The Fight Against the Worst
Forms of Child Labour
El Salvador
Child labour in ES
Source: Multi-purpose home survey (4th. quarter 2003)
DISTRIBUTION BY GENDER
Total
Girls
Boys
288,221
195,126
93,095
DISTRIBUTION BY GEOGRAPHIC ORIGEN
Total
Urban
Rural
288,221
111,344
176,877
DISTRIBUTION BY AGE GROUPS
Total
5 a 9 years old
10 a 14 years old
15 a 17 years old
288,221
21,005
141,746
125,470
CHILDREN THAT STUDY AND WORK IN THE WORST FORMS OF
CHILD LABOUR (Sugar cane, garbage collection and fishing)
(School Census 2004)
18,673
National Strategy Against Child Labour
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Laws in force on the national level
National initiatives against child labour
National Plan
Strategic actions of the government of El
Salvador
Direct Action Programmes
Support of key actors
1. Laws in force
• The Fight Against the Worst Forms of Child
Labour
• The Constitution:
– Establishes 14 as the minimum age for entering the
work force
– Prohibits dangerous work by children less than 18
years old
• Treaties 138 and 182 of the ILO
• The Labour Code regulates the minimum age for
entering the work force and develops prohibitions for
participation of minors under 18 years old in dangerous
and unhealthy jobs
National initiatives against Child
Labour
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The National Committee is made up of:
Minister of Labour and Social Security
Minister of Education
Minister of Public Health and Social Assistance
Minister of the Interior
Minister de Agriculture and Livestock
Minister of Economy
Minister of Foreign Relations
A representative of the National Secretariat of the Family
A representative of the National Youth Secretariat
Director of the Salvadorean Institute for Integral Development of Children and
Adolescents (ISNA).
The vice-presidents of the labour sector and employer sector of the National
Superior Labour Council
A representative of the non-governmental organisations belonging to the Board
of ISNA
El Executive Director of the National Commission of Small and MediumSized Enterprise (CONAMYPE).
Functions of National Committee
Main functions of the National Committee:
– Plan, coordinate, direct, define, prioritise, manage and approve all
matters related to the elimination of the worst forms of child labour.
– Propose the directives and guidelines for drawing up plans,
programmes, projects and planning activities aimed at the elimination
of child labour, especially in its worst forms.
– Integrate and coordinate efforts aimed at the Eradication of Child
Labour developed by the National and International Organisations
– Provide follow-up to the programmes and projects related to the
eradication of child labour through a technical committee that serves as
a support mechanism
– Establish priority areas to be developed in efforts aimed at eradicating
child labour in El Salvador.
Unit against child labour in the Labour Ministry
(MINTRAB)
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GENERAL FUNCTION:
Uphold the national and international laws in force related to child labour and the
eradication of its worst forms. It has three areas of specific action 1. with international
organisations 2. inter-institutional relations and 3. internal relations (Department of
inspection, General Directorate of Social Security and Employment).
SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS OF THE UETI
Coordinate the working relationships of the different dependencies of the Ministry of
Labour and Social Security and its regional offices.
Serve as a centre of documentation and consultation against child labour in the country.
Supervise and cooperate in the execution of projects on progressive eradication of the
worst forms of child labour being carried out by the governmental and non-governmental
organisations.
Train and advise different sectors of society about the various ways of participating in the
national strategy against the eradication of child labour.
Design projects and actions for the prevention and eradication of the worst forms of
child labour to eventually be financed by the IPEC-ILO and other organisations
international technical cooperation organisations.
Manage international cooperation for programmes, projects and actions of the Unit of
Eradication of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, among other things:
3. National Plan
• 3. National Plan
• It is an instrument of public policy that develops the presidential
commitment expressed in the SECURE COUNTRY government
plan
• The plan is a key instrument to guide the actions that make it possible
to secure a country free of the worst forms of child labour; a country
where children develop in an integral context, capable of building
their life project and having the concrete opportunities to make it a
reality.
• Areas of attention described in the plan:
• Strengthening of the legal framework, institutional strengthening,
educational attention, attention in health, recreation, culture, sports,
improvement of income as well communication and consciousness
raising.
4. Main strategic actions of the
Government of El Salvador
• Strengthening of the legal framework, institutional
strengthening, educational attention, attention in health,
recreation, culture, sports, improvement of income, as
well communication and consciousness raising.
• Attention to the special educational conditions of
working children in the 2021 EDUCATIONAL PLAN
(EVERYONE IS EQUAL Programme).
• Inclusion of the child labour issue as one of the priority
areas of attention in the SOLIDARITY NETWORK
programme (attention to the rural population of at least
100 municipalities in extreme poverty).
• First country in region to have included, in a permanent
way and using national resources, a module of child
labour module in the Multi-purpose Home Survey
5. Direct Action Programmes
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MINTRAB, in coordination with the ILO, is currently executing 13 direct action
programmes, through non-governmental organisations, all of which have as their main
priority areas of action:
– Promote the inclusion of working children in the educational system
– Raise consciousness and mobilise social actors in support of the strategy of
eradication of child labour
– Promote actions to improve health (physical, mental and occupational) and create
opportunities for recreation
– Integration of opportunities to improve productive capacities of families of working
children (professional training, learning, promotion of businesses, access to
employment etc.)
Action programmes benefit:
– 9,200 working boys and girls
– 16,000 boys and girls in risk of working (population with which prevention is carried
out)
– 5,000 members of family groups
Action programmes are executed in 32 municipalities around the country in the following
sectors:
- Sexual exploitation of children
– Fishing, extraction of shellfish
– Garbage collection
– Sugar cane harvest
– Urban work
Results of Direct Action
Programmes
(as of September 2005)
Sector
Boys
Girls
Total
Total
4721
2264
6,985
Sugar Cane
3032
1011
4043
Fishing
1295
938
2233
Garbage collection
200
157
357
Urban Labour (Markets)
194
158
352
6. Support of Key actors
Successful experiences
• Organisations of cooperation: OIT (with USDOL funds and Italian
cooperation), BID (projects in sugar cane sector), UNICEF (sexual
exploitation), USAID (treatment of individuals)
• Participation of organisations in support programmes to target
population in emergency situations (Hurricane STAN): CARE, GTZ,
OIT and FUNDAZUCAR, to rebuild the productive capacities of
rural communities.
• Employer sector (Social Responsibility in Business):
• Sugar Association: contracting of 8 promoter/monitors of child
labour and financing of actions in favour of education.
• COCA COLA: promotion of a project to raise the productive
capacity of young people belonging to sugar cooperatives.
• TELEFONICA: project of promotion of education of working
children in Sonsonate department through scholarships.