VZCZCXRO8742
RR RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHHM RUEHHO RUEHJO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHPOD
RUEHRD RUEHRS RUEHTM
DE RUEHME #3176/01 1692004
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 182004Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY MEXICO
TO RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7527
INFO RUEHXC/ALL US CONSULATES IN MEXICO COLLECTIVE
RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUEAHLA/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MEXICO 003176 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL/AWH AND ILCSR, WHA/MEX AND PPC, USDOL FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON PHUM EAGR KWMN SOCI PINR KCRM MX
SUBJECT: MEXICO COMMEMORATES WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOR 
 
REF: (A) MEXICO 2520 (B) 06 MEXICO 5857 
 
¶1. SUMMARY: In commemoration of the UN/ILO,s World Day 
Against Child Labor, the Lower House of the Mexican Congress 
and the CROC labor union (the country,s third largest labor 
federation) organized a highly publicized press event to 
highlight the gravity of the problem of child labor in 
Mexico.  The event was attended by various federal 
legislators, an assortment of the CROC,s member unions, the 
ILO Representative for Mexico, representatives from GOM 
social welfare agencies, NGO,s and Mission Mexico personnel. 
 Notably absent was any official representative from the 
GOM,s Secretariat of Labor (STPS), although an Assistant 
Secretary level Labor official did give extensive interviews 
 
SIPDIS 
to the press acknowledging the federal government,s 
shortcomings in combating child labor.  Nearly everyone who 
spoke at the event underscored that the problem of child 
labor cannot be separated from the problem of extreme poverty 
(especially rural poverty) in Mexico.  Judging by the amount 
of recent press coverage about child labor in Mexico has 
received the event was apparently a success. However, little 
was said about specific next steps to address the problem of 
child labor in Mexico.  On the margins of the event, the 
senior CROC official for the Baja California region 
approached post,s Labor Counselor to suggest increased USG 
and union cooperation to combat child labor in his area.  One 
possible option for cooperation might be to try and involve 
the Baja California CROC in the anti-trafficking in 
persons/rule of law project USAID is currently undertaking in 
places like AmConsul Ciudad Juarez, consular district. END 
SUMMARY. 
 
 
UNION WORKS WITH MEXICAN CONGRESS TO COMBAT CHILD LABOR 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶2.  On June 12, the CROC labor union (Revolutionary 
Confederation of Workers and Peasants/Farmers) and the 
Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of the Mexican 
Congress), organized a highly publicized media event to 
highlight the dimensions of the problem of child labor in 
Mexico.  The event was timed to coincide with the UN/ILO,s 
commemoration of the World Day Against Child Labor and was 
attended by various federal legislators, an assortment of the 
CROC,s member unions, the ILO Representative for Mexico, 
representatives from GOM social welfare agencies, NGO,s and 
Mission Mexico personnel. The driving force behind this event 
was the CROC which is perhaps the third largest labor 
federation in Mexico.  Many of the CROC,s associate member 
unions are prominent in the hotel and restaurant industries 
particularly in the areas of Mexico City and the Yucatan 
peninsula beach resorts in and around Cancun.  The CROC has 
made combating child labor, particularly in the commercial 
sex trade, one of its main priorities and has in the past 
benefited from technical support made possible by US 
Department of Labor funding aimed at stopping the worst forms 
of child labor (REF B). 
 
¶3.  One of the main speakers at the event was the CROC,s 
national leader, union Secretary General, Isais Gonzalez 
Cuevas. In discussing the dimensions of the problem, Gonzalez 
stated that the GOM,s Secretariat of Labor (STPS) has sadly 
proven that it was not up to the task of protecting children 
from the abuses of child labor occurring in Mexico. Although 
he faulted the STPS, Gonzalez did not portray the problem of 
child labor as solely a government responsibility and he 
offered to re-enforce the efforts the CROC is already 
undertaking to combat child labor.  In that regard Gonzalez 
claimed that the CROC had already trained some 350,000 people 
employed in hotels, restaurants, working as taxi drivers and 
as tour guides on how to spoke and report to the proper 
authorities suspected instances of children being exploited 
in the commercial sex trade. (Comment: Gonzalez, claim was 
somewhat vague as to whether all of the people trained were 
members of a CROC affiliated labor union.) 
 
¶4.  Continuing on, Gonzalez repeatedly stressed that the 
problem of child labor could not be separated from or 
properly addressed without also addressing the high levels of 
extreme poverty in Mexico.  The problem of child labor and 
poverty, Gonzalez said, were most pronounced in rural areas 
where the lack of employment or underemployment forces 
parents to press their children into the labor market, in 
 
MEXICO 00003176  002 OF 003 
 
 
particular as agricultural workers.  Despite the fact that 
the CROC began as a union with a strong agricultural worker 
component (hence the word &Peasants8 in its name) its 
representation in that area is only a fraction of what it 
once was. 
 
¶5.  At present, the CROC is strongest in the hotel and 
restaurant industries but it also has a respectable number of 
unions in the textile industry.  No doubt it was because of 
these unions that when Gonzalez finished his points on rural 
poverty he turned to the problem of contraband. Contraband, 
Gonzalez said, was destroying Mexican jobs and industries. 
Without these jobs large numbers of families are pushed into 
poverty which places urban families in the same situation as 
rural families that can only survive by forcing their 
children into the labor market.  He then urged the Mexican 
Congress and government to increase their efforts to reduce 
poverty in Mexico as the best way of combating child labor. 
 
