VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPE #1345/01 2271636
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 141636Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY LIMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9149
INFO RUEHC/LABOR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS LIMA 001345 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR DRL/ILCSR:MMITTELHAUSER AND G/TIP:SSTEINER 
DOL FOR ILAB:RRIGBY AND KCOOK 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EIND ELAB ETRD PE PGOV PHUM SOCI
SUBJECT: PERU: INFORMATION ON CHILD AND/OR FORCED LABOR IN 
THE PRODUCTION OF GOODS 
 
REF: STATE 043120 
 
¶1. (U) In response to reftel request, Post submits the 
following information on child and/or forced labor in the 
production of goods in Peru. Information on child and/or 
forced labor in Peru is limited. Most child labor in Peru 
occurs in the service sector and is therefore not applicable 
to this report. As a result, the following information is not 
indicative of the total extent of child and/or forced labor 
in Peru. Post does have limited information on child and/or 
forced labor in certain industries, which follows below. 
Copies of source material are available on request. Sources 
included the Government of Peru (GOP), the International 
Labor Organization (ILO), and other human rights 
organizations involved in labor and/or children's rights. 
 
Scope of the Problem 
-------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Child labor and/or forced labor continues in Peru, 
according to sources, though authoritative and comprehensive 
information on the subject is lacking. The majority of 
available information is based on anecdotal evidence. The ILO 
estimates that approximately two million children work in 
Peru, including 7,000 in Lima's historic center alone. Child 
laborers predominately work in the informal sector of Peru's 
economy, which encompasses some 70 percent of all workers in 
Peru. There is even less information, especially of a 
quantitative nature, on forced labor. The most comprehensive 
information on forced labor in Peru is from the ILO, which 
estimates that there are 20,000 to 45,000 forced laborers in 
Peru, most of whom work in the Amazonian jungle regions in 
the logging industry. The majority of forced labor in Peru is 
in the form of debt bondage, according to the ILO. 
 
Specific Industries 
------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Mining: The ILO estimates that approximately 50,000 
children work in Peru's gold mining industry. (Note: Based on 
field expierence and conversations with experts, Embassy 
Economic Section finds this number, which was based on a 
survey conducted in 2000, extremely high.  End Note.) Gold 
mining involves child labor and forced child labor, mostly in 
informal "artisan" mines in the Santa Filomena area of 
Ayacucho region and the Rinconada area of Puno. There tend to 
be large numbers of migrant and trafficked workers in those 
areas as well. According to the Peruvian NGO Association for 
Human Rights (APRODEH), more than 1000 children work in gold 
mining in the regions of Ayacucho, Arequipa, Ica  and 
Huancavelica. Often they work alongside their parents or 
other family members. Older children work in the mining 
shafts and assist with grinding which involves moving large 
rocks. Younger children work sifting for gold and washing the 
gold. In Huaypetuhe, Madre de Dios, APRODEH found more then 
500 children working in washing or cleaning gold. In Ananea, 
Puno, APRODEH found 400 children working in gold mines. 
 
¶4. (U) Timber: Child and/or forced labor in the timber 
industry occurs mostly in Peru's jungle regions, particularly 
in Ucayali, Madre de Dios and Loreto.  In the most 
comprehensive available study -- "Forced Labor in Timber 
Extraction in the Peruvian Amazonia" (2005)-- the ILO 
estimated that the timber industry utilized 33,000 forced 
laborers.  Debt bondage was the most common form of labor 
control. 
 
