL/ILAB (TINA FAULKNER) 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, ELAB, ETRD, PHUM, SOCI, PM, LABOR, HUMAN RIGHTS,POLMIL 
SUBJECT: PANAMA CHILD LABOR UPDATE FOR TRADE DEVELOPMENT 
ACT REPORT 
 
 
REF: A. STATE 163967 
     B. 03 PANAMA 02286 
 
 
---------- 
Summary 
---------- 
 
 
      The GOP made progress toward eliminating the worst 
forms of child labor in 2004. It worked with ILO/IPEC to 
begin to identify the worst forms of child labor, enacted a 
new law aimed at combating child commercial sexual 
exploitation, and created a regional subcommittee to combat 
the use of children as household servants.  In response to 
Reftel A, this cable summarizes last year's child labor cable 
(Reftel B).  As requested in Reftel A, copies of all original 
data sources will be sent to DOL via diplomatic pouch.  End 
Summary. 
 
 
------------------------------------------- 
A.  Does Panama have adequate laws and 
regulations proscribing the worst forms of 
child labor? 
------------------------------------------- 
 
 
- Panama ratified ILO Convention 182 in May 2000. 
 
 
- The minimum age for basic employment in Panama is 14 years, 
although children between 13 and 14 years may work under 
certain conditions in agriculture and light domestic 
labor.  Minors under the age of 18 years may not engage in 
hazardous labor. 
 
 
- Panama's labor laws cover all sectors. 
 
 
- Panama's labor code prohibits minors from engaging in work 
that may be dangerous to the "life, health or morality" of 
the child.  This includes work in businesses which serve 
alcohol, all forms of transportation, work with electricity, 
work with explosive or flammable material, work in mines, and 
work with radioactive substances. 
 
 
- The ability to work at age 14 is contingent upon completion 
of primary school.  If this condition is not met, the limit 
is 15 years of age.  Children under 16 may not work overtime. 
 Children under 18 may not work at night. 
 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
      1.  Has the GOP developed a list of 
occupations considered to be the worst forms 
of child labor? 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
 
-  In 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) fully funded a 
$1 million program with the International Labor 
Organization/International Programme on the Elimination of 
Child Labor (ILO/IPEC) to work with the GOP to create a 
Country Program to Combat Child Labor and to define the worst 
forms of child labor in Panama.  The program aims to remove 
1,000 children from the worst forms of child labor by the 
program's end in December 2005. 
 
 
-  Through the program, the Ministry of Labor's Committee for 
the Eradication of Child Labor and ILO/IPEC have organized a 
series of workshops to create the Country Program to Combat 
the Worst Forms of Child Labor.  Also, ILO/IPEC and the 
Ministry of Labor's National Labor Inspection Directorate 
have conducted consultative seminars to identify the Worst 
Forms of Child Labor in Panama in two provinces.  ILO/IPEC 
believes the GOP will have finished the consultative process 
and have identified the worst forms of Child Labor by 
December 2004. 
 
 
-  The Inspection Directorate and ILO/IPEC have also studied 
child domestic labor in Panama, child commercial sexual 
exploitation in Panama, and child labor in the coffee 
industry in Panama.  The Inspection Directorate and ILO/IPEC 
have analyzed the results of a 2000 survey on Child Labor 
conducted by the GOP Statistics Office.  The GOP is also 
studying child labor in car washes in Panama. 
 
 
--------------------------------------- 
B.  Does Panama have adequate laws 
and regulations for the implementation 
and enforcement of such measures? 
--------------------------------------- 
 
 
-  Businesses that employ underage children or violate in 
other ways the laws regarding employment of minors can face a 
$50 - $700 fine. 
 
 
-  If a child's work is found to be abusive (defined as any 
activity that may affect the physical or mental health of a 
child), the employer may face a two-to-six year prison 
sentence. 
 
