The recent Child Labor Survey (ETI) in Panama shows that in the last two years two thousand eight hundred and fifty-five children and adolescents have been withdrawn from child labor, since in 2016 there were 23,855 underage workers and one 2.5% incidence rate of child labor in the country. 

The survey, carried out last October by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) with the technical support of the International Labor Organization (ILO), also recorded the following figures:              

The results obtained by this country show its progress towards achieving Target 8.7 of the 2030 Agenda, which calls for ending child labor between now and 2025. 

According to Nohely Nieto, Director of the Directorate Against Child Labor and Protection of Adolescent Workers of the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development of Panama, among the main actions implemented by the Ministry, the four operational programs stand out as a strategic framework for inter-institutional action of the Roadmap to Make Panama a Country Free of Child Labor and its Worst Forms in the periods 2011-2013, 2014, and 2015-2019, with support from the ILO.

According to José Morales, ILO Technical Advisor for Panama, other factors that may have benefited this reduction are the sustained growth in employment in the last eight years, allowing families to have higher incomes and not resort to child labor; the reduction of small-scale agricultural activity, which implies that fewer children and adolescents are inserted in the sector; the promotion of schooling with conditional cash transfer programs; and, the intense campaigns and targeted actions against child labor.

Likewise, Morales stressed that the country must continue to intensify its actions to achieve Target 8.7 and proposed the following key steps:

1. Consolidate the commitment of the high political level in the fight against child labor and strengthen the participation of other sectors such as the Ministry of Education.

2. Identify critical areas, such as indigenous comarcas, to initiate dialogues that facilitate the creation of common solutions to remove and keep children from child labor.

Additionally, Nieto highlighted that one of the priority actions to achieve the goal is the installation at the national level of the local care routes, which will involve a procedure agreed upon by multiple actors to organize the individual actions of each one and articulate them among themselves.

Panama in the sub-regional and regional context

On the other hand, it is worth mentioning that Panama had the responsibility, together with Costa Rica, of leading the processes of the Central America Regional Action Plan of the Council of Ministers of Labor of the subregion; which, among other aspects, addresses the issue of prevention and eradication of child labor as a priority and that proposes to implement a child labor observatory to facilitate the exchange of information and good practices on the subject.

In addition, it is one of the 27 countries that make up the Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean free of child labor, which has allowed it to promote and facilitate South-South cooperation actions for the exchange of experiences.

For example, in 2015 an exchange of experiences was carried out with Ecuador within the framework of the project “Construction of Effective Policies against child labor in Ecuador and Panama”. The objective of this was to strengthen the policies and improve the institutional capacities necessary to deal with child labor in vulnerable groups such as indigenous populations, Afro-descendants, migrants and people with disabilities from both countries. With the results, the  Guide for the exchange of good practices and lessons learned to combat child labor and promote decent work was published .

More results from the Child Labor Survey

To read the full results, click  here .