Brazil and Belize strengthen response to eradicate child labour

Brazil and Belize, two member countries of the Child Labour Free Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Initiative*, held a workshop on the exchange of good practices in labour inspection, use of data and integration of social protection from 24 to 28 June in Belize City. The event was attended by government officials, representatives of employers‘ and workers’ organizations from the host country, as well as representatives of the Ministries of Labour and Social Development of Brazil. This initiative was made possible thanks to the Brazil-ILO South-South Cooperation Programme and the Support to the Child Labour Free Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Initiative project.

The Minister of Rural Transformation, Community Development, Labour and Local Government of Belize, Hon. Oscar Requena, said of the meeting: ‘I believe that together, as a region (Brazil and Belize), we can support each other, collaborate, learn and, at the same time, achieve the goal of eliminating Child Labour’.

The Brazilian Ambassador to Belize, H.E. Agemar Sanctos, emphasised: ‘The fight against child labour is a constant struggle, a struggle that will only end the day we get all children in developing countries into school, and achieve the necessary social conditions’.

During the mission, Belize shared the context of child labour in the country and the scope of its strategic plan 2022-2025. Among the country's good practices, close collaboration with employers‘ and workers’ groups to combat child labour in key economic sectors was highlighted.

For its part, Brazil reported on the experiences developed in differentiated labour inspections and the use of data and technological tools, such as the Observatory for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labour. This observatory collects, in a geo-referenced manner and in real time, data on child labour complaints and their attention.  They also presented the Observatory of the Unified Registry of the Brazilian Ministry of Social Development, a key tool for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of social care and protection programmes.

For several years, Brazil has implemented a strong and strategic labour inspection programme aimed at improving the detection of improper labour practices and ensuring compliance with existing regulations, which has contributed to a steady decline in child labour. Similarly, the strengthening of social protection policies and programmes, through improved data collection and analysis on the multidimensional well-being of families and children, has also contributed to the better protection of children and adolescents in Brazil.

These successful experiences in the prevention and eradication of child labour are remarkable for their concrete achievements and their potential for replicability in other contexts.

Monica Salmito, representative of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), said: ‘ABC is committed to achieving a child labour free region. To achieve this, we firmly believe in dialogue and south-south cooperation’.

During the 4 days of exchanges, more than 60 labour inspection officials, Belizean authorities (members of the National Committee on Child Labour) and representatives of employers‘ and workers’ organisations reflected on labour inspection, the use of data and comprehensive social protection mechanisms for the prevention of child labour.

‘Social justice is achieved through decent work and decent work also means that children and adolescents are free from child labour,’ said Natanael Lopez, Project Officer at the ILO office in Brazil.

Following an invitation from Belize, the workshops were coordinated through the Technical Secretariat of the Regional Initiative, the ILO Subregional Office for the Caribbean and the ILO Office for Brazil, with the technical and financial support of the Brazilian Agency for International Cooperation (ABC), a partner in the Brazil-ILO South-South cooperation programme.

Commitment to child labour free sugar

Within the framework of the exchange day, the Northern Sugar Cane Growers Association and the Ministry of Rural Transformation of Belize signed a memorandum of understanding for the prevention and eradication of child labour. This agreement seeks to strengthen the already existing collaboration to make sugar cane production in Belize child labour free.

Check out the photos of the 3-day meeting

The Regional Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labour is a space where 31 countries have been working in an articulated and tripartite manner to achieve the first generation of people free from child labour in the region.

Currently, the Regional Initiative is composed of: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela; together with the International Employers Organization (IEO) and the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA-CSA).

The Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labour operates with the technical assistance of the ILO and the sustained support of its partners, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the Andalusian Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AACID), the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), and the United States Department of Labor (USDOL).