VZCZCXRO1416
PP RUEHGR
DE RUEHKG #0417/01 1421910
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221910Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7656
INFO RUCNCOM/EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPTLABOR WASHDC
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 2369

NCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINGSTON 000417 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR (ACADIEUX) (VDEPIRRO) (WSMITH) 
WHA/EPSC (MROONEY)(FCORNEILLE) 
INR/RES (RWARNER) 
SANTO DOMINGO FOR FCS AND FAS 
HOMELAND SECURITY FOR ALEX GISSER 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PTER ASEC PBTS KCRM CVIS PHUM KFRD SOCI JM XL
SUBJECT: JAMAICA: CHILD LABOR REMAINS A PROBLEM; CONVICTION RATE 
UNCHANGED 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: The Government of Jamaica (GOJ) has taken 
significant steps to pass and enforce legislation on child labor, 
although conviction rates in this field, as in others in Jamaica, 
remain low.  Conoff accompanied Tina McCarter and Linda Bermudez of 
the Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor 
and Human Trafficking from May 4-6 to meet various GOJ agencies and 
NGOs to assess the response to child labor issues in Jamaica. 
Despite the fact that the GOJ recently increased the compulsory age 
of education from 16 to 18 and confirmed children's right to 
education under the Education Act, field research confirms child 
labor practices remain a concern. End Summary. 
 
Background 
------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Child labor is difficult to detect in Jamaica due to the 
underground nature of the trade. Sixty percent of Jamaica's 
workforce is in the informal sector, while eighty six percent of 
births are to unwed mothers.  Children are often pressured to enter 
the workforce at fourteen, sacrificing their education to provide 
for their families.  While child labor is not prevalent in large 
industries, due to GOJ regulation and inspections, established 
sectors often spur cottage industries that employ children. 
 
¶3. (SBU) High incarceration rates and an increase in adult migration 
have led to large numbers of single parent families or children 
living with relatives. Janet Cupidon-Quallo of UNICEF reported that 
roughly four in ten Jamaican children live in poverty.  Parents that 
migrate to North America or the UK send remittances to Jamaica, 
which account for just over 20 percent of the country's GDP. 
 
 
Efforts by Various Jamaican Ministries 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) The GOJ has tried different approaches to combat the child 
labor problem.  Current efforts focus on cooperation with NGOs to 
maximize the effectiveness of community efforts.  The Ministry of 
Labor (MOL) and the Ministry of Social Security (MSS) have augmented 
responsibilities for preventing child labor as a result of an 
International Labor Organization (ILO) project that ended in 2004. 
During a meeting, Marva Ximmenes, Director of the Child Care Unit of 
the MOL, highlighted the role of the National Taskforce on 
Trafficking in child labor prevention. The taskforce was established 
in 2004 by the MOL, providing a platform for NGOs and GOJ agencies 
to collaborate on prevention, education and media dissemination of 
anti-trafficking programs. In addition to maintaining public 
awareness forums, the taskforce recently completed a national survey 
to detail the scope of the problem, as a study conducted back in 
2000 had revealed that the public then had been largely unaware of 
the trafficking issues in the country. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Jamaica's Child Care Protection Act (CCPA) of 2004 
established both an Office of the Children's Advocate as a watchdog 
and public awareness-raising arm, as well as the Office of 
Children's Registry as a repository for mandatory reports of child 
abuse.  Section 6 of the CCPA provides that every Jamaican has a 
duty to report child abuse. Since establishing a hotline in 2007, 
reports of abuse have increased significantly, although many are 
unsubstantiated reports of neglect rather than confirmed cases of 
child abuse. As a result, the GOJ established parish-wide Centers 
for Investigating Sexual Offenses Against Children (CISOCA), and 
have ensured proper training of officers in identifying and 
categorizing levels of child abuse. The CDA is annually allocated 
roughly JD 30 million (USD 340,000) to maintain the registry and JD 
20 million (USD 225,000) for public relations, education, and 
community awareness efforts. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Robert Rainford, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of 
Justice (MOJ), has the primary responsibility for Jamaica's efforts 
to address child labor. The Childcare and Protection Act established 
a Children's Court specializing in crimes that affect Jamaica's 
youth. The MOJ has also established the Possibility Program with the 
Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport, that focuses on reintegration 
and rehabilitation of children who live on the streets. Legislative 
efforts include a draft Child Pornography Bill and an amendment that 
further defines rape and incest as violations of the Sexual Offenses 
Act.  Finally, the MOJ collaborates with the Ministry of National 
Security via the Taskforce on Child Abuse to ascertain that 
recovered missing children are duly reintegrated with their 
families.  Rainford further highlighted the MOJ's Victims Support 
Unit that includes alert programs, search systems, and support for  
the rehabilitation of victims of child abuse. 
 
Education As A Means To Combat Child Labor 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶7. (SBU) Our contacts at the DOL noted that robust education systems 
are a powerful deterrent to child labor, and the GOJ has implemented 
policies to strengthen education as a social safety net. According 
to an ILO official, the Ministry of Education is very enthusiastic 
about child labor prevention efforts and has mandated that such 
efforts be integrated into national planning mechanisms. Jamaica has 
a 98 percent school enrollment rate, but attendance hovers around 64 
percent because of the expense of school uniforms, lunch and books, 
coupled with lost wages for not working on family farms or selling 
items on the street.  To address this, the GOJ, under the Ministry 
of Social Security, has established PATH, a program that provides 
stipends to pay for educational expenses.  However, students must 
maintain an 85 percent school attendance rate to qualify, resulting 
in underutilization of the program. 
 
¶8. (SBU) ILO's Tackling Child Labor Through Education (TACKLE) 
program is funded by the European Union across eleven countries, 
including Jamaica.  The ILO's Nasolo Thompson discussed the evolving 
nature of child labor, particularly involving young women for sexual 
tourism, but admitted that child labor in the underground economy is 
very difficult to detect.  She lamented that Jamaica's Statistical 
Information and Monitoring Programme on Child Labor is not able to 
produce entirely reliable numbers. 
 
¶9. (U) USAID also utilizes livelihoods programs and education 
outreach as important tools to prevent child labor. Children First, 
an organization in Spanish Town that teaches vocational skills to 
roughly 300 school dropouts, receives most of its funding from 
USAID.  Additionally, a recent program that targeted 71 poor 
performing schools to increase literacy and numeracy levels was 
among the most successful USAID projects to date, graduating all but 
two schools. 
 
¶10. (U) COMMENT: Despite GOJ and NGO efforts, only three cases of 
child labor have been brought to the attention of the court in the 
country's history.  (NOTE:  The GOJ has a low conviction rate for 
most crimes, including violent crimes such as murder, with a 
conviction rate of about five percent.  END NOTE) One case was 
successfully prosecuted, while the other two remain in the Resident 
Magistrate's circuit court. The complex nature of the issue, coupled 
with the inability to quantify and detect abuse, has resulted in a 
disconnect between a desired intent to address the problem and 
actual results. Ms. Bermudez and Ms. McCarter were unable to clear 
this cable prior to their departure; they will submit their findings 
for comment prior to dissemination of the annual report on child 
labor. 
 
 
MOSS