IOM in Colombia has joined forces with Colombia's Emerald Federation (Fedesmeraldas), the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in a new project aimed at ending child labour in the emeralds mines.
Child labour has been a staple for the past two decades in the municipality of Muzo, in the Department of Boyacá, the main producer of Colombian emeralds. Many mothers left widowed in the 1980s and 1990s by ongoing violence have been forced to take their children to work in the mines so as to earn enough to feed the family.
The new project, which targets working families, includes the strengthening of school infrastructure in Muzo by building additional classrooms, bathrooms, a teacher's lounge and a playground, as well as the expansion of classes to three sessions per day to allow for all of the children in the area to attend school. Seminars and psychosocial support for families will also be provided.
"The project is focused on discouraging child labour and on helping the families. But as a consequence, IOM and its partners are hoping to quash any possibility of child trafficking," explains José Angel Oropeza, IOM Chief of Mission in Colombia.
The Department of Boyacá is one of the regions with the highest level of child labour. According to ILO figures extracted from the official National Household Survey of 2007, there are 8,499 children in Colombia working in mines and quarries extracting gold, emeralds, coal and clay.
With USAID funding of US $500,000, the project will directly benefit 300 families with children and adolescents working in the emerald mines or at risk of becoming child labourers in the mining municipalities of Muzo and San Pablo de Borbur.
María Sichaca, a mother belonging to the Parents' Association of the school in Muzo, says that the initiative is very important and has been needed for a long time. "The children should not be working in the mines exposed to all of the associated dangers. They should be studying and playing," says María.
For more information please contact Juliana Quintero, IOM Bogotá, Tel: +57.1.5946410 ext 133, Email: juquintero@iom.int