Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2024, Publicación: 113ª reunión CIT (2025)

Convenio sobre política social (normas y objetivos básicos), 1962 (núm. 117) - Guatemala (Ratificación : 1989)

Parts I and II of the Convention. Improvement of standards of living. The Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government with regard to the progress made with the “K’atun National Development Plan: Our Guatemala 2032”, which is a long-term national development policy, in particular the information related to the component “Wealth for All”. The Committee also notes the information provided on Guatemala’s foreign trade, competitiveness and investment policy during this period. In the statistical information provided, the Government indicates that the annual growth rate of real gross domestic product (GDP) contracted in 2020 as a result of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, while it recovered significantly in 2021. Regarding job creation, the Government indicates that the income insecurity brought about by the pandemic is clear in the latest data reported for this indicator. The Committee also notes the information provided by the Government on the Plan for Municipal Development and Land Planning. The Government indicates that it has supported the elaboration of 326 municipal development plans and that 65 municipalities have been prioritized in follow-up to the implementation process, and also that, in January 2023, a progress rate of 95 per cent was reported in the prioritized municipalities. The Committee notes that, currently, no municipalities have submitted information on the monitoring and progress of the management carried out in their areas. The Committee notes the progress and outcomes of the actions related to the National Decent Employment Policy 2017–32. The Government has conducted several actions under the second component: Development of human capital of the National Decent Employment Policy to improve the employability of women, including with regard to care, advice, training, skills development, awareness-raising, promotion of breastfeeding facilities, and support for victims of violence. The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare has developed an inclusive employment programme to facilitate access to employment for workers with disabilities. Regarding indigenous populations, actions have been carried out under the first component on job creation, and under the second component on development of human capital to reduce inequalities and create opportunities. Furthermore, the Protection Unit for Young Workers organizes informative talks and manages minimum age certificates for admission to employment. The Committee notes that, according to information from the World Bank, after the COVID-19 pandemic, economic growth in the country returned to a level that was higher than the average for Latin America and the Caribbean, and that Guatemala’s GDP grew by 4.1 per cent in 2022 and by 3.5 per cent in 2023, and that it is expected to increase by 3 per cent in 2024. However, according to the World Bank, Guatemala’s sound economic growth has not translated into a strong reduction in poverty. The Committee also observes that the country is still facing persistent challenges related to high levels of underemployment and informal employment (in 2019, the share of informal employment was approximately 65 per cent), which means that many workers are still fighting to meet their basic needs. There are also significant gaps in social protection despite the efforts to improve the national social protection system (ILO, Fact Sheet: Employment and Migration. Guatemala 2021). Taking into account the aforementioned challenges, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide detailed and updated information on the initiatives undertaken with a view to ensuring that “improvement of standards of living” is considered as “the principal objective in the planning of economic development” (Article 2 of the Convention), as well as information on the results of those initiatives, including statistical information disaggregated by sex, age and region of the country.

Article 4. Promotion of the productive capacity and improvement of the standards of living of agricultural producers. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the results of the programmes implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food between 2019 and 2023, disaggregated by the department and linguistic community of the beneficiaries. The Committee notes the actions carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food in favour of agricultural producers, in the following areas: (i) improvement of productive systems in support of the family economy; (ii) assistance in the management and conservation of natural resources; (iii) improvements in production and marketing systems; and (iv) financial assistance to modernize their productive systems. These actions were taken into account under Programme 11 on support for family farming, Programme 12 on the sustainable development of natural resources, and Programme 13 on support for agricultural and hydrobiological productivity and competitiveness. The Committee notes the information on the programmes coordinated by the Ministry of Social Development, through the Social Development Fund, to provide populations living in poverty and destitution with agricultural tools and food, among other inputs. In its previous report, the Government indicated that it had adopted the Strategic Agenda 2012–25 of the Land Fund, of which the objective for 2025 was to facilitate access to land for 784,764 families over a total of 1,333,300 hectares. The Government also indicated that it had implemented the State Land Regularization Programme, as part of the second component of the Strategic Agenda 2012–25, to formalize the allocation and use of State lands, through the granting of the respective public deeds. The Committee observes that, in its latest report, the Government does not refer to the current status of these two policies. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on the governmental initiatives adopted to promote the productive capacity and improve the standards of living of agricultural producers and their effects on the standards of living of agricultural producers; and requests it to include, in its next report, detailed information, including statistics disaggregated by sex, age and department, on the results of such initiatives. The Committee also requests the Government to provide updated information on the implementation status of the Strategic Agenda 2012–25 of the Land Fund and the State Land Regularization Programme.

