US embassy cable - 05TEGUCIGALPA2172

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEGUCIGALPA 002172 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR DRL/IL (GRIGG), EB, WHA/PPC, AND WHA/CEN 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAM 
DOL FOR ILAB (EMUIRRAGUI) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB, EIND, ETRD, PHUM, SOCI, EAID, PGOV, HO 
SUBJECT: CHILD LABOR IN HONDURAS: INFORMATION FOR THE TRADE 
AND DEVELOPMENT ACT (GSP) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS 
 
REF: STATE 143552 
 
1. Summary.  Over the past several months, EmbOffs have 
spoken with government officials, private sector, labor 
unions, non-governmental organizations, and child advocates 
regarding the situation of child labor in Honduras.  The 
Embassy has been active in promoting an agenda to support 
the eradication of the worst forms of child labor.   Post 
believes that child labor is a serious problem in Honduras 
and will continue to pressure government and private sector 
stakeholders to eradicate the worst forms of child labor. 
The Government of Honduras (GOH) and the Ministry of Labor 
have demonstrated the political will necessary to implement 
and uphold their obligations to eliminate the worst forms of 
child labor, but progress has been slow.  The formal export 
manufacturing sector has a relatively good record on child 
labor, the informal and agricultural sectors do not. 
Answers below generally follow the subjects specified in ref 
A.  End Summary. 
 
----------------------- 
CHILD LABOR IN HONDURAS 
----------------------- 
 
2. The most recent survey by the Honduran National Institute 
of Statistics, financed by the U.S. Department of Labor 
through the International Labor Organization (ILO)-managed 
by the International Program on the Elimination of Child 
Labor (IPEC) program SIMPOC, in 2004 determined that 
approximately 359,752 children (or 14 percent of children) 
between the ages of 5 and 18 work either part-time or full- 
time in Honduras, the majority for their own families, in 
the informal sector and in rural areas.  Of the 359,752 
children, 76 percent are boys (almost three times as many in 
rural areas as urban), and 24 percent are female (with no 
noticeable disparity between urban and rural).  Sixty-eight 
percent live in rural areas and the remaining 32 percent are 
in the urban areas.  According to INE, in 2002 61.2 percent 
worked unpaid for their families, while 27.6 percent  were 
paid for work outside their families.  Many of these 
children work out of economic necessity alongside other 
family members.  The figure of 359,752 children is slightly 
down from 2002 estimates of 367,405 children. 
 
3. Bonded and/or enslaved labor are rare, but work in 
hazardous conditions and for long hours is common, 
especially for those children who have given up schooling. 
The largely U.S.-funded ILO/IPEC identified the worst forms 
of child labor in Honduras as commercial sexual 
exploitation/prostitution (particularly in tourist areas 
along the North Coast), fireworks industry workers in Copan, 
child divers on lobster boats in the Mosquitia (Caribbean 
coast), limestone quarry and lime production workers, 
garbage dump pickers in the two largest cities of 
Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, and coffee and melon 
agricultural workers.  Of these occupations, the most 
hazardous is diving, and the one with the most significant 
incidence of child labor is in the agriculture industry, 
where NGOs and the GOH previously estimated that 
approximately 2,000 children worked as seasonal laborers for 
melon production.  Harvesting sugar cane fields is also a 
dangerous area of child labor.  The NGO Casa Alianza 
documented more than 1,000 minors in Honduras that were the 
victims of commercial sexual exploitation in 2003.  Casa 
Alianza also recently conducted a study in 20 cities of 
Honduras and found that 10,000 children were either victims 
of sexual exploitation crimes and/or trafficking in persons 
(the vast majority of the victims were girls; only 400 of 
the children were boys).  Casa Alianza is beginning a 
regional project that would investigate trafficking of 
children and help reintegrate them. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
PROSCRIBING WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR 
-------------------------------------- 
 
4. Honduras has adequate laws and regulations proscribing 
the worst forms of child labor.  The Honduran Congress 
ratified ILO Convention 182 in May 2001 and Honduras became 
a party to the convention in June 2001.  The definitions of 
the worst forms of child labor are identical to that of the 
ILO Convention 182.  All child labor laws, including the ILO 
Convention 182, are applicable in all sectors and 
industries. 
 
