Home-based child labour increases

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Statistics issued in November 2000 indicate that illegal child labour on industrial premises has decreased in Portugal. However, research reveals that at the same time many tasks, once performed at industrial workplaces, are now being performed by children at home. Public authorities and trade unions have proposed various measures to combat this trend.

In November 2000, the General Labour Inspectorate (Inspecção Geral do Trabalho, IGT) published the results of inspections carried out between January and August 2000 in companies throughout the country. These show that there has been a 40% drop since the same period in 1999 in the number of identified cases of child labour in companies. Despite the greater number of inspection visits carried out by the authorities, 59 fewer cases of illegal child labour were registered. Child labour has been a persistent problem in Portugal for many years (PT9902128F).

However, a recent study carried out by a research team from Minho University (Universidade do Minho) has found that home-based manual child labour has started to replace traditional forms of child labour. Under the government's "Plan to eradicate the exploitation of child labour" (Plano para a Eliminação da Exploração do Trabalho Infantil, PEETI), child labour has decreased in industrial workplaces, but it has increased in the home-based setting, thus making the situation more difficult to monitor and control. Aware of this situation, the public authorities have announced the following measures:

• the General Labour Inspectorate plans closely to monitor companies that have shown signs of using this type of child labour through subcontracting; and
• the secretary of state for labour and training has stated that it is necessary to improve social policies and develop community projects that involve parents and educators, in order to combat the belief that child labour is, at times, a necessity for the improvement of family revenue.

In order to combat child labour, the General Workers' Union (União Geral dos Trabalhadores, UGT) has suggested:

• creating a "national secretariat for the protection of minors";
• creating incentives for young people from poor families to stay in school;
• setting up systems to help prevent school failure and early school-leaving; and
• revision of the legal framework covering minors and of the sanctions (including criminal prosecution) for violation of the rules.

The General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses, CGTP) has stated that child labour should be combated through:

• policies that foster high-quality education;
• local infrastructures, including sports, cultural and recreational facilities;
• combating organised networks that distribute piecework to children at home; and
• criminal prosecution of managers who exploit child labour.

New forms of home-based work, such as teleworking, are now emerging (PT0011121F). However, home-based industrial processes that make use of child labour, which have always been present in Portugal, persist and are far from being a positive or dynamic way of preparing young people for the future.