VZCZCXYZ0022
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGT #0067/01 0231225
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 231225Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA
TO RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6834
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0882

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 000067 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER 
DEPT FOR DRL/ILCSR FOR TU DANG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI USAID PGOV GT
SUBJECT: GUATEMALA'S CHILD LABOR INFORMATION FOR TDA 2008 
REPORT 
 
REF: A. 08 STATE 127448 
     ¶B. 08 GUATEMALA 54 
     ¶C. 08 GUATEMALA 693 
     ¶D. 08 GUATEMALA 100 
 
The following information updates 2007 information (refs B, 
D) on the worst forms of child labor.  Responses are keyed to 
Ref A. 
 
¶A. Laws and regulations proscribing the worst forms of child 
labor: 
 
The Guatemalan government did not promulgate any new laws on 
child labor in 2008.  The Guatemalan Labor Code sets the 
minimum age for employment at 14 years.  Article 150 of the 
Labor Code establishes that in exceptional cases the Labor 
Inspectorate may authorize children under the age of 14 to 
work.  To grant such authorization, the Labor Inspectorate 
must verify that: the child will work in an apprenticeship, 
or that employment is necessary due to the parents' extreme 
poverty; that the work is not excessive in length or 
intensity; and that it does not interfere with the child's 
educational obligations. 
 
While the law permits such authorizations, the Ministry of 
Labor (MOL) made a commitment, in accordance with ILO 
Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, not to 
provide such authorizations.  In keeping with this 
commitment, the Labor Inspectorate reported that it had not 
made any such authorizations in 2008. 
 
Children under 18 years of age are prohibited from employment 
in hazardous occupations and conditions considered the worst 
forms of child lbor contained in Executive Order 250-2006 
(Regultion for the Application of ILO Convention 182 
regarding the Worst Forms of Child Labor and Immediate Action 
for its Elimination). 
 
The legal workday for children under the age of 14 is capped 
at six hours per day and 36 hours per week, and they are 
prohibited from working at night, overtime, or in dangerous 
occupations.  No one under the age of 18 is authorized to 
perform hazardous work, without exception. 
 
The worst forms of child labor under ILO Convention 182, 
which was ratified by Guatemala, include all forms of slavery 
or similar practices, such as the sale and trafficking of 
children, debt bondage, and forced labor including forced or 
compulsory recruitment of children for armed conflict; the 
use, procurement or offer of children for prostitution, the 
production of pornography or pornographic performances; and 
the use, procurement or offer of children for illicit 
activities; and all work that is likely to harm the health, 
safety or morals of children. 
 
The minimum age for military recruitment is 18 years. 
Military service is voluntary. 
 
Guatemala's child labor laws are consistent with ILO 
standards.  Guatemala ratified ILO Convention 182 and has 
developed a list of occupations considered to be the worst 
forms of child labor, as called for in the Convention. 
 
¶B. Regulations for implementation and enforcement of 
proscriptions against the worst forms of child labor: 
 
Executive Order 250-2006 establishes administrative, civil 
and criminal penalties for the employment of anyone under the 
age of 18 in hazardous work.  Civil fines and administrative 
remedies are available to government agencies that enforce 
child labor laws.  The Labor Code mandates sanctions for 
violations of labor laws, including child labor provisions. 
The Penal Code criminalizes all forms of trafficking, defines 
the categories of perpetrators of trafficking offenses, and 
establishes prison terms of six to 12 years for persons found 
guilty of trafficking. 
 
The Child Workers Protection Unit of the MOL is charged with 
implementing and enforcing child labor laws and educating 
Qimplementing and enforcing child labor laws and educating 
minors, parents, and employers on the rights of minors in the 
labor market.  However, like most Guatemalan government 
entities, the unit lacked resources to adequately punish and 
deter violations.  The extent to which complaints were 
investigated and violations prosecuted was limited due to 
Guatemala's weak labor inspection and labor court systems. 
 
The 2008 budget for the Child Workers Protection Unit was 
Q110,000 (approx. USD 14,193.55), including Q60,000 (approx. 
 
USD 7,741.94) provided by Save the Children/Norway.  The MOL 
employed 245 labor inspectors, including six inspectors 
dedicated to child labor.  It has 28 labor courts -- 25 
lower-level courts (eight in the capital dedicated to labor 
cases and 17 outside the capital for both labor and family 
law cases), and three appellate courts.  An additional seven 
lower-level courts handle labor cases.  (Note: The Ministry 
of Labor plans to open eight additional lower-level labor 
courts in March 2009.  End Note.)  The National Civil Police 
has a unit of approximately ten officers dedicated to 
investigating cases involving child crime victims, including 
victims of child labor. 
 
The Public Ministry worked with the NGO End Child 
Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children 
for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT/Guatemala) to train government 
officials on crimes of sexual and commercial exploitation 
with an emphasis on trafficking of children.  ECPAT/Guatemala 
provided awareness-raising training to more than 320 tourism 
and law-enforcement officials nationwide. 
 
