Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

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

Articles 3(a) and (b), and 7(1) of the Convention. Sale and trafficking of children; use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, and sanctions. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the comments by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) that trafficking of persons is on the increase in the country. The ITUC also indicated that, although most child victims of prostitution in Paraguay are girls, boys are also beginning to work in prostitution from the age of 13 and are often victims of trafficking to Italy. The Committee also noted that the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards, at the 100th Session of the International Labour Conference in June 2011, expressed its deep concern at the allegations of complicity of government officials with traffickers. It noted that the legislative committee of the inter-institutional round table on trafficking was preparing a Bill against trafficking to strengthen the existing legal framework.

The Committee takes due note of the adoption of Act No. 4788 of 13 December 2012 on trafficking in persons. It notes that its scope of application covers both internal and international trafficking and trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation or forced labour (sections 3 and 5). Act No. 4788 provides for prison sentences of between two and 15 years for the trafficking of children aged between 14 and 18 years (section 6), which can be increased to 20 years if the victim is under 14 years (section 7). The Committee also notes the provisions on the identification, protection and care of victims, particularly children and young persons, as well as the development of a national policy to prevent and combat trafficking in persons (section 48). However, the Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report still does not provide information on the number of cases of sale, trafficking and sexual exploitation of children and young persons recorded and of the sanctions imposed. It notes that, in its concluding observations of 29 October 2013, the Committee on the Rights of the Child also noted the lack of information on investigations and prosecutions for the sale and prostitution of children and for child pornography. It also expressed concern at the high level of corruption in the country, particularly among law enforcement officers, which means that investigations and prosecutions are not carried out properly (CRC/C/OPSC/PRY/CO/1, paragraph 36).

The Committee is also bound to express concern at the lack of statistical data on convictions for acts of trafficking and sexual exploitation in view of the extent of the phenomenon in the country, and at the allegations of complicity of government officials in these kinds of cases. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take immediate and effective measures to ensure the elimination of the sale, trafficking and sexual exploitation of children and young persons under 18 years of age in practice, making sure that thorough investigations and effective prosecutions of persons committing such offences, including government officials suspected of complicity, are completed and that effective and sufficiently dissuasive sanctions are imposed on offenders. It again requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the number of offences reported, investigations conducted, prosecutions, convictions and penal sanctions imposed.

Article 5. Monitoring mechanisms. Trafficking and sexual exploitation. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that, according to comments by the ITUC, very few controls are carried out at borders, which makes it easy to illegally transport children to Brazil or Argentina. The ITUC indicated that several Paraguayan officials from the Migration Department consider that they lack the authority to intervene in cases of trafficking and believe that the offence of trafficking can be committed only in the country of destination of the victims. It also asserted that the police lack personnel specializing in investigations into the sexual exploitation of children and that the law enforcement agencies do not clearly understand that children engaged in prostitution may be victims of a crime, and not criminals themselves.

The Committee notes that, although Act No. 4788 of 2012 on trafficking in persons provides for the implementation of a national policy to prevent and combat trafficking in persons (section 48), as well as for the preparation of guidelines on the identification of victims of trafficking by the inter-institutional round table (section 30), the Government’s report does not provide any information on the measures taken or envisaged to strengthen the capacities of the law enforcement bodies. In addition, it notes that, in its concluding observations of 29 October 2013, the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed its concern at the fact that efforts to ensure adequate training for law enforcement officials are not sufficient (CRC/C/OPSC/PRY/CO/1, paragraph 16). The Committee urges the Government to intensify its efforts to strengthen the capacities of the law enforcement bodies, particularly the police, the justice system and customs officials, in order to improve their capacity to identify cases of trafficking and sexual exploitation of children. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard within the framework of the national policy to prevent and combat trafficking in persons.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clauses (a) and (b). Preventing children from becoming engaged in and removing them from the worst forms of child labour, and ensuring their rehabilitation and social integration. Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that an anti-trafficking unit had been created within the Secretariat for Childhood and Adolescence (SNNA), for the purpose of assisting child victims of trafficking until they are reintegrated into society. In order to prevent and assist child victims of trafficking, SNNA regional offices have also been created in the border departments of Alto Paraná, Ciudad del Este and Encarnación.

The Committee takes due note of the adoption of the National Plan for the Prevention and Elimination of the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Young Persons (2012–17) (PNPEES). It also notes that Act No. 4788 of 2012 on trafficking in persons provides for the implementation of a national programme to prevent and combat trafficking in persons and to care for the victims. According to information provided by the Government in its report submitted under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), 98 cases of child victims were reported to the SNNA between June 2012 and July 2013 through the coordination unit for prevention and care of child and adolescent victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation. The Committee notes however that, in its concluding observations of 29 October 2013, the Committee on the Rights of the Child regretted the absence of programmes to assist the reintegration of child victims of sale, prostitution and pornography (CRC/C/OPSC/PRY/CO/1, paragraph 44). The Committee requests the Government to take immediate and effective measures to ensure the rehabilitation and social integration of child victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation. It requests the Government to provide information on the results obtained through the implementation of the PNPEES and of the national programme against trafficking, specifying the number of children removed from this worst form of labour who have benefited from such measures.

Clause (d). Children at special risk. Children working as domestic workers. The “criadazgo” system. The Committee previously noted the communication from the ITUC indicating that children living and working in domestic service in the houses of others in exchange for food, board and education (criadazgo) were very vulnerable to exploitation. According to the ITUC, as these children do not control their conditions of employment, the majority of them work under conditions of forced labour. The Committee also noted that, according to a study on child domestic work carried out in 2005 in cooperation with ILO–IPEC, 11 per cent of children between 10 and 17 years of age work in domestic service, two-thirds of whom are employed under the criadazgo system. At the 2011 Conference Committee on the Application of Standards, the Government representative stated that the Government was committed to taking specific measures through the National Committee for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour and the Protection of the Work of Young Persons (CONAETI) to protect children and young persons working for others, and was committed to implementing strategies to remedy the use of children in domestic work.

The Committee notes the Government’s indications on the launching of the national awareness-raising campaign “Let’s end criadazgo”, supported by the CONAETI. It notes that, according to the study on the extent and characteristics of work by children and young persons work in Paraguay published in 2013 by ILO–IPEC and the General Directorate of Statistics of Paraguay, the use of new indicators to measure the extent of the criadazgo system provided estimates of around 47,000 children and young persons under 18 years of age employed in this worst form of child labour (or 2.5 per cent of the total number of children under 18 years of age in the country), the vast majority of whom are girls. The Committee requests the Government to intensify its efforts to combat the exploitation of child labour in the criadazgo system. It requests the Government to provide information on the actions envisaged to protect these children and remove them from the worst forms of child labour, and to ensure their rehabilitation and social integration, in the framework of the implementation of the National Strategy to Prevent and Eliminate Child Labour and to Protect Young Workers (2010–15).

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.