5. Honduras regulates child labor in the Constitution and in 
two codes, one relating to minors, and the other to labor. 
The Constitution (Chapter 5, article 128, section 7) 
establishes that minors under age 16 or who are students 
ages 16 and older cannot work, unless authorities determine 
it is indispensable for the family's income and will not 
conflict with schooling.  The Constitution also establishes 
the maximum hours worked for children under 17 years as six 
hours daily and 30 hours weekly.  Under the 1996 Child and 
Adolescent Code parents or a legal guardian can request the 
Ministry of Labor (MOL) for special permission to allow 
children ages 14-15 to work, as long as the Ministry of 
Labor performs a home study to assure that the child both 
shows the need to work and will be working under non- 
hazardous conditions.  The maximum workday permitted for 
children is four hours per day for 14-15 year-olds, and six 
hours per day for 16-17 year-olds.  No child under age 16 is 
allowed to work in hazardous conditions.  No minor is 
allowed to work in undersea fishing or work abroad.  By, the 
Ministry of Labor is required to carry out home studies and 
limit the number of permits that can be issued to children 
ages 14-15.  In practice, the MOL is limited in its ability 
to conduct home studies.  The Labor Code, passed in 1959 and 
subsequently revised, prohibits night work and overtime for 
minors under age 16, and also requires that employers in 
areas with more than 20 school-aged children on their farm, 
ranch, or business must provide a location for a school.  In 
practice, the vast majority of children work without going 
to the Ministry of Labor to request a permit, particularly 
those who work in the informal sector and in rural areas. 
 
6. International treaties supercede  the Constitution. 
Honduras is a party to ILO Convention 138, which was 
ratified in 1980.  Convention 138 establishes the minimum 
age of work at 14 years and specifies the minimum age for 
completing educational requirements at 15 years, or 14 years 
in the case of developing countries.  The United Nations 
Convention on the Rights of Children, ratified by Honduras 
in 1990, requires each signatory government to establish a 
minimum age of work, conditions and hours of work, and 
penalties to assure effective application of the law.  The 
1996 Child and Adolescent Code was based on the UN 
Convention, according to the Ministry of Labor. 
 
7. Honduran law defines hazardous work to include the 
following: standing on scaffolding higher than three meters; 
use of toxic or noxious substances; exposure to vehicular 
traffic; exposure to abnormal temperatures; work in tunnels 
or underground mining; exposure to noise louder than 80 
decibels; manipulation of radioactive substances; exposure 
to high voltage electric currents; underwater diving; 
exposure to garbage or to biological or pathogenic 
substances; painting with industrial or lead paint; work on 
dangerous machines such as those that cut, shape, or file 
metal or wood; activities related to ovens, smelters, metal- 
working, or heavy presses; and/or high-risk agro-industrial 
work. 
 
8. The minimum age for employment is consistent with the age 
for completing educational requirements in law, but in 
practice, approximately 56 percent of children do not 
complete sixth grade, despite GOH increased spending on 
educational budgets and improvement to school access in 
rural areas. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT MECHANISMS 
----------------------------------------- 
 
9. The laws and regulations regarding child labor are better 
implemented in urban areas than in rural areas.  A rural 
economy in which a significant portion of employment is in 
the informal sector and in which parents face high 
opportunity costs to send children to school (often there is 
a lack of available schooling) makes it difficult to 
implement and enforce these measures against child labor. 
In large-scale manufacturing and services, however, 
implementation and enforcement of these measures are more 
consistent.  National enforcement remedies are not adequate 
to punish or deter violations, but pressure from 
international agreements, such as the Generalized System of 
Preferences (GSP) and Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act 
(CBTPA), the signed and ratified but not yet implemented, 
U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and 
awareness of the Department of Homeland Security's 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS/ICE) Forced Child 
Labor program, have sensitized employers who work in the 
export sector.  Post invited a DHS/ICE Forced Child Labor 
expert to come to Honduras in August, where he spoke at two 
conferences in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula sponsored by 
ILO/IPEC and the Honduran Private Business Council (COHEP). 
The conferences had wide attendance from business 
associations. 
 
10. Regarding the worst forms of child labor, the GOH has 
not established enforcement or penalties beyond those 
mentioned above and - for child labor in illicit activities 
- in the criminal code.  Penalties imposed on firms for 
violating the Child and Adolescent Code include sanctions 
between USD 265 and 1,323 (5,000-25,000 Lempiras), or twice 
that if the employer is a repeat offender.  For sale or 
trafficking of children, the criminal code prohibits illegal 
detention of minors and imposes a 14-18 year prison 
sentence.  Forced child labor, prostitution, and other 
immoral activities are characterized as economic 
exploitation in the Child and Adolescent Code and are 
subject to a three to five year prison term.  Furthermore, 
the criminal code specifies a seven to 12 year sentence, and 
a USD 397 to 794 (7,500-15,000 Lempiras) fine for persons 
found guilty of prostituting minors.  Adults who use 
children in narcotrafficking are sanctioned according to the 
Law on the Illicit Use and Trafficking of Psychotropic 
Drugs. 
 
11. The GOH has yet to publish in La Gaceta (equivalent to 
the Federal Register) the reformed Chapter 2 (regarding 
sexual exploitation) of the Penal Code.  The new amendments 
to the law are significant since they increase penalties in 
the years of imprisonment and impose larger fines, as well 
as expand the punishable offenses.  The law's passage is a 
significant step towards combating the worst forms of child 
labor. 
 
