VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #1609/01 2052003
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 242003Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7061
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS MANAGUA 001609 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN AND DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM KCRM KWMN NU
SUBJECT: EFFORTS TO ERADICATE CHILD LABOR IN NICARAGUA 
 
 
¶1. (U)  SUMMARY: On June 14, Foreign Affairs Officer and POL 
Intern met with Bertha Rosa Guerra, International Labor 
Organization (ILO) Nicaragua National Coordinator for the 
International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor 
(IPEC).  Guerra believes  that due to recent coordinated 
efforts by various public and private actors, the incidence 
of child labor appears to be decreasing in Nicaragua.  More 
efforts need to be undertaken, particularly in sensitizing 
government officials and private actors to what constitutes 
child labor, including the use of child domestic workers, and 
to the reality that child labor is an economic development 
constraint as well as a human rights issue.  As a public 
education tool, IPEC sponsored on June 20, a widely attended 
performance at the Teatro Nacional Ruben Dario, entitled "El 
Trabajo Infantil No Es Un Juego" (Child Labor is Not a Game). 
 END SUMMARY. 
 
ALLEGED SPECULATION ABOUT INCIDENCE OF CHILD LABOR 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2. (U) On June 14, Foreign Affairs Officer and POL Intern met 
with Bertha Rosa Guerra, International Labor Organization 
(ILO) Nicaragua National Coordinator for the International 
Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC).  (Note: 
The IPEC program receives ongoing U.S. Government support. 
End Note.)  The meeting began with a discussion of a June 
2006 La Prensa article stating that informal child labor was 
increasing in Nicaragua.  Guerra opined that the article's 
assertion was speculative, and merely reflected the opinion 
of its author.  She also discussed the current ILO campaign 
and report entitled "La Eliminacion del Trabajo Infantil: Un 
Objecto a Nuestro Alcance" (The Elimination of Child Labor: A 
Goal Within Our Reach), arguing for the eradication of the 
worst forms of child labor by 2016, as a practical reality, 
at least in Latin America. 
 
APPARENT DECLINE IN CHILD LABOR 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶3. (U) According to Guerra, a new survey produced by the 
Nicaraguan National Statistics Institute (INEC), based on 
information gathered in November 2005, and to be released 
within the next few weeks, will offer hard data.  She 
commented that there is virtually no child labor in the 
country's formal sector and that unofficial statistics 
indicate that in Nicaragua, child labor has decreased by six 
percent.  In explaining how this decrease had been realized, 
she stated that there has been a strong coordinated effort by 
all economic, social and political sectors channeled through 
the multi-sector National 
Commission on Child Labor. 
 
¶4. (U) The Commission, which includes government ministries, 
local NGOs specializing in children's issues, the business 
community, trade unions, 
and international humanitarian organizations such as UNICEF, 
CARE and Save the Children has undertaken a concerted effort 
to raise awareness of the problem in 
Nicaragua and focus on eradicating it.  She underscored the 
importance of international donor technical assistance and 
financial support in enabling the effort to be a success. 
However, she stressed that there is a greater need for 
coordination and cooperation among international donors to 
integrate their development programs in the area of child 
labor. 
 
AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONSTRAINT AND  HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶5. (U) Guerra highlighted that public and private actors 
still need to develop an understanding that child labor is 
not simply a human rights issue, but is also a serious 
economic development constraint, impacting on the long-term 
prosperity of Nicaragua.  Of Nicaragua's youth, only 48% 
attend school, and among these young people, 18% do not 
attend regularly.  She pointed out that a country that 
ignores this problem is compromising its future.  Child 
laborers are less likely to get decent schooling and thus 
will have limited opportunities to be exposed to important 
educational and socialization concepts that are requisites 
for the effective functioning of participatory democracy, 
such as respect for the rule of law and civic virtues. 
Children who must spend their time working have less ability 
and less inclination to be imaginative, ambitious or forward 
thinking, which are essential to moving Nicaragua into the 
future as a modern nation, she said. 
 
