VZCZCXYZ0007
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHQT #1395 1692148
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 182148Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7221
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 6727
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 2586
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ JUN 0630
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA PRIORITY 1731
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL PRIORITY 2468
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS QUITO 001395 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ETRD SOCI PGOV EC
SUBJECT:  ECUADOR CELEBRATES WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOR 
 
REF: QUITO 335 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
¶1.  (SBU) The Government of Ecuador (GOE) marked the 2007 World Day 
Against Child Labor by organizing a conference focused primarily on 
presenting basic information, highlighting successes, and enlisting 
support for future efforts.  This event at the Ministry of 
Agriculture focused primarily on agricultural child labor, raising 
concerns that the Ministry of Labor is not assuming its 
responsibility to lead GOE efforts to eliminate child labor by 2020. 
 End Summary. 
 
FORMAT/ATMOSPHERICS 
------------------- 
¶2.  (U) Approximately 100 people from the GOE, the international 
community and NGOs participated on June 12 in a conference marking 
World Day Against Child Labor.  The conference, subtitled 
"Agriculture Free of Child Labor: The Future Harvest," was hosted by 
the Ministry of Agriculture.  The conference began with a video 
presentation, followed by a slideshow summary of Ecuadorian child 
labor statistics, and concluded with speeches from representatives 
of government, UN, and labor organizations involved in Ecuador's 
efforts to eliminate child labor.  A detailed information packet was 
also given to all members of the audience. 
 
INFORMING THE PUBLIC 
-------------------- 
¶3.  (U) The video presentation, slideshow summary, and first 
speeches were very general and focused on defining child labor and 
giving the basic facts of Ecuador's child labor situation.  GOE 
officials confirmed that 662,664 children in Ecuador are 
participating in exploitative child labor in 2007.  Of these, 60.4% 
work in agriculture, predominantly on banana and flower plantations. 
 These statistics do not include children who legitimately work for 
their families or in a non-exploitative environment. 
 
¶4.  (U) Speakers generally emphasized the health and safety concerns 
of children working in agriculture.  They also emphasized that child 
labor reinforces the cycle of rural poverty by preventing children 
from attending schools to receive education.  Eliminating child 
labor is recognized as essential to Ecuador's long-term social and 
economic development. 
 
PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE, BUT THE WORK IS NOT YET DONE 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
¶5.  (U) ILO representative Cesar Mosquera and Bolivar Cevallos, 
President of the Flower Exporters Association, highlighted successes 
in reducing the numbers of child laborers and in organizing 
government and civil society to fight against child labor.  ILO's 
2007 statistics show the number of exploited child laborers has 
fallen by 116,336 children since 2001.  They pointed to initiatives 
to certify businesses as being free of child labor. 
 
¶6.  (U) Speakers emphasized the need for continued coordinated, 
integrated action among government, civil society, business, and 
labor organizations to successfully fight child labor.  Several 
speakers framed the resolution of the child labor issue as a moral 
and patriotic imperative in their calls to action. Minister of 
Agriculture Carlos Vallejo and Ministry of Labor representative 
Leonardo Chiriboga emphasized the ongoing and existing coordination 
efforts among government agencies, but made no mention of any new 
specific GOE initiatives. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶6.  (U) Though general in scope and tone, the conference was the 
GOE's first serious attempt to address the issue of child labor in a 
coordinated public fashion since President Correa took office.  The 
wide participation of government, civil society, and labor 
organizations in the conference demonstrated growing public and 
private sector interest in attacking the problem. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The conference was a good opportunity for the child labor 
community to provide information and marshal support for the 
struggle to eliminate remaining child labor in Ecuador.  It is 
noteworthy that the Ministry of Agriculture hosted the event rather 
than the Ministry of Labor.  While Minister of Labor Antonio 
Gagliardo (who chose not attend the event) recognizes the importance 
of combating child labor (reftel), his ministry is not actively 
leading GOE efforts to combat the problem.   We will share our 
concerns that participation of the Ministry of Labor remains crucial 
to a truly successful effort to combat child labor. 
 
JEWELL 
1