VZCZCXYZ0014
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHCV #0238/01 0512009
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 202009Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY CARACAS
TO RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR  PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2643
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0689

UNCLAS CARACAS 000238 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LABOR FOR DOL/ILAB (TMCCARTER) 
DRL/ILCSR (TDANG) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI VE
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA: UPDATE OF WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR 
 
REF: 2008 STATE 127448 
 
 ¶1. (U)  This cable responds to reftel request for current 
information on child labor as well as government efforts to 
address the problem.  Venezuelan law protects children from 
exploitation in the workplace, but enforcement is often 
lacking.  The Ministry of Labor and the National Institute 
for Labor Accident Prevention, Health and Security (Inpassel) 
enforces child labor policies more effectively in the formal 
sector than in the informal sector.  Venezuelan law permits 
children between the ages of 12 and 14 to work only with 
special government permission.  Children between the ages of 
14 and 16 may not work without the permission of their legal 
guardians.  Children under 16 may work not more than six 
hours per day or 30 hours per week.  Minors may work only 
between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.  As of May 1, 2008, the 
minimum wage for adolescent workers and apprentices was 
599.43 BsF a month or 19.98 BsF a day (1 USD = 2.15 BsF at 
the official exchange rate).  The minimum wage for workers 18 
and over is 799.23 BsF a month or 26.64 BsF a day. 
Venezuelan law prohibits persons under 18 from working in 
mines or smelting factories.  They are also prohibited by law 
from working in occupations that risk life or health or could 
damage intellectual or moral development; or in public 
spectacles.  The law establishes sentences of one to three 
years' incarceration for forced child labor. 
 
¶2.  (U)  The Organic Law for the Protection of Children and 
Adolescents (LOPNA), stipulates that offenders be fined one 
to 10 months salary for trafficking in children.  Stipulated 
punishment for the prostitution or corruption of minors is as 
little as three months in jail; repeat offenders may face 
three to 18 months imprisonment.  Under Article 47 of the 
Organic Law on a Women's Right to a Violence Free Life, 
designed to compliment existing legislation, smuggling, 
facilitating the illegal entry or exit of women and young 
girls through false employment, coercion, or force for 
monetary benefit, is punishable by 10 to 15 years in prison. 
(Note: This law, as it is currently written, does not apply 
to the trafficking of adult males or boys. End note.)  The 
Organized Crime Law makes trafficking in persons and 
smuggling for labor and sexual exploitation punishable by a 
sentence of 10 to 18 years if the victim is a child or 
adolescent.  Prostitution is legal and regulated in 
Venezuela.  Women working as prostitutes are required to be 
¶18.  The production and sale of child pornography is 
prohibited, and the law establishes penalties of 16 to 20 
years' imprisonment for this crime.  The country's minimum 
age for military recruitment is 18.  The Government of the 
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (GBRV) ratified ILO 
Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in 2005. 
 
¶3. (U)  The GBRV has not responded to posts repeated requests 
for information on trafficking in persons, to include 
statistics and information on child labor and trafficking in 
children. 
 
¶4.  (U)  The government's social service mission, known as 
Mission Negra Hipolita, provided assistance to street 
children.  President Chavez recently stated in a public 
speech that there are no more street children "registered" by 
the GBRV, however, the human rights NGO For the Rights of 
Children and Adolescents estimated that approximately 15,000 
children live on the street in Caracas.  Authorities in 
Caracas and several other jurisdictions imposed curfews on 
unsupervised minors to cope with this problem.  Because 
reform institutions are filled to capacity, hundreds of 
children accused of infractions, such as curfew violations, 
are confined in inadequate juvenile detention centers.  Post 
is not aware of any social programs specifically designed to 
prevent and withdrawal children from the worst forms of child 
labor.  The GBRV continues to raise public awareness about 
the dangers of human trafficking, to include forced labor and 
child sexual exploitation, by airing public service 
announcements and distributing posters and pamphlets against 
child exploitation and forced labor.  When underage children 
are discovered to be working in brothels as prostitutes, they 
are usually placed into child protective custody. 
 
¶5.  (U)  In 2006 the GBRV created a working group to draft a 
national plan of action to combat trafficking in persons, to 
include child labor and trafficking in children.  Over two 
years later, the government has not completed the plan. 
Currently post is not aware of any comprehensive policy aimed 
at the elimination of the worst forms of child labor.  Nine 
years of education are compulsory and free in Venezuela. 
 
¶6.  (U)  Venezuela is a source, transit, and destination 
country for children trafficked for the purposes of 
commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.  Venezuela 
does not have a tradition of child labor in the production of 
goods.  Child laborers predominately work in the agricultural 
sector or in small-to-medium sized businesses.  Local 
organizations promoting the rights of children, however, 
speculate that two-thirds of child laborers, in legal and 
illegal employment activities, are working in the informal 
sector.  According to the Community Center for Apprenticeship 
and Promotion of the Rights of Children and Adolescents 
(CECODAP), a Caracas based NGO promoting the rights of 
children and adolescents, children working in the commercial 
sex trade, particularly in mining areas, are at a greater 
risk for exploitation.  The same official added that the 
number of minors working in the formal sector had decreased, 
while those working in the informal sector has steadily 
increased.  Due to a lack of information sharing with Embassy 
officials by the GBRV, post is unable to assess to what 
extent, if any, Venezuela is making progress toward 
eliminating the worst forms of child labor. 
CAULFIELD