Mexico began this month a project to combat child labor with a $13 million fund co-financed by the US government and the International Labor Organization (ILO).
The project is called “Building a Comprehensive Approach of the Government of Mexico to Combat Child Labor and Forced Labor” and will last from April 2022 to March 2027.
According to a 2020 ILO global report on the subject, progress against child labor has stalled and the Covid-19 pandemic crisis is likely to have pushed many more children into child labour.
According to the US Department of Labor (DOL), this is probably the situation in Mexico where, despite a government program broadcasting educational classes via the Internet, television and radio, initial reports they suggest that 2.5 million children did not continue their basic education and that the number of children engaged in child labor will increase by 5.5 percent.
School disruption is one of the underlying causes of child labour; however, more data is needed to fully assess the impact that the pandemic and other policy actions have had on the elimination of child labor and forced labor in Mexico.
Under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the Mexican government has committed to addressing labor rights violations, including those related to child labor.
In addition, as an active part of the Regional Initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labor (RILAC) and as a pioneer country in Alliance 8.7, Mexico has committed to accelerating efforts and testing new approaches to end forced labor and child labor. child labor in all its aspects.
However, the DOL stated that Mexico still does not have a national strategy to articulate federal and state plans on child labor in a coordinated manner.
Resources, limiting
The Mexican government has limited resources dedicated to implementing a national strategy to address child and forced labor and establishing strategic alliances with other countries in the region.
The Ministry of Labor, which is responsible for spearheading these efforts, lacks sufficient resources and experience to update policies, strategic plans, and programming at the federal, state, and municipal levels to address child labor and forced labor. effectively and sustainably.
Among other objectives, the project will provide technical expertise to build the capacity of the Mexican government to lead collaborative efforts with Central American countries to prevent migrant children in Mexico from engaging in child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking. , fulfilling Mexico’s commitments to the T-MEC, Alianza 8.7 and RILAC. The project will focus its state-level interventions within Chiapas, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo, as they are located in southern Mexico, which borders Central America.