12. In theory, if children are found to be working in 
illicit conditions, either through a labor inspection or 
through a police investigation, the Public Ministry's 
Special Prosecutor for Children, founded in 1997, works with 
the investigative police to gather evidence and bring the 
perpetrators to trial.  The Special Prosecutor for Children 
conducts joint operations with the police, the Honduran 
Institute for Children and the Family (IHNFA), judges, and 
the NGO Casa Alianza to try to rescue children that are 
victims of commercial sexual exploitation and to arrest and 
subsequently prosecute the offenders.  The judicial branch 
has also established Children Courts, where violations of 
children's rights are tried.  In practice, the Honduran 
police and judicial system are rife with inefficiencies and 
corruption and face many difficulties in administering 
justice.  Nonetheless, the GOH has begun to improve its 
police force and recently implemented a new modern criminal 
procedures code that is intended to improve the Government's 
ability to bring cases to trial and to administer justice. 
 
13. For children employed in the worst forms of child labor 
that are not illicit by their nature, but are hazardous or 
illegal for minors, the authority that would investigate 
such cases is the Ministry of Labor, which has trained 
inspectors to identify child labor.  Labor inspectors, upon 
being told of a violation or in a routine inspection, report 
the incident for administrative action.  The inspection unit 
cannot immediately sanction employers, and the Ministry has 
only 119 inspectors (102 general labor inspectors, and 17 
occupational safety and health inspectors) in a country of 
approximately 7 million people.  (Note:  Even more than most 
government ministries, a severe lack of resources restricts 
what the MOL is able to accomplish.  End Note.)  The MOL has 
also cooperated with the Honduran Private Business Council 
(COHEP) to conduct education campaigns among private 
industries to increase business awareness of the worst forms 
of child labor.  Early in 2001 the Minister of Labor 
personally directed a special inspection of the melon 
industry in order to uncover the incidence of abuse in that 
sector.  Since then, Minister German Leitzelar has visited 
Choluteca several times to observe the problems of child 
labor in the melon and sugar cane industries. 
 
14. In addition, lobster diving has been identified as one 
of the most hazardous occupations employing children in 
Honduras.  Lobster divers who have sustained injuries while 
diving have formed their own organization, the Honduran 
Mosquitia Association of Handicapped Divers, to push for 
improved conditions.  In March, this association, together 
with other Mosquitia organizations, brought a complaint 
against the GOH to the Inter-American Commission on Human 
Rights.  As a result, Honduran press coverage of health and 
safety risks in this industry increased.  The former Vice 
Minister of Agriculture stated that a complete ban on 
lobster diving is the only viable solution to the violations 
of worker safety regulations in the industry.  The ban was 
debated by an inter-ministerial committee with 
representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture, Labor, 
Trade and Industry, Governance and Justice, and Education. 
There have been two concrete actions by the inter- 
ministerial committee in regards to lobster diving: (1) 
installation of a decompression chamber, and (2) health 
checks for divers conducted by the Ministry of Health. 
 
--------------------- 
WHAT DOES THE GOH DO? 
--------------------- 
 
15. The Government provides free, universal, and compulsory 
education through the age of 13; however, in 2004 the 
Government estimated that as many as 237,245 children ages 5- 
13 fail to receive schooling of any kind each year.  (The 
total national population of children ages 5-18 as of 2004 
is 2,630,305.)  Keeping students in school is one of the 
largest problems facing the education system in Honduras. 
Though there is high enrollment at the early primary level, 
dropout rates increase dramatically from one grade to the 
next.  According to the 2002 INE study, only 1 in 2 Honduran 
students makes it to the sixth grade, a dismal 1 in 5 reach 
the ninth grade, and less than 1 in 10 reach twelfth grade; 
only 1 in 3 students makes it to sixth grade in 6 years, and 
less than 1 in 10 makes it to ninth grade in 9 years. 
According to the 2004 study by INE, only 21 percent of 
children between 16 and 18 years of age are currently in 
school.  Educational achievement in Honduras, whether 
measured by enrollment or by test results, is well below the 
regional average.  As of 2004, the average Honduran woman 
has approximately 4.7 years of primary education, and the 
average man has approximately 4.9 years of primary 
education.  As of 2003, only 25.4 percent of the adult 
population had at least some secondary or tertiary 
education, compared to the Latin American average of 35 
percent. 
 
16. A number of social and educational programs exist that 
are intended to reach children at risk for working instead 
of attending school.  A school grant program run by the 
Ministry of Education provides very poor families with money 
for school supplies.  The Ministry of Education also 
provides alternative schooling by radio and long-distance 
learning for children in distant rural areas with few 
schools.  Regional committees of "Child Defense" volunteers 
try to convince parents to send their children to school. 
Nonetheless, extreme poverty, occasional famine in some 
rural areas, and lack of jobs for grade school and high 
school graduates create an atmosphere where government 
incentives or programs have not yet impacted the flow of 
working children. 
 
