Translated by Latisha Hicks
The newly established Inter-Ministerial Commission for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labour and the reform of Article 123 of the Constitution, Section three, will be insufficient if Mexico does not comply with the creation of the National System for Guarantee of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, said Juan Martin Pérez García, director of the Network for the Rights of Children in Mexico (Redim).
Regarding the federal executive's proposal to raise the minimum age to work in the country from 14 to 15 years old, he said that this recommendation should be complemented with the monitoring and regulation of child labor by the labor authorities.
To do this, it requires
"a careful approach to the phenomenon, because otherwise you run the risk of criminalizing poor families who are forced to rely on the income of their children to survive. Those families live in conditions of poverty, due of the absence of the Mexican State ensuring economic support and better employment for adults."He recalled that several studies show that there is a direct relationship between the decrease of family income and increase in children's employment, which is accentuated in communities with lower social development.
He said that,
"in the country there is very little monitoring of child labor, which has allowed employers and industry to commit abuse."This includes, he said, that there are economic activities that children perform against their will and which affect their healthy development because they are prevented from attending school, enjoying recreation and relaxation. Work in mining and industry are examples of the risks to which children are exposed.
"These are activities that do not correspond to their physical capacity, have high risks to their integrity, and happen outside of the contexts of family protection."Pérez García also referred to slave labor, which
"is a reality in some regions, especially in those where organized crime has major domain."Spanish original