DECREE 859 OF 1995
(May 26)
Official Gazette No. 41865 of May 26, 1995
MINISTRY OF LABOR AND SOCIAL SECURITY
By which the Inter-institutional Committee for the eradication of
Child Labor and Child Labor Protection
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
In the exercise of its constitutional and legal powers and in particular of
that conferred by Decree Law 1050 of 1968
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CONSIDERING:
That Article 44 of the Political Constitution states that minors must be protected against all labor or economic exploitation and risky work; and that their rights prevail over the rights of others.
That the Colombian State, through Law 12 of 1991, approved the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on November 20, 1989, pledging to disseminate and guarantee the fulfillment of the rights of children and girls
That the National Government considers it a priority to ensure the wellbeing of children as a strategy to overcome poverty, for which the actions for the eradication of the work of children under fourteen years of age are contemplated in the Bases for the National Development Plan, discouraging their labor participation.
That pursuant to the provisions of article 29, numerals 14 and 15 of Decree 2145 of 1992, corresponds to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, through the Technical Directorate of Labor, the functions of "coordinating and developing actions with public entities, private, national and international, related to the minor worker, aimed at improving their social and labor conditions "and" propose and apply rules and procedures to guarantee the rights of working children and seek the improvement of their working conditions. "
For this purpose, it is planned to promote the schooling of children, the granting of subsidies to women, heads of households with children in basic education, the active search for minors who perform high-risk work, the definition of alternatives that allow modify the working conditions of minors and their separation from high risk or antisocial activities, strengthening the monitoring and control mechanisms for compliance with current legislation on the matter.
That it is necessary to create a high-level inter-institutional instrument that develops and promotes a national action plan for the progressive eradication of child labor and the protection of child laborers between fourteen (14) and eighteen (18) years
DECREE:
ARTICLE 1o. The INTERINSTITUTIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE ERADICATION OF CHILD LABOR AND THE PROTECTION OF THE LESSER WORKER attached to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security is created on a permanent basis:
ARTICLE 2o. The Committee will be composed of:
1. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security, who will preside over it or the Labor Technical Director.
2. The Minister of Health or the Deputy Director of Occupational Health.
3. The Minister of National Education or the Director General of Pedagogical Research and Development.
4. The Communications Minister or the General Director of Social Communication.
5. The Director of the National Planning Department or his delegate.
6. The General Director of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute or the Deputy Director of Operations for Protection.
7. The General Director of the Colombian Institute of Youth and Sports or the Deputy Director of Sports Planning.
8. The General Director of the National Service of Learning SENA or the Deputy Director of Vocational Training and Social Development.
9. The Presidential Adviser for Social Policy or his delegate.
10. A representative of the Central Obrera that has the highest representativeness designated by it.
11. An employer representative appointed by the Business Council of Employers.
The Committee will have as permanent advisor a representative of the International Labor Organization O.I.T.
PARAGRAPH: In the absence of the Minister of Labor and Social Security, the Committee shall be chaired by one of the Ministers in the order of legal precedence. In the absence of the Ministers, the Technical Director of Labor will preside over the Committee.
ARTICLE 3o. The Inter-institutional Committee for the Eradication of Child Labor and the Protection of Child Labor will have the following functions:
1) Advise, coordinate and propose policies and programs aimed at improving the social status of the child worker and discourage the use of child labor.
2) Prepare and propose the National Plan of Action for the progressive elimination of child labor and the Protection of Working Minors between fourteen (14) and eighteen (18) years of age.
3) Strengthen coordination and coordination between public and private national and international institutions, related to the child worker, in order to define alternatives and strategies that reduce or eliminate the basic causes that generate child labor and promote the effectiveness of legislation about the work of minors between fourteen (14) and eighteen (18) years.
4) Propose for its adoption by the responsible entities procedures that guarantee the evaluation of the follow-up of the National Plan of Action for the Protection of the Working Child between fourteen (14) and eighteen (18) years.
5) Convene and advise the territorial entities for the adoption and application within their respective jurisdictions and competences, of the National Plan of Action for the progressive elimination of child labor and the protection of the child worker between fourteen (14) and eighteen (18) years .
6) The others determined by the Committee and of their nature.
ARTICLE 4o. The Committee will meet ordinarily every two (2) months and extraordinarily as many times as it may take place, at the invitation of its President, and to its meetings the representatives of the following entities may be invited: Delegate Ombudsman for the rights of the child, the woman and the old man; Delegate Attorney for the defense of the minor and the family; United Nations Fund for Children UNICEF and Colombian Confederation of non-governmental organizations.
In the Committee's opinion, representatives of other public and private entities, national or foreign, may be invited.
ARTICLE 5o. The Interinstitutional Committee will have a Technical Secretariat that will be in charge of the Division of Special Labor Relations of the Labor Technical Directorate of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, which will be responsible for the preparation of calls to meetings and carry the minutes of the sessions.
ARTICLE 6o. The entities that make up the Committee must inform the Committee about the adoption or difficulty in the applications of the procedures proposed by it, by means of a communication sent to the Technical Secretariat of the Committee, at least fifteen (15) days before the next meeting. .
ARTICLE 7o. The Inter-institutional Committee will have Departmental Coordinating Committees for the eradication of Child Labor and the Protection of Working Children, in departmental capitals, made up of the regional representatives of the national entities that are part of the inter-institutional Committee, and in the case in which they officials did not exist, the national entity, if it considers it appropriate, will proceed to appoint the delegate. These Departmental Committees will be chaired by the Regional or Sectional Directors of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
The Departmental Coordinating Committees will begin to function once the National Plan of Action for the Progressive Eradication of Child Labor and the Protection of Working Minors is adopted between fourteen (14) and eighteen (18) years; and promote the participation in their activities of territorial political and administrative authorities.
ARTICLE 8o. The present decree governs from the date of issuance.
PUBLISH AND COMPLY
Given in Santafé de Bogotá, D.C. at 26 May 1995
ERNESTO SAMPER PIZANO
MARIA SOL NAVIA VELASCO
Minister of Labor and Social Security
ALONSO GOMEZ DUQUE
Health Minister
ARTURO SARABIA BETTER
Minister of National Education
ARMANDO BENEDETTI JIMENO
Minister of Communications
JOSE ANTONIO OCAMPO GAVIRIA
Director National Administrative Department of Planning.