More than 50% of Argentine children work to help their families

More than 50% of children in Argentina work on their own to help their families, according to the Survey of Activities of Girls, Boys and Adolescents (EANNA), promoted by the Ministry of Labor of the southern country.

Buenos Aires, Nov 16 (EFE) .- More than 50% of children in Argentina work on their own to help their families, as revealed today by the Girls, Boys and Girls Activities Survey Adolescents (EANNA), promoted by the Ministry of Labor of the southern country.

Specifically, 715,484 children between 5 and 15 years old participate in productive activities in urban areas and rural areas throughout the country, and represent 9.4% of the total population.

During an intervention at the IV World Conference on the Sustainable Eradication of Child Labor, the Minister of the sector, Jorge Triaca, officially presented the data of the EANNA and launched the National Plan for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor and Protection of Work Adolescent.

"We have worked on the basis of a clear dialogue and consensus with the different actors to know where we are in relation to child labor," said Triaca at the conference, held in Buenos Aires.

The head remarked that "there is a diagnosis, there is a plan and from tomorrow you just have to start doing it."

Child labor in Argentina integrates market activities, equivalent to 3.7% of the population; 57.5% of girls and boys in the urban area are explained by the need to help their family on their own.

In rural areas, the number reaches 50.1%. of girls and boys who work, among the urban population, does not attend school, while in rural areas the percentage is 10.1.

"Although the presence of girls and boys in Child labor situation has the highest incidence in the NOA region (northwestern Argentina), the central area of �??�??the country is the one with the highest number, in absolute terms ", argued for his part the undersecretary of Technical Programming and Labor Studies, José de Anchorena.

Unlike previous studies - the latest available data were elaborated in 2004-, the EANNA is national in scope and has regional representation, and includes remote rural areas.

The initiative was carried out through 26,115 surveys in areas urban areas between October 2016 and January 2017, in localities of 2,000 or more inhabitants, while rural coverage gathered 9,697 effective surveys, during June and September of 2017, in clustered and dispersed rural populations of less than 2000 inhabitants.

The conference on the eradication of child labor, organized by the Argentine Ministry of Labor with the support from the World Labor Organization (ILO), began on Tuesday and ends today, and sought to advance in curbing this scourge, which affects 1 in 10 children in the world.

During the meeting, companies, foundations and governments of almost two hundred countries have met to reduce the current figures, which indicate that there are 152 million children victims of work child labor and 25 million people in forced labor, including 5.7 million children, according to UN data.