 
-  Children over 12 are permitted to do light work as 
household servants only if the Ministry of Labor authorizes 
the work and the work is done outside of school hours.  Many 
employers are not aware of this provision and children often 
work as household servants without permission. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
      1.  Have there have been any recent 
governmental or judicial initiatives to 
strengthen or enforce child labor legislation 
and regulations? 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
 
-  On March 31, 2004, the GOP enacted Law 16 to strengthen 
proscriptions against child sexual exploitation by 
criminalizing and/or increasing penalties for (a) corruption 
of minors; (b) pimping; (c) maintaining sexual relations with 
a child; (d) paying minors for sex; (e) use, exhibition, or 
distribution of pornography containing minors (including 
internet porn); (f) internet sexual predation; (g) showing 
pornography to children; and (h) promotion of sex tourism 
that includes minors. 
 
 
-  Law 16 contains several important measures to increase 
enforcement of these proscriptions.  First, it eliminates the 
need for a formal complaint before the police and 
prosecutor's office can investigate sex crimes.  Under 
certain circumstances, the law also permits undercover 
operations and phone and computer wiretapping in sex crimes 
cases.  In addition, the law delays the running of the 
statute of limitations in cases of sex crimes against minors 
until the victim is an adult.  Finally, the law eliminates 
bail in sex crime cases in which a minor is a victim. 
 
 
-  The new law also creates and imposes taxes to fund the 
National Commission for the Prevention of Sex Crimes and 
Sexual Exploitation (CONAPREDES).  CONAPREDES studies the 
mechanisms for the prevention and eradication of crimes of 
sexual exploitation and includes: 
 
 
      a.  The Attorney General; 
 
 
      b.  The Minister of Youth, Women, Family, and Children; 
 
 
      c.  The Minister of Government and Justice; 
 
 
      d.  The Minister of Economy and Finances; 
 
 
      e.  The Ministry of Education; 
 
 
      f.  The Ministry of Health; 
 
 
      g.  The President Judge of Juvenile Court; 
 
 
      h.  The President of the Commission of Women's Issues, 
Children's Rights, Youth, and Family of the Legislative 
Assembly; 
 
 
      i.  The Director of The Judicial Technical Police; 
 
 
      j.  A coordinator designated by the Executive; 
 
 
      l.  A representative of the Ombudsman's Office; 
 
 
      m.  A representative of the National Network of Youth 
and Children; 
 
 
      n.  A representative from the National Counsel of Youth 
and Adolescence; and 
 
 
      o.  A representative of the lawyers' union. 
 
 
-  By executive decree on March 31, 2004, the Ministry of 
Government and Justice created a commission to make 
recommendations regarding the problem of Trafficking in 
Persons (TIP). 
 
 
-  By executive decree on September 24, 2003, the Ministry of 
Labor created the Network of Security and Health Against 
Unhealthy and Dangerous Child Labor to increase government 
coordination and compliance with norms against child labor. 
The network includes: 
 
 
      a.  Ministry of Labor; 
 
 
      b.  The Ministry of Health; 
 
 
      c.  The Ministry of Education; 
 
 
      d.  The Ministry of Youth, Children, Women, and Family; 
 
 
      e.  Social Security; 
 
 
      f.  Council of Health, Security and the Environment of 
Panama; 
 
 
      g.  The Panama Canal Authority; 
 
 
      h.  Panama Fire Department; 
 
 
      i.  National System of Civil Protection; 
 
 
      j.  National Police; 
 
 
      k.  Maritime Authority; 
 
 
      l.  Legislative Assembly; and 
 
 
      m.  an institute, a foundation, and two universities. 
 
 
-  In March 2004, the GOP (with ILO/IPEC and the Canadian 
government) created the first regional Subcommittee to 
Eradicate Child Labor in the Province of Veraguas.  According 
to an ILO/OIT technical report, through the Subcommittee nine 
girls have been retired from domestic (household servant) 
labor, three inserted in formal education, and five in 
informal education.  In addition, the Subcommittee discovered 
recruiters who were charging at least $10-$20 per head to 
find young girls for domestic work in Panama City and other 
parts of the country, sometimes in conditions of near 
slavery.  Generally, the girl would need to pay the money 
herself, often through a deduction from her first two weeks 
of pay.  The Subcommittee worked with a local transportation 
company to deny service to girls brought by recruiters if the 
girls did not have a parental permission card and work 
authorization from the Ministry of Labor. 
 
 
-  The Technical Secretary of the Committee to Eradicate 
Child Labor conducted weekly meetings to coordinate programs 
during harvest time. 
 