Article 5. Minimum standards of living. In its previous direct request, the Committee noted the observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in which it regretted the alarming level of poverty in rural areas of the country, the limited budget allocated to the Ministry of Social Development, the limited number of families benefiting from the Mi bono seguro programme, and the high rates of acute malnutrition in children under the age of five (E/C.2/GTM/CO/3, paragraphs 20 and 21). The Government indicates that the National Survey of Living Conditions, which consists of statistical research providing indicators on the living conditions and well-being of the population, was conducted for the fifth time in 2023 and the results will be available in 2024. The Government indicates that the Ministry of the Economy, during the period 2019–22, implemented a programme to improve the competitiveness and trade capacity of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and cooperatives, which contributes to improvements in the areas requested. The Government indicates that the National Institute of Statistics, in the light of official research on living conditions, sent information on the National Surveys of Living Conditions carried out by the National Institute of Statistics during the period 2000–14. The Government adds that the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food, through the Directorate of Geographic Information and Risk Management, has conducted studies that assess municipalities according to determinants of chronic malnutrition. The Government also refers to the Baseline Report on the Great National Campaign for Nutrition 2021–22, prepared by the Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the inquiries that have been conducted or are envisaged in this area, in particular those carried out “with the representative organizations of employers and workers” to ascertain the minimum standards of living, in conformity with Article 5(1) of the Convention and, where appropriate, to indicate the manner in which “such essential family needs of the workers as food and its nutritive value, housing, clothing, medical care and education” have been taken into account in “ascertaining the minimum standards of living”, in accordance with Article 5(2) of the Convention. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate the manner in whichthe representative organizations of employers and workers have been involved in the conduct of official inquiries on living conditions.

Part IV. Remuneration of workers. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the court rulings related to the matters covered by Article 12 of the Convention and those covered by section 99 of the Labour Code (wage advances). The Government indicates that: (i) according to the Secretary-General of the Office of the Head of the Judiciary, there are no rulings on matters covered by Article 12 of the Convention and only one ruling on matters under section 99 of the Labour Code was found; (ii) the Constitutional Court handed down a ruling related to section 99 of the Labour Code; (iii) according to the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, the rules governing wage advances are not an aspect of the law that has been raised with the Directorate of Labour Law Development; and (iv) according to the General Labour Inspectorate, in the specified period, no complaints related to these provisions were filed. The Government also indicates that the functions of the General Labour Inspectorate include ensuring compliance with the indicated standards and, where complaints are filed, the General Labour Inspectorate must also apply Government Decision No. 7-80, section 2.1 of which prohibits deductions from workers’ wages that are not expressly authorized by law. The Committee refers once again to section 99 of the Labour Code, which provides that: “Debts that the worker contracts with the employer [in relation to wage advances…] shall be paid back in full, over a minimum of five pay periods, except when the worker voluntarily pays them back over a shorter period”. In its previous direct request, the Committee expressed its understanding that certain provisions of the professional rules referred to by the Government were not in compliance with section 99 of the Labour Code, such as in the professional rules of the Collective Agreement on Terms and Conditions of Work of the Coffee Industries Enterprise Ltd, clause 86 of which establishes that the worker shall pay back the advance received “over a period of not more than four weeks”. The Committee once again draws the Government’s attention to Article 12 of the Convention, which requires the competent authority to take measures to: (i) regulate the maximum amounts and manner of repayment of wage advances; (ii) limit the amount of advances which may be made to a worker in consideration of that worker taking up employment, and that the amount of advances permitted are clearly explained to the worker; and (iii) provide that any advance in excess of the amount laid down by the competent authority is legally irrecoverable and may not be recovered by the withholding of amounts of pay due to the worker at a later date. The Committee once again emphasizes the importance of ensuring that full effect is given to Article 12 of the Convention and requests the Government to provide information on the measures adopted or envisaged to give effect in practice to Article 12 of the Convention.