¶6. (U) In identifying the worst forms of child labor, Guerra 
gave the following information, based on her reading of the 
provisions of ILO Convention 182 on the elimination of the 
worst forms of child labor: sexual exploitation; using 
children for drug trafficking; trafficking children for any 
form of labor; slavery or similar activities (which could 
include child domestic workers); 
child soldiers; and, forms of labor that endanger the 
physical, social, psychological or moral well-being of the 
child.  Each national government decides what forms of labor 
shall be identified for category "six" for its 
country and reports that information to the ILO.  On July 28, 
the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health is scheduled to release the 
nation's list of dangerous working conditions.  Guerra said 
that all of the above categories of worst forms of child 
labor, except the use of children as soldiers, occur at 
present in Nicaragua. 
 
"HIJOS DE CRIANZA" AND OTHER "INVISIBLE" CHILD LABORERS 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶7. (SBU) On child domestic workers, which Guerra 
characterized as a widespread, but often "invisible" problem, 
she opined that the phenomenon is a cultural issue connected 
with class relations and with changing people's mindsets. 
There has been a law reform proposal in the National Assembly 
since 2005 to restrict the circumstances by which children 
below 14 years are allowed to live in other people's homes as 
 "Hijos de Crianza."  The reform would prohibit anyone under 
14 years of age from working in the home of someone 
other than his/her own family.  Due to other political 
priorities, Guerra said that the National Assembly has not 
yet passed the bill.  She also remarked that due to the 
technical, financial, and personnel weaknesses of the 
Ministry of Family and the Ministry of Labor, the National 
Commission on Child Labor has not placed sufficient emphasis 
on addressing the situation of children working on the 
streets, especially in Managua.  She felt that the phenomenon 
of child street workers is invisible to many urban 
inhabitants. 
 
"EL TRABAJO INFANTIL NO ES UN JUEGO:" ENTERTAINMENT TO EDUCATE 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- 
 
¶8. (U) On June 20v Foreign Affairs Officer and POL Intern 
attended the IPEC sponsored performance at the Teatro 
Nacional Ruben Dario, entitled "El Trabajo Infantil No Es Un 
Juego."  The audience included representatives from other 
governments, local NGOs, international development and 
humanitarian organizations including Save the Children and 
CARE and large numbers of adults and school-age children. 
The Nicaraguan Ministers of Health, Family, and 
Labor were present.  The entertainment included a dialogue by 
two Nicaraguan comedians on abstinence before marriage and 
the importance of educating one's children to give them a 
better future, as well as Nicaraguan historical and 
regional music and dance performances given by former child 
laborers and their families. 
 
¶9. (U) The high-profile event also featured speeches on 
eradicating child labor, by the Nicaraguan Ministry of Labor, 
and by Guillermo Dema Rey, Sub-regional Coordinator for the 
IPEC Program.  While noting concrete advances made in 
Nicaragua through the coordination activities of the National 
Commission for the Eradication of Child Labor, and through 
inclusion of eradicating child labor in the national 
development plan, Dema Rey underscored what he indicated 
remained major challenges in order to achieve the goal of a 
"Nicaragua without child labor." He stated that Nicaragua 
continues to require substantial technical and financial 
support from IPEC to reach this objective. 
 
¶10. (U) Among the most urgent challenges Dema Rey noted are: 
the need for direct intervention in preventing and 
eradicating the problem in economic sectors, such mining and 
stone quarrying, agriculture, forestry, and fishing, 
especially in the Caribbean area; and in implementing a 
national policy on solid waste to prevent children from 
working at dangerous waste facilities around the country.  He 
stressed the need for integrating all national public 
policies toward the goal of preventing and eradicating child 
labor and in clearly incorporating child labor as one of the 
country's poverty indicators.  He highlighted the great need 
to incorporate awareness about child labor and sexual 
exploitation of children in national educational efforts 
beginning at the pre-school level.  Dema Ray  also called for 
the creation of new national plan to prevent and eliminate 
child labor for the period 2006-2016, in line with  the ILO's 
international public goal of eliminating child labor 
worldwide by 2016. 
BRENNAN