 
-  The GOP toured coffee plantations in Chiriqui Province. 
 
 
 
 
---------------------------------------- 
      2.  Has the GOP designated an 
authority to implement and enforce child 
labor laws and regulations? 
---------------------------------------- 
 
 
-  The Ministry of Labor's National Labor Inspection 
Directorate has the responsibility, along with its Ministry 
of Labor's Child Labor Unit, of enforcing all the laws in 
Panama's Labor Code and Family Code, as well as ILO 
Conventions 138 and 182.  The Child Labor Unit is charged 
with conducting inspections; informing employers, parents, 
and children who solicit work permits of their rights and 
responsibilities; soliciting sanctions from the Inspection 
Directorate; coordinating with the Ministry of Youth, Women, 
Children, and Family in child labor cases; and collaborating 
and participating in studies. 
 
 
-  The GOP also uses or gives authority to the Committee for 
the Eradication of Child Labor and the Protection of Child 
Workers, the Network of Security and Health Against Unhealthy 
and Dangerous Child Labor, the Technical Judicial Police's 
Sex Crime Unit, and the Public Ministry's Sex Crimes 
Prosecutor's Office. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
      3.  What are the mechanisms for receiving, 
investigating, and addressing child labor complaints? 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
 
-  The Child Labor Unit of the National Labor Inspection 
Directorate investigates complaints and violations as follows: 
 
 
a.  A complaint is received, either from the child, a 
guardian, or other person involved. 
 
 
b.  The complaint is sent to the Labor Inspector to determine 
if any laws have been broken. 
 
 
c.  If a law has been broken, the Labor Inspector makes 
recommendations to fix the problem. 
 
 
d.  A follow-up investigation is performed to determine if 
the recommendations were implemented. 
e.  If not, the Inspector turns the case over to the 
judiciary for action. 
 
 
-  The Child Labor Unit has a hotline for complaints. 
According to ILO/IPEC, the Child Labor Unit accomplishes its 
job under difficult conditions, since the Child Labor Office 
lacks privacy and the interviewer needs to ask others to 
leave in order to take a complaint. 
 
 
-  The GOP is working with ILO/IPEC to create a procedures 
manual for cases involving child household servant labor 
because, among other complicating factors, the cases involve 
personal residences. 
 
 
- With respect to commercial sexual exploitation of children, 
The Technical Judicial Police's Sex Crimes Unit receives 
complaints.  The Sex Crimes Unit has social workers and 
psychologists who interview minors.  Under the new Law 16 
(see above), the GOP can conduct its own investigations 
without receiving a formal complaint.  If a complaint is made 
or an individual is charged, the Public Ministry's Sex Crimes 
Prosecutor coordinates the case.  In sexual abuse cases, 
minors are also interviewed by a psychologist and a 
psychiatrist at the GOP's Forensic Center.  The Forensic 
Center lacks a separate victims reception area, so victims 
wait in the same room with criminals sent for examinations. 
If the psychologist or psychiatrist determines that a minor 
is medically unable to continue being questioned, the 
Prosecutor cannot talk to the victim.  The case can still be 
prosecuted based on the evidence already collected, including 
the examinations by social workers, psychologists, and 
psychiatrists. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
      4.  What level of resources does the GOP 
devote to investigating exploitative 
child labor cases throughout the country? 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
 
            a. Technical and Human Resources: 
 
 
-  The Child Labor Unit has an interdisciplinary team 
composed of three social workers, one psychologist, and three 
child labor inspectors.  The Child Labor Unit also has the 
help of 10-15 inspectors from other departments for raids in 
the urban and rural areas. 
 
 
            b. Information Resources: 
 
 
-  The Child Labor Unit has two computers, two printers, one 
telephone line, and one internet line.  The Unit also has an 
additional computer that is used to maintain a child labor 
database for Panama.  The Unit has many books about child 
labor, legislation, statistics, and national and regional 
action plans. 
 
 
            c.  Economic Resources: 
 
 
-  The GOP funds inspection trips to potential and probable 
child labor areas within Panama and the monthly salaries of 
inspectors, social workers, psychologist, secretaries, and 
statistic technicians. 
 