17. The National Commission for the Gradual and Progressive 
Eradication of Child Labor, established by decree by former 
President Carlos Flores in 1998 and maintained by current 
President Ricardo Maduro (who swore in a new commission in 
May 2002), provides a tripartite working group in which 
civil society (including the ILO/IPEC, unions, and NGOs), 
employer groups, and a number of government ministries have 
been able to discuss child labor issues over the past 
several years.  The Commission created a social dialogue and 
forum for negotiation between the groups, resulting in broad 
support for the ratification of ILO Convention 182, the 
development of a National Action Plan for the Gradual and 
Progressive Eradication of Child Labor, and the Regulations 
on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, which were drafted by the 
Commission and passed by Congress in December 2001. 
Furthermore, the Commission spawned seven inter- 
institutional sub-committees throughout the country that 
work in a tripartite fashion to develop strategies to 
eliminate child labor in Honduras.  Maduro's Minister of 
Labor, German Leitzelar - a labor lawyer by profession - has 
continued to increase the ministry's work combating child 
labor.  The U.S. Department of Labor-funded Cumple y Gana 
recently donated a mobile inspection unit truck to the 
Honduran Ministry of Labor that will act as a labor 
investigative unit which should help address, identify, and 
lessen child labor. 
 
18. The MOL also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with 
the ILO in 1997 to support the ILO/IPEC program, which 
initiated program activities in the melon and coffee 
sectors.  These programs have since expanded to cover 
lobster divers, garbage dumps, domestic workers, and the 
commercial sexual exploitation of children.  According to 
ILO/IPEC, Casa Alianza, and INE, there were over 20,000 
girls in June 2004 that were working as domestic servants. 
The MOL also established its own office on the Gradual and 
Progressive Eradication of Child Labor.  In September 2005, 
the municipality of Tegucigalpa ordered that children are 
prohibited from entering city landfills.  This decision came 
mainly as a result of the work of ILO/IPEC through its 
Project for Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor in 
Landfills in Tegucigalpa.  The project helps the 250 
children who  work in landfills and assists in integration, 
especially into proper education. 
 
19. The Department of Labor (through ILO/IPEC as well as the 
Proyecto Aprendo through CARE and Catholic Relief Services), 
as well as UNICEF, support several projects to promote the 
eradication of the worst forms of child labor, including by 
promoting school attendance.  In general, these projects aim 
to remove children from or prevent children from 
exploitative work, and aim to provide educational 
opportunities and social services for children and their 
families. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
20. The MOL has demonstrated the will given limited 
resources to combat the child labor problem.  Post continues 
to seek greater overall GOH support for MOL and Ministry of 
Education activities to combat child labor and increase 
educational opportunities with the Poverty Reduction 
Strategy.  The industry group, COHEP, has recently had 
renewed vigor to participate in the tripartite commission 
and to educate its own members on the importance of adhering 
to the ILO Convention 182.  Post notes that this reawakened 
commitment came on the heels of the 2001 visit of the USTR- 
led interagency delegation to Honduras for the purpose of 
discussing labor conditions and as a result of which the 
delegation determined that the situation in Honduras did not 
warrant opening a review of CBTPA benefits.  However, 
COHEP's commitment has continued over the past several 
years.  The Embassy continues to work with the government, 
NGOs, and the private sector to send the message that the 
worst forms of child labor are detrimental to business with 
the U.S. and could subject offending sectors to U.S. 
sanctions.  ILO/IPEC has pushed for greater efforts to 
combat child labor under the Poverty Reduction Strategy 
Paper, especially important given recent international debt 
relief that frees up additional funds for poverty reduction 
programs.  Strong Honduran interest in CAFTA is clearly a 
motivating factor for the GOH and the private sector to 
accelerate efforts to eradicate the worst forms of child 
labor. 
 
21. Child labor and failure to educate children remain 
significant problems in Honduras and significant impediments 
to improving the lot of the Honduran people.  While 
nominally compulsory, education is expensive and out of 
reach for many of the poor, who are generally required to 
buy their own school supplies and uniforms.  Coupled with a 
bloated educational bureaucracy that appears to value jobs 
for its members over education for the students, these 
expenses are enough to convince many poor parents that it is 
better to get some small income out of their children than 
to "waste time" going to school.  In sum, Post believes that 
although the GOH is making progress toward the elimination 
of the worst forms of child labor, it will not achieve this 
goal in the vast rural sector until it commits the resources 
to make universal education a practical reality for its 
poorest citizens.  End Comment. 
 
Williard