 
ILO FOCUSES ON CHILD LABOR IN AGRICULTURE 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  The next speaker was the Representative of the 
International Labor Organization (ILO) in Mexico, Miguel Del 
Cid.  Del Cid acknowledged the seriousness of the problem in 
Mexico of children being exploited in the commercial sex 
trade but indicated that his agency felt it could do the 
greatest good for a larger number of children by focusing its 
efforts on the problem of child labor in agriculture. 
According to the ILO, seven out of every ten children forced 
into the labor market are pressed into the role of 
agricultural workers. 
 
¶7.  Del Cid indicated that the problem of child labor was 
more pronounced in rural areas because governments like 
Mexico,s often lack the resources needed to properly enforce 
labor laws.  Because of this his agency estimated that some 
3.3 million children between the ages of 6-14 were currently 
forced to leave school and were pressed into jobs in order to 
help maintain their families. The ILO calculates that this 
figure represents 20 percent of all the children in the 6-14 
years age group in Mexico.  The overwhelming majority of 
these children, Del Cid stated, are currently employed as 
agricultural workers. 
 
 
LABOR SECRETARIAT ACCEPTS BLAME FOR THE GOM 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  Although there were no GOM Labor Secretariat (STPS) 
representatives at the event, on the same day, an Assistant 
Secretary level official spoke extensively to the press about 
 
SIPDIS 
on the problem of child labor in Mexico.  The STPS official 
freely acknowledged that the GOM had failed to meet its 
responsibilities under Mexican law with respect to preventing 
abuses of child law. Mexican federal labor mandates a minimum 
daily wage for all employees (approximately equivalent to USD 
4.50) and specifically prohibits the employment of anyone 
under age 14. 
 
¶9.  According to the STPS official, there are currently some 
3 million children forced to work who are below the federal 
minimum age for employment.  The official said that this 
figure represented only 15 percent of the children in the 
6-14 year old age group for Mexico; as opposed to the figure 
of 20 percent cited by the ILO.  The official agreed with the 
ILO that most of these children were employed as agricultural 
workers but also calculated that some 20,000 children 
throughout Mexico are trafficked in the commercial sex trade. 
 The Mexican states with the highest levels of child labor, 
the STSP official said, were the states of Jalisco, Nayarit, 
Sonora, Sinaloa, Baja California and Tabasco. This list of 
problem states differed somewhat from the states cited 
separately by the GOM,s Nation Statistics Institute (INEGI) 
which listed Chiapas, Campache, Puebla and Veracruz. 
(Comment: As reported in REF A, there still appears to be 
considerable disagreement on the statistics which describe 
the problem of child labor in Mexico.) 
 
A REQUEST FOR CLOSER COOPERATION 
-------------------------------- 
 
 
MEXICO 00003176  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶10.  Immediately following the event which took place at the 
offices of the Mexican Congress, post,s Labor Counselor was 
approached by senior CROC official for the Baja California 
region of Mexico (AmConsul Tijuana,s consular district). 
The CROC official referred to the growing tourist industry in 
his region and suggested that it might beneficial for the USG 
and the union offices in the Baja California area to work 
more closely together to try and deal with the problems of 
child labor.  Labor Counselor replied that the idea of closer 
cooperation in his region, especially with regard to the 
worst forms of child labor (the commercial sex trade) was an 
excellent suggestion.  Post,s Labor Counselor advised the 
union official that any such cooperation might be more 
effectively coordinated by working with AmConsul Tijuana and 
offered to act as a liaison to facilitate some initial 
introductions. The CROC official and Labor Counselor then 
tentatively scheduled a meeting at a later discuss the issue 
of possible cooperation in more detail. 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶11.  If the amount of media coverage is any indication the 
CROC/Mexican Congress was a success in terms of drawing 
attention to the problem of child labor in Mexico, at least 
in the short term.  Unfortunately, there was very little 
mentioned in the event or accompanying press coverage and 
follow-up commentary about concrete next steps.  The event 
participants all clearly linked the issue of poverty in 
Mexico with the problems associated with child labor. 
Attention was clearly drawn to the complex problems of rural 
poverty and the distressing issue of children being forced 
into the commercial sex trade, but nothing was said that 
would indicate a firm plan in either the short or long term 
to address these complex and major issues. 
 
¶12.  On a small scale, the offer of closer cooperation from 
the CROC official responsible for the Baja California region 
might be an opportunity to make some type of beginning in 
that area.  Post will report on whatever details or 
suggestions that are ultimately provided by the CROC official 
for Baja California and coordinate any future actions that 
appear feasible with AmConsul Tijuana.  One possible option 
for cooperation might be to involve the Baja California CROC 
in the anti-trafficking in persons/rule of law project aimed 
at legal reform such as the one USAID is currently 
undertaking in AmConsul Ciudad Juarez, consular district. 
Admittedly, child labor is only one aspect of trafficking in 
persons but the USAID project, which aims to implement more 
effective civil and criminal justice systems, is a concrete 
example of the types of cooperative efforts can help. 
 
 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American 
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / 
GARZA