 
-  Of the $599,659 that the Government of Panama estimates as 
its contribution of the Country Program to Eradicate Child 
Labor (the ILO/IPEC Program funded through DOL discussed 
above), approximately $173,901 are budgeted for direct action 
programs, which include investigation and development of 1000 
cases of the most dangerous forms of child labor. 
 
 
-  According to ILO/IPEC, the Technical Judicial Police and 
the Public Ministry spends approximately $8,000-$10,000 per 
month on the investigation of sexual exploitation cases in 
general. 
 
 
-  According to ILO/IPEC, the Technical Judicial Police 
estimates that the GOP's program to implement Law 16 (see 
above) by investigating commercial sex crimes (both child and 
adult) will cost $958,690.  This program is not yet funded. 
 
 
 
 
------------------------------------------ 
      5.  How many child labor inspections 
are conducted annually in Panama? 
------------------------------------------ 
 
 
-  From October 2003 to May 2004, the Child Labor Unit 
conducted 130 routine inspections of children working, 
interviewed 418 minors, reviewed 356 requests for work 
authorizatioon, and granted 89 requests for work 
authorization. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
      6.    How many inspections have resulted in 
fines, penalties, or convictions in Panama? 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
 
-  The GOP's penalty regime for child labor is directed at 
the formal sector and fining businesses.  However, according 
to a 2003 analysis by ILO/IPEC of the GOP Statistics Office's 
2000 Survey of Child Labor, more than half of the children 
and adolescents employed in Panama are employed in the 
informal or semi-formal sectors. 
 
 
-  In the half year period from September 2003 to February 
2003, the Child Labor Unit requested penalties from the 
Inspection Directorate against five businesses for child 
labor violations.  The Inspection Directorate fined two of 
the businesses and dismissed the other two cases for lack of 
documentation. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
      7.    Has the GOP provided awareness raising 
and/or training activities for government 
officials in charge of enforcing child labor laws? 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
 
-  The GOP has trained its personnel in the following 
subjects through forums, workshops, classes, meetings, and 
conferences: 
 
 
a.  Domestic child workers from the perspective of different 
churches; 
 
 
b.  Treatment of child victims of sexual exploitation; 
 
 
c.  Second Report regarding the Implementation of the 
Convention of the Rights of the Child before the National 
Committee of Children's Rights; 
 
 
d.  Creation of the Network of Security and Health in 
Dangerous Child Work in Latin America (regional); 
 
 
e.  Child Domestic Work (11 sensitivity workshops); 
 
 
f.  Creation of the Network for Security and Health in 
Dangerous Child Work; 
 
 
g.  Child commercial sexual exploitation (four sensitivity 
workshops); 
 
 
h.  Progressive elimination of child labor in Panama; 
 
 
i.  National Legislation related to child domestic work with 
ILO/IPEC, the Ombudsman's Office, and the Ministry of Labor; 
 
 
j.  Intervention in Child Commercial Sexual Exploitation with 
ILO/IPEC and the Ministry of Youth, Women, Children, and 
Family; 
 
 
k.  Study with ILO/IPEC regarding child packers in 
supermarkets and meeting with supermarket management; 
 
 
l.  Child Labor in its Worst Forms; and 
 
 
m.  Coffee growers and indigenous comarcal authorities 
(meetings). 
 
 
 
 
-  The judiciary, the Public Ministry, the National Police, 
and the Ministry of Labor have participated in the above 
training. 
 
 
-  The GOP has also been training the National Technical 
Police, the Public Ministry, The Judiciary, the Ministry of 
Youth, Women, Children, and the Family, the Ministry of 
Health, the Ministry of Education, and non-governmental 
organizations in the new Law 16 (see above) regarding child 
sexual exploitation.  In July 2004, the GOP, with assistance 
from the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Inspection 
and ILO/IPEC, conducted two, week-long training programs for 
the Judicial Technical Police in child sexual exploitation. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
C.  Do social programs exist in Panama to 
prevent the engagement of children in the worst 
forms of child labor and to assist in the removal 
of children engaged in the worst forms of child 
labor? 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
 
-  The Ministry of Youth, Women, Children, and Family 
maintains training and assistance centers for children living 
in urban and rural areas.  The centers provide health care, 
educational opportunities, and vocational and social skills 
training to children and their families in an effort to 
prevent child labor. 
 