¶C. Social programs specifically designed to prevent and 
withdraw children from the worst forms of child labor: 
 
The Defense of Children's Rights Unit of the Human Rights 
Ombudsman's Office and the Social Welfare Secretariat of the 
President's Office are charged with preventing and 
withdrawing children from exploitative situations. 
 
While the government does not specifically incorporate child 
labor as an issue in social policies or programs, the 
government's cash transfer program (My Family Progresses) 
provides conditioned payments on a monthly basis to parents 
in exchange for their children's school attendance and 
vaccinations.  According to the GOG, as of October, 49,921 
families in extreme poverty had benefited under this program, 
and a study conducted in nine municipalities showed that 
3,700 students had returned to school.  The Child Workers 
Protection Unit also implemented an ILO-funded program in the 
department of San Marcos, a predominantly indigenous, poor 
area in western Guatemala, to prevent female minors from 
working as domestic child laborers. 
 
In collaboration with NGO Casa Alianza, which provided 
shelter and social support for street children and child 
victims of abuse, the government conducted 15 raids through 
the end of September, which resulted in the rescue of 24 
sexually exploited minors under age 18.  (Note: Casa Alianza 
closed its Guatemala operations on January 16 due to lack of 
funding.  End Note.)  The Secretariat of Social Welfare 
attended to 504 child protection cases, including cases of 
sexually exploited minors. 
 
The ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child 
Labor (IPEC) continued operating programs to combat 
commercial sexual exploitation of children.  The programs 
helped government and local organizations in strengthening 
legislation, policies and programs. 
 
¶D. Comprehensive policy aimed at the elimination of the worst 
forms of child labor: 
 
The Guatemalan government established an inter-institutional 
National Commission for the Prevention and Elimination of 
Child Labor in 2002 and has made a public commitment to 
eradicate the worst forms of child labor.  The Commission and 
the MOL's Child Workers Protection Unit, with the help of 
Save the Children/Norway, executed a program to strengthen 
the Executive Secretariats for the Prevention and Elimination 
of Child Labor in the departments of Guatemala, Solola, 
Huehuetenango, Quiche, San Marcos and Totonicapan. 
QHuehuetenango, Quiche, San Marcos and Totonicapan. 
 
Guatemala is a signatory to the Hemispheric Agenda of the 
Americas, which obligates the GOG to eradicate the worst 
forms of child labor by the year 2015 and all child labor by 
the year 2020.  On December 9, the GOG renewed its Memorandum 
of Understanding with the ILO for the continued 
implementation of IPEC. 
 
The constitution and law provide for free compulsory 
education for all children up to the ninth grade.  However, 
less than half the population over the age of 13 had 
completed primary education.  Ministry of Education 
statistics for 2007, the most recent available, reported that 
42 percent of children who entered first grade completed 
sixth grade, and 45 percent of those entering seventh grade 
completed the ninth grade.  Completion rates were lower in 
rural and indigenous areas.  While on average non-indigenous 
 
children between 7 and 17 years of age had received 4.4 years 
of schooling, indigenous children of the same age had 
received 3.7 years, according to the National Statistics 
Institute's 2006 National Survey on Life Conditions (ENCOVI). 
 
 
¶E. Progress toward eliminating the worst forms of child labor: 
 
Guatemala is making slow but continual progress toward 
eliminating the worst forms of child labor.  The majority of 
child labor in Guatemala continued to occur in rural 
indigenous areas where economic necessity forced children to 
supplement family income.  The informal and agricultural 
sectors employed children below 14 years of age, usually in 
small family enterprises.  There were credible reports that 
child labor was used in fireworks, gravel, sugar and flower 
production, food processing and harvesting of fresh produce. 
The Labor Inspectorate implemented an operational plan in 
November in the fireworks industry and reportedly made 
advances in the prevention of child labor in this sector. 
The MOL estimated that approximately 3,700 children were 
employed in fireworks production.  According to credible 
estimates, approximately 75 percent of Guatemala's workforce 
is employed in the informal sector. 
 
The Child Workers Protection Unit reported that in 2008 a 
total of 1,025 adolescents (695 boys and 330 girls) 14 to 17 
years of age requested permission to work.  According to the 
2006 ENCOVI report, the most recent available, an estimated 
528,000 children between ages 5 and 14 worked in Guatemala. 
Child labor was more prevalent in rural areas (67 percent) 
than in urban areas (33 percent).  The majority worked in 
western Guatemala, with an estimated 33.2 percent in the 
country's southwest region and 19.8 percent in the northwest 
region.  Thirty-two percent of child workers between 10 and 
14 years of age did not attend school, and almost half of 
children between the ages of 5 and 17 who worked did not 
attend school.  Child labor was concentrated in the 
agriculture, cattle, hunting and fishing industries (55.5 
percent of child laborers between 5 and 17 years of age). 
Almost 70 percent of child laborers between 5 and 17 years of 
age were considered to be living in poverty (47.1 percent) or 
extreme poverty (22.6 percent), and 83.3 percent of child 
laborers living in extreme poverty were residing in rural 
areas. 
McFarland