The experience of the Child Care Centres (CCC) that the province carries forward was selected to be presented at the 4th World Summit against Child Labour. Thus, the Undersecretary of Policies on Employment and Decent Work, Guillermo Cherner, within the framework of the visit of Gustavo Ponce, Argentine representative before the ILO (International Labour Organization).
The officials, accompanied by the Senator for the Capital, Emilio Jatón, toured the facilities at the Child Care Centre that operates in Angel Gallardo, in the commune of Monte Vera.
During the visit, the officials conversed with the mothers of the children who attend the Angel Gallardo Care Center.
In recognition of the policy results, Cherner said that "the experience of the province with the Care Centres is one of the five selected from Latin America to be presented at the IV World Summit against Child Labour that will take place in Mar del Plata in November".
After the talk, Emilio Jatón said: "The children told us their stories, one of them worked on the farms when he was a child. It is important for parents to know that they can now leave their children in safe hands".
"It is a complex issue and the quest for solutions is not simple, we are in coordination with the ILO and local governments that are key actors to struggle against this problem,” remarked Guillermo Cherner." “ILO proposes that by 2025 there should be no child working, and the Government of the province is generating policies that will allow us to reach that goal. We know that it is difficult, because child labour is often invisible or even culturally accepted, and that is what it is to be combated. Care Centres along with inspections and audits provide a fundamental social containment to address this issue," he added.
For his part, Ponce said: "always is a pleasure to talk with people. One of the mothers told that now he could have time to study. It is then interesting to listen that way with these actions the stories of child workers are interrupted and how other doors, other stories are also enabled".
SURVEY ON CHILD LABOUR IN ARGENTINA
During the meeting, Ponce said that it is being applied a new survey at the national level taking the model of the 2004 one that was carried out in the country on child labour. This survey, as opposed to those whose universe was reaching large cities, puts the focus on the populations of less than 2000 inhabitants.
"Globally, 60 per cent of child labour is in agricultural areas,'' he said.
ABOUT THE CCC
The CCC in Angel Gallardo, inaugurated by Governor Miguel Lifschitz last April, is one of the more than 30 Child Care Centres in the province and is the first dedicated primarily to boys and girls from the Bolivian community, who live in the area and work in horticultural production. Child Care Centres are aimed at preventing domestic and/or hazardous child labour and the worst forms of adolescent labour in urban and rural areas. The centres provide comprehensive care for the social protection of children from 0 to 4 years old and schooled children with discontinuous school trajectories (repetition, over age, repeated absences, school drop-outs).
The opening of the Care Centres allows parents to fulfil their working days with the peace of mind that their young children are in a safe place, with appropriate care that guarantee their correct feeding, hygiene, health, training and stimulation according to their age.