 
-  The Ministry of Education conducts a program for youth in 
the provinces of Panama and Colon called, In Search of a 
Better Tomorrow, which aims to encourage children to finish 
primary school. 
 
 
- The NGO Casa Esperanza, which receives about 3% of its 
budget from the GOP, contacted 1,344 children and adolescent 
workers in the provinces of Panama, Colon, Cocle and Chiriqui 
in 2003.  In August 2004, Casa Esperanza announced that 
during the past four years, it had retired 1,000 children 
under the age of 14 from work in 13 different coffee 
plantations. 
 
 
- The Subcommittee for Eradication of Child Labor in Veraguas 
removed nine children from domestic work between March and 
July 2004 (see above). 
 
 
- Primary schooling is widely available in Panama.  Primary 
schools can usually be found even in small, remote villages. 
 
 
- School is compulsory for all children through grade 6 and 
available publicly through grade 12. 
 
 
- Primary and secondary education in Panama is free, but many 
rural areas do not have access to secondary education, and 
the GOP does not cover transportation costs. 
 
 
-  In 2003, according to the GOP Statistics Office, 419,903 
students enrolled in primary school in Panama.  413,067 
finished the school year. 
 
 
-  As part of the Country Program to Eliminate Child Labor 
(see above), in 2004 ILO/IPEC surveyed 515 child and 
adolescent workers not employed as domestics in two urban 
areas of Panama.  Only 391 (70.1%) of the surveyed attend 
school.  Girls attended at a higher level than boys.  For 
5-14 year olds, 13.7% did not attend school.  47.7% of boys 
and 62.5% of girls between the ages of 15-17 did not attend 
school.  Approximately one half of the children and 
adolescents surveyed stated that they worked all day, 
suggesting that they worked full time and went to school 
simultaneously. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
D.  Does Panama have a comprehensive policy to 
eliminate of the worst forms of child labor? 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
 
-  Through the Country Program for Combating the Worst Forms 
of Child Labor in Panama (funded by USDOL), the GOP is 
working to create a program document and to identify the 
worst forms of child labor.  ILO/IPEC expects the GOP will 
have identified the worst forms of child labor by December 
2004, even accounting for delays because of the change in 
government on September 1. 
 
 
-  The GOP's policy to eliminate child labor includes not 
just the Ministry of Labor, but also the Ministry of 
Education; the Ministry of Health; the Ministry of Youth, 
Women, Family, and Children; the Technical Judicial Police's 
Sex Crimes Unit; the Public Ministry's Sex Crime Prosecutor; 
other ministries; a national commission; a national network; 
a national committee; churches; and nonprofit organizations. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
E.  Is Panama making continual progress toward 
eliminating the worst forms of child labor? 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
 
-  The child labor situation in Panama includes commercial 
sexual exploitation, agricultural labor, child labor as 
domestics, and urban work by grocery car washers, grocery 
baggers, and bus assistants. 
 
 
-  A survey of Child Labor by the GOP Statistics Office in 
October 2000, indicated that 7.6% (57,524) of children 
between the ages of 5 and 17 are economically active with 
83.4% of them employed and 16.6% of them unemployed.  Of 
those employed, 76.8% were boys and 23.1% were girls. 
 
 
-  As discussed above, in 2004 the GOP made progress toward 
eliminating the worst forms of child labor through its work 
with ILO/IPEC to begin identifying the worst forms of child 
labor; by enacting Law 16 on March 31, 2004 and training the 
Technical Judicial Police and other agencies in this law; by 
creating the Subcommittee for the Eradication of Child labor 
in Veraguas province to combat child labor as domestics; and 
by studying the problem of child labor in two urban areas. 
 
 
-  The GOP supported DOL efforts to begin a Child Labor 
Education Initiative Program in Panama in the agricultural 
sector.  An NGO, partially funded by the GOP, continued to 
remove children from agricultural labor.  The Ministry of 
Youth, Women, Family, and Children maintained its training 
and assistance centers. 
 
 
WATT