Cablegate: Efforts to Eradicate Child Labor in Nicaragua

VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMU #1609/01 2052003
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 242003Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANAGUA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7061
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS MANAGUA 001609

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM KCRM KWMN NU
SUBJECT: EFFORTS TO ERADICATE CHILD LABOR IN NICARAGUA

1. (U) SUMMARY: On June 14, Foreign Affairs Officer and POL
Intern met with Bertha Rosa Guerra, International Labor
Organization (ILO) Nicaragua National Coordinator for the
International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor
(IPEC). Guerra believes that due to recent coordinated
efforts by various public and private actors, the incidence
of child labor appears to be decreasing in Nicaragua. More
efforts need to be undertaken, particularly in sensitizing
government officials and private actors to what constitutes
child labor, including the use of child domestic workers, and
to the reality that child labor is an economic development
constraint as well as a human rights issue. As a public
education tool, IPEC sponsored on June 20, a widely attended
performance at the Teatro Nacional Ruben Dario, entitled "El
Trabajo Infantil No Es Un Juego" (Child Labor is Not a Game).
END SUMMARY.

ALLEGED SPECULATION ABOUT INCIDENCE OF CHILD LABOR
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2. (U) On June 14, Foreign Affairs Officer and POL Intern met
with Bertha Rosa Guerra, International Labor Organization
(ILO) Nicaragua National Coordinator for the International
Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC). (Note:
The IPEC program receives ongoing U.S. Government support.
End Note.) The meeting began with a discussion of a June
2006 La Prensa article stating that informal child labor was
increasing in Nicaragua. Guerra opined that the article's
assertion was speculative, and merely reflected the opinion
of its author. She also discussed the current ILO campaign
and report entitled "La Eliminacion del Trabajo Infantil: Un
Objecto a Nuestro Alcance" (The Elimination of Child Labor: A
Goal Within Our Reach), arguing for the eradication of the
worst forms of child labor by 2016, as a practical reality,
at least in Latin America.

APPARENT DECLINE IN CHILD LABOR
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3. (U) According to Guerra, a new survey produced by the
Nicaraguan National Statistics Institute (INEC), based on
information gathered in November 2005, and to be released
within the next few weeks, will offer hard data. She
commented that there is virtually no child labor in the
country's formal sector and that unofficial statistics
indicate that in Nicaragua, child labor has decreased by six
percent. In explaining how this decrease had been realized,
she stated that there has been a strong coordinated effort by
all economic, social and political sectors channeled through
the multi-sector National
Commission on Child Labor.

4. (U) The Commission, which includes government ministries,
local NGOs specializing in children's issues, the business
community, trade unions,
and international humanitarian organizations such as UNICEF,
CARE and Save the Children has undertaken a concerted effort
to raise awareness of the problem in
Nicaragua and focus on eradicating it. She underscored the
importance of international donor technical assistance and
financial support in enabling the effort to be a success.
However, she stressed that there is a greater need for
coordination and cooperation among international donors to
integrate their development programs in the area of child
labor.

AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONSTRAINT AND HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE
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5. (U) Guerra highlighted that public and private actors
still need to develop an understanding that child labor is
not simply a human rights issue, but is also a serious
economic development constraint, impacting on the long-term
prosperity of Nicaragua. Of Nicaragua's youth, only 48%
attend school, and among these young people, 18% do not
attend regularly. She pointed out that a country that
ignores this problem is compromising its future. Child
laborers are less likely to get decent schooling and thus
will have limited opportunities to be exposed to important
educational and socialization concepts that are requisites
for the effective functioning of participatory democracy,
such as respect for the rule of law and civic virtues.
Children who must spend their time working have less ability
and less inclination to be imaginative, ambitious or forward
thinking, which are essential to moving Nicaragua into the
future as a modern nation, she said.

6. (U) In identifying the worst forms of child labor, Guerra
gave the following information, based on her reading of the
provisions of ILO Convention 182 on the elimination of the
worst forms of child labor: sexual exploitation; using
children for drug trafficking; trafficking children for any
form of labor; slavery or similar activities (which could
include child domestic workers);
child soldiers; and, forms of labor that endanger the
physical, social, psychological or moral well-being of the
child. Each national government decides what forms of labor
shall be identified for category "six" for its
country and reports that information to the ILO. On July 28,
the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health is scheduled to release the
nation's list of dangerous working conditions. Guerra said
that all of the above categories of worst forms of child
labor, except the use of children as soldiers, occur at
present in Nicaragua.

"HIJOS DE CRIANZA" AND OTHER "INVISIBLE" CHILD LABORERS
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7. (SBU) On child domestic workers, which Guerra
characterized as a widespread, but often "invisible" problem,
she opined that the phenomenon is a cultural issue connected
with class relations and with changing people's mindsets.
There has been a law reform proposal in the National Assembly
since 2005 to restrict the circumstances by which children
below 14 years are allowed to live in other people's homes as
"Hijos de Crianza." The reform would prohibit anyone under
14 years of age from working in the home of someone
other than his/her own family. Due to other political
priorities, Guerra said that the National Assembly has not
yet passed the bill. She also remarked that due to the
technical, financial, and personnel weaknesses of the
Ministry of Family and the Ministry of Labor, the National
Commission on Child Labor has not placed sufficient emphasis
on addressing the situation of children working on the
streets, especially in Managua. She felt that the phenomenon
of child street workers is invisible to many urban
inhabitants.

"EL TRABAJO INFANTIL NO ES UN JUEGO:" ENTERTAINMENT TO EDUCATE
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8. (U) On June 20v Foreign Affairs Officer and POL Intern
attended the IPEC sponsored performance at the Teatro
Nacional Ruben Dario, entitled "El Trabajo Infantil No Es Un
Juego." The audience included representatives from other
governments, local NGOs, international development and
humanitarian organizations including Save the Children and
CARE and large numbers of adults and school-age children.
The Nicaraguan Ministers of Health, Family, and
Labor were present. The entertainment included a dialogue by
two Nicaraguan comedians on abstinence before marriage and
the importance of educating one's children to give them a
better future, as well as Nicaraguan historical and
regional music and dance performances given by former child
laborers and their families.

9. (U) The high-profile event also featured speeches on
eradicating child labor, by the Nicaraguan Ministry of Labor,
and by Guillermo Dema Rey, Sub-regional Coordinator for the
IPEC Program. While noting concrete advances made in
Nicaragua through the coordination activities of the National
Commission for the Eradication of Child Labor, and through
inclusion of eradicating child labor in the national
development plan, Dema Rey underscored what he indicated
remained major challenges in order to achieve the goal of a
"Nicaragua without child labor." He stated that Nicaragua
continues to require substantial technical and financial
support from IPEC to reach this objective.

10. (U) Among the most urgent challenges Dema Rey noted are:
the need for direct intervention in preventing and
eradicating the problem in economic sectors, such mining and
stone quarrying, agriculture, forestry, and fishing,
especially in the Caribbean area; and in implementing a
national policy on solid waste to prevent children from
working at dangerous waste facilities around the country. He
stressed the need for integrating all national public
policies toward the goal of preventing and eradicating child
labor and in clearly incorporating child labor as one of the
country's poverty indicators. He highlighted the great need
to incorporate awareness about child labor and sexual
exploitation of children in national educational efforts
beginning at the pre-school level. Dema Ray also called for
the creation of new national plan to prevent and eliminate
child labor for the period 2006-2016, in line with the ILO's
international public goal of eliminating child labor
worldwide by 2016.
BRENNAN

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