Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Honduras (Ratification: 2001)

Article 6 of the Convention. Programmes of action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the adoption of the Plan of Action for the Elimination of Child Labour (2008–15), one of the objectives of which is to remove children from hazardous types of work and the worst forms of child labour. The Committee also noted that the Government was in the process of formulating a Roadmap to achieve the objectives set out in “Decent Work in the Americas: An agenda for the Hemisphere”, namely the elimination of the worst forms of child labour by 2015 and the eradication of child labour in all its forms by 2020.

The Committee notes that the Government together with the ILO–IPEC formulated a Roadmap for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labour and its Worst Forms. The Committee notes the Government’s indications that the Roadmap provides the basis for strategic programming and the link between the different policies and measures which have a direct or indirect impact on the prevention and eradication of child labour, the fight against its worst forms and the protection of young workers. The Roadmap sets out action at the regional, subregional and local level and contains dimensions on poverty, health, education, the protection of rights, capacity building, awareness raising and creating a knowledge base on child labour. The Committee notes that the Government through Executive Decrees PCM-011-2011 of February 2011 and PCM-056-2011 of August 2011, approved the Roadmap as national policy instructing all secretariats and their dependencies to incorporate the eradication of child labour into their institutional and strategic planning processes. The Committee notes from the Government’s report and on the basis of the report of June 2012 on the ILO–IPEC project entitled “Eliminating Child Labour in Latin America (Phase IV)” that the Government has finalized the programming measures for 2012–14 to implement the Roadmap.

The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the specific measures adopted and results achieved through the implementation of the Plan of Action for the Elimination of Child Labour (2008–15) and the Roadmap for the Eradication of Child Labour to eliminate the worst forms of child labour.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (d). Children at special risk. Children orphaned or vulnerable due to HIV/AIDS. The Committee noted previously on the basis of information from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization and the Committee on the Rights of the Child that the increasing incidence of the virus in the country is a cause of concern. It observed that the Government was implementing various programmes of action targeting children orphaned or vulnerable due to HIV/AIDS. The Committee noted that according to the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) Country Progress Report to UNAIDS in March 2010, there were a total of 61,849 child orphans and other vulnerable children in Honduras in 2009. The Committee requested the Government to intensify its efforts to protect orphans living with HIV/AIDS from the worst forms of child labour and provide information in this regard.

The Committee notes the absence of information on this point in the Government’s report. However, the Committee notes the information in Honduras’s UNGASS Country Progress Report of March 2012 that the Government in 2010 started a programme targeting children orphaned or vulnerable due to HIV/AIDS comprising health, education, psychological assistance, nutrition, income assistance and housing improvement services. The programme is estimated to reach 21,170 children below 18 years of age in the next four years. By December 2011, 3,626 children were provided assistance by the programme. The Committee also notes the information that only 25 per cent of children between the ages of 10–14 years old who have lost both parents are in the educational system.

Considering that the HIV/AIDS pandemic has serious consequences for orphans who are likely to be exposed to the worst forms of child labour, the Committee again requests the Government to intensify its efforts to prevent child orphans of HIV/AIDS from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour and to ensure their rehabilitation and social integration, in particular, in education and it requests the Government to provide information on the specific measures taken in this respect.

Article 8. International and regional cooperation. Poverty reduction. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that according to the results of the 2010 household survey conducted by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) 66 per cent of the population in Honduras lives in poverty and 45 per cent in extreme poverty. The Committee underlined the importance for the Government of undertaking measures targeting the effective reduction of poverty among children at risk of being engaged in or who are victims of the worst forms of child labour, within the framework of its Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme and requested the Government to provide information in its next report on the measures taken in this respect.

The Committee notes in this regard that one of the main components of the abovementioned Roadmap for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labour and its Worst Forms is the fight against poverty and the Roadmap for this purpose sets out a detailed strategy with goals, indicators, target groups and results to be achieved. The Committee also notes the Government’s information provided in its report concerning the implementation of the conditional cash transfer programme Bono 10.000. The objective of the programme is to reduce the intergenerational transmission of poverty through extending financial assistance to families with minors under 18 years of age conditional on children’s school attendance. The programme, which started in 2010, benefits so far 345,000 families and expects by the end of 2014 to reach 600,000 families. Finally, the Committee notes the information provided in the Government’s report concerning the implementation of a project entitled Mi Primer Empleo, which targets unemployed young persons aged between 15 and 19 years who have left the educational system and are living in poverty in urban areas. The project provides vocational training to these young persons in order to improve their possibilities to enter the labour market. The goal of the project is to benefit 3,393 young persons.

The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information in its next report on the measures taken to target the effective reduction of poverty among children at risk of being engaged in or who are victims of the worst forms of child labour, particularly in the framework of the Roadmap for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labour and its Worst Forms, the Bono 10.000 project and the Mi Primer Empleo project.