Peru

Menu
Scroll Down

Challenge

Children at work

Children at work
Encuesta Nacional Especializada de Trabajo Infantil (ETI) de 2015

In Peru, around 2 million children are at work (26.1% of children aged 5-17). About 1.1 million children are in child labour (10.5%), there are 217 thousand adolescents aged 14-17 carry out dangerous work for their age specifically, measured by the intensity of hours worked during the week.

Significant differences exist by region because child labour is predominantly a rural phenomenon: 25.6% of the children in rural areas are in child labour, as compared to 4.7% in urban areas. Furthermore, mountain range and jungle concentrate the highest prevalence of children in child labor (18.8% and 13.2% respectively).

Peru is currently developing the Child Labor Risk Identification Model (MIRTI, for its acronym in Spanish), a policy instrument promoted by the Latin America and the Caribbean Free Child Labor Regional Initiative, of which Peru is a founding member, and which has been developed with support of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the International Labor Organization, through which the probability of risk of child labor at the district level can be obtained, in order to focus the action of the national policy on the matter. Based on the MIRTI’s results, it can be mentioned that there are 557 districts with a high probability of risk of child labor at the national level, as well as 617 districts with a medium probability and 689 with little probability.

Regarding forced labor, the country does not have statistical information to establish a baseline to measure the incidence of this problem. For this reason, and as one of the commitments assumed as Pioneer Country of Alliance 8.7, the Peruvian State, through the General Directorate for Fundamental Rights and Safety and Health at Work, and the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics INEI,  is working in articulation with the International Labor Organization, in order to carry out a pilot survey in one region of the country, that could provide official figures in the medium term.

Child labour in rural vs urban areas

Child labour in rural vs urban areas
Encuesta Nacional Especializada de Trabajo Infantil (ETI) de 2015

Milestones

2002

Ratification of Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)

2007

Supreme Decree No. 009-2007-TR approved the creation of the i National Plan to Combat Forced Labour.

2011

National Plan of Action against Human Trafficking 2011-2016

2012

National Strategy for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor 2012-2021

2017

Legislative Decree No. 1323, dated January 6, which typifies the crime of forced labor in article 168-B of the Penal Code.

2019

Supreme Decree No. 015-2019-TR approved the creation of the III National Plan to Combat Forced Labour.

Priorities

  • Promote the signature of an inter-institutional collaboration agreement with the National Association of Municipalities of Peru (AMPE) and the National Assembly of Regional Governments to implement the Municipal Intervention Model against child labour at the national level 2020-2021.
  • Strengthen the social dialogue and institutionality of the Regional Directing Committees for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor (CDRPETI) during 2020.
  • Implement and link the Child Labor Risk Identification Model – MIRTI to the MIDISTRITO platform of the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, for better decision-making in public policy in relation to the prevention and eradication of child labor at the level of local governments (2020).
  • Promote supply chains free of child labor in sectors with high incidence and / or at greater risk of child labor (2019-2021).
  • Carry out a pilot survey on the prevalence of forced labor in the Cusco region (2019 – 2020) and to roll out the survey nationally to ensure statistical information is available by 2025.
  • Promote the process of submission of the 2014 Protocol on the ILO Forced Labor Convention.
  • Implement the Third National Plan for the Fight against Forced Labor 2019–2022.
  • Develop a project for the reintegration of victims of forced labor and/or human trafficking for the purposes of labor and sexual exploitation, during 2020-2021.

Progress

Success of Peru as a Pathfinder Country

  • Launch of the Recognition “Seal Free of Child Labor” –SELTI, distinctive granted to legal persons (companies, associations, cooperatives) for the promotion of supply chains free of child labour in sectors with high incidence and / or risk of child labour
  • Inter-institutional Cooperation Agreement between the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion and National Institute of Statistics and Information Technology, which aims at carrying out the collection and processing of information on the prevalence of forced labour in the Cusco region
  • Ratification of Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930
  • Approval of the Annual Operational Plan for the implementation of the III National Plan to Combat Forced Labour 2019 – 2022.

Strengthening the legal framework

  • While Peru as pathfinder country has committed to a number of priorities to tackle child labour and forced labour, additional efforts have been directed towards strengthening the legal framework and national policies against human trafficking. For example:
    • Decentralization of public policies on trafficking
    • Implementation of the National Plan against Human Trafficking 2017-2021
    • Implementation of 23 regional plans against human trafficking in line with the National Plan on Human Trafficking
    • International agreements with Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Argentina
    • Approval of the Project of Labour Reintegration of Victims of Forced Labor and/or Human Trafficking for Labour and Sexual Exploitation by the Board of Directors of FONDOEMPLEO

Success in the area of Child Labour

Capacity building for the Regional Steering Committee for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labour (Comité Directivo Regional para la Prevencion y la Erradicación del Trabajo Infantil – CDRPETI) by updating CDRPETI’s situational diagnosis and providing technical assistance on the development and monitoring of work plans for the prevention and eradication of child labour.

The Municipal Model for the Detection and Eradication of Child Labour was designed, based on the experiences obtained by four (4) municipalities of the country, which have implemented, as pilot tests, a municipal management model that identifies and refers cases of child labour to competent entities for their comprehensive care.

Classification of the national territory according to the probability of occurrence of child labour, through the application of the Child Labour Risk Identification Model, which implies the initiation of prioritized, concrete actions in the districts with the highest probability of occurrence of child labour.

Success in the area of Forced Labor

Ratification of the “Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labor Convention, 1930”, through Supreme Decree No. 015-2021-RE, published in the Official Gazette El Peruano on April 21, 2021.

 

Next steps

  1. Promote the creation and implementation of the Municipal Model for the Detection and Eradication of Child Labour in prioritised local governments based on the results of the MIRTI (Child Labour Risk Identification Model)

  2. Implementation of the Monitoring Platform 8.7 with the Regional Steering Committees for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labour

  3. Dissemination of the results of the MIRTI through the MIDIStrito platform of the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion

  4. Implementation of training modules on child labour in the agricultural sector

  5. Completion of the survey and the preparation of the report with the analysis of the results.

  6. Implementation of the POA 2021 of the III PNLCTF 2019-2022, adjusted in the framework of the health emergency by COVID-19

  7. Approval of the Project for the reintegration into the labour market of victims of forced labour and/or human trafficking for the purpose of labour and sexual exploitation, considering the reformulation due to the health emergency by COVID-19, by the Board of Directors of FONDOEMPLEO

  8. Implementation of the National Policy on Trafficking in Persons and its forms of exploitation

  9. The implementation of the national policy is a process, which will be seen as the operational activities and the progress of indicators by all those involved take shape

  10. Meeting of the Police System for the Investigation of Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (Meeting of the heads and police personnel of the units investigating trafficking in persons)

Resources

Updates

  • 10 Jul 2020
    family work

    High-Level Political Forum 2020: Achieving SDG Target 8.7 and universal social protection in times of COVID-19 The High-level Political Forum on Sust..

    Read more
  • 12 Sep 2019
    family work

    In the presence of more than 100 representatives of public and private institutions, employers’  and workers' organizations, NGOs, academia and the..

    Read more
  • 11 Jun 2020
    family work

    Honduras, Vietnam, Fiji, Guatemala, Nigeria, Albania, Mexico, Chile, Uganda, Costa Rica and Nepal have all launched video messages during the week-lon..

    Read more
  • 29 May 2020
    family work

    The human rights and labour rights of the most vulnerable must be at the heart of the COVID-19 response 1. The COVID-19 pandemic could reverse year..

    Read more
Home Peru

Peru