Santillana Chile supports the fight against child labor

Santillana Chile has officially joined the Committee for the Elimination of Child Labour, a body made up of over forty Chilean companies, government agencies and international institutions which include UNICEF, ILO (International Labour Office) and the Latin American Network Against Child Labour (LACTI).

Santillana will provide expertise in the area of education and will promote initiatives aimed at raising awareness of the need to eradicate child labor. The initiatives proposed for 2013 include the inclusion of this issue in textbooks and the development of a methodological guide, in collaboration with Fundación Telefónica, to orient companies and employers. Furthermore, the publishing house will carry out an awareness campaign in schools to provide information on best practices in the prevention and eradication of child labor.

As an active member of the Committee for the Elimination of Child Labour, Santillana actively participated in the body’s first meeting this year, chaired by the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Evelyn Matthei. The minister paid tribute to the progress of the committee in the area of research and investigation on child labor, as borne out by data from a national survey carried out by the ministry in collaboration with the ILO.

More than 196,000 children and adolescents currently work in Chile. Of these, 107,000 do so in unacceptable conditions and in contravention of the legal minimum age for employment (15), they do not attend school, they work on the streets, at night, and with longer working days than those legally established for all workers.