¶5. (U) Bricks: In 2005, the Center of Social Studies and 
Publications (CESIP) NGO published a study finding that 164 
children worked alongside their families in the brick-making 
industry in the rural district of Huachipa, Lurigancho 
Chosica, located outside Lima. Of the 164 children, CESIP 
found that 40 percent were between the ages of 4 and 6, 36 
percent were between the ages of 7 and 9, and 20 percent were 
between 10 and 12. Eighty-five percent of these children 
worked and attended school. The families received 
approximately 25.00 Peruvian Nuevo Soles (approximately USD 
8.60) per 1000 bricks produced.  An average family produced 
approximately 3000 to 4000 bricks per week. (The study was 
titled "A Situational Diagnostic of Children and Adolescents 
that Work in the Making of Artisan Bricks and Trash Recycling 
in the Slums of Huachipa: Union Peru, Santa Isabel and Santa 
Cruz".) 
 
¶6. (U) Coca: Peru's Labor Ministry estimates that 59,525 
children work in the coca industry, and that approximately 
5000 of these are forced laborers. The Labor Ministry 
believes that while most children collect coca leaves, some 
 
also help produce cocaine by mixing coca leaves with 
chemicals -- including sulfuric acid, kerosene, and others -- 
stepping barefoot on the mixture in pits or barrels.  The 
Apurimac and Ene River Valley (VRAE) in Ayacucho and the 
Upper Huallaga Valley in San Martin are the primary locations 
for coca production. 
 
¶7. (U) Fireworks: Capital Humano Social Alternativo's (Human 
Social Capital Alternative - CHS) Manual for Trafficking in 
Persons mentions that children work in fireworks workshops, 
but the report provides no further details and we have found 
no other sources. 
 
¶8. (U) Stone: The National Initiative Group for Children's 
Rights in a report titled "Context and Child Labor" discusses 
child labor in the stone extraction industry and calls it one 
of the worst forms of child labor in Peru.  The Labor 
Ministry concurs with Portocarrero's assessment but has 
provided no estimates on the scale of the problem. 
 
¶9. (U) Castana Nuts (Brazilian Nut): CHS Alernativo's Manual 
for Trafficking Persons in Peru says that many victims are 
trafficked to castana nut production zones in Madre de Dios 
during the harvesting season from Arequipa, Lima, Puerto 
Maldonado, Cusco, Cajamarca and Iquitos. There are no 
estimates of how many persons, including children, work 
harvesting castana nuts each year. 
 
Efforts to Eradicate Child and/or Forced Labor 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶10. (U) The GOP's National Plan to Eradicate Child Labor 
(2006-2010) calls for at least 50 percent of local 
governments to begin documenting child labor to help 
determine where and how children are working.  The GOP's 
National Committee for the Prevention and Eradication of 
Child Labor is an intersectoral committee with participation 
from all ministries, unions, business, international 
organizations (including the ILO) and national NGOs. The 
efforts of the these different sectors include 
awareness-raising campaigns, after-school programs, workplace 
inspections, training initiatives, and outreach to child 
workers both in and out of school. There is a similar 
intersectoral body on forced labor called the National 
Intersectoral Commission for the Eradication of Forced Labor. 
 The GOP also has a National Action Plan to Combat Forced 
Labor. 
 
¶11. (U) In 2007 Lima's municipal government, under the Office 
of Social Management, began a program to address the more 
than 7,000 children working in the historic center by 
providing aid payments of approximately 320 Nuevo Soles per 
year, per child to families to discourage child labor. To 
receive payment, parents must ensure their children attend 
school. 
 
¶12. (U) CESIP administers a project that works with 150 
children and adolescents working in brick making and other 
industries in Huachipa.  The project provides information to 
the Huachipa local community in order to raise consciousness 
about child labor and to provide direct education 
intervention to child workers.  CESIP also works with parents 
to develop skills and training to help them find better 
employment.  The program, which began in March 2008, will 
conclude in February 2011 and is funded by the Dutch 
Development Organization, CORDAID. 
 
¶13. (U) The U.S. Department of Labor supports the "Preparate 
Para La Vida" (Prepare for Life) Program, which works with 
both in-school and out-of-school child workers in the cities 
of Lima, Trujillo, Cusco and Iquitos with the goal of 
reaching approximately 10,500 children and reducing child 
labor. 
MCKINLEY