From the NGO A Dream for Missions , Patricia Ocampo tries to bring society to collaborate with the campaign " I love the Matte But Not Child Labor ." In Misiones boys are exploited to increase the daily harvest.
30/11/2013
Patricia Ocampo is the General Coordinator of the NGO " A Dream For Missions" and the continuation of the constant campaigns that attempt to eradicate child labor , naked reality covering companies producing Yerba Mate and points out the challenges to eliminating thrashing in the field. "We need educational revolution is " almost screaming from northeastern Argentina.
Ocampo against government decisions but also admits that not only depends on officials " but the only way to achieve the eradication of child labor and containment of families is that worry us all ."
What are the measures from the missionary Government taken to reduce the scourge of child labor in the area of the Yerba Mate?
- There are isolated initiatives that arise from the problem of extreme marginality tareferos in which they live. For example, it has introduced a bill to place a stamp on the packages of yerba producers to comply with the law by employing children in the harvest and so provide tax advantages. However, the only way to achieve the eradication of child labor and containment of families is that we all worry . It is undeniable that politicians make the major decisions , but nothing that is really important to be left alone in the hands of governments , I repeat , nothing that is important and children are.
Why herbalists themselves do not dare to denounce the conditions in which they live and their children?
- The tareferos not reported because the need is on your plate and as a counterweight on the other side is the power. I give an example , a journalist asked us a note with a family whose children had died on the road in June 2013 . These guys did not exceed the age of 14 went to work to yerbal and died because the contractor 's moved on a truck with visible mechanical failures . To their families , the provincial government awarded them a grant , when asked if they wanted to make note , at first said yes and then said that they were afraid to let them make the subsidy if they spoke . I'm not saying that they'd been taken , but it is obvious that they are afraid of losing what little we have . The tareferos are afraid of losing the bags with food, school supplies given to them . The tareferos leaders know that their peers are with them because they are the leaders who receive and distribute what the government gives them . So each party ends up being functional to the status quo that keeps people in poverty 75 .
What is the salary of an employee?
- A worker has a base salary , paid when working and as harvesting , works 6 months and live the rest of odd jobs ( Hand of cheap unskilled labor ) . On average a worker claimed , in 2013 , about 2200 pesos a month, that's why if accompanying children harvest increases this figure. A complete family from sun to sun can get to reap thousand kilos in a day against the three hundred or five hundred who manages to make a tarefero alone. 70 % of tareferos works in black and white does not want to be in to keep subsidies .
Do parents are forced to take their children to work or do it by necessity?
- They do it out of necessity and because they have no place to leave them . Most working parents in harvesting the grass started working when they were between 4 and 13 years, it is normal for them . We must understand that among tareferos go hungry , we're not talking that they can not have holiday is among the ranks of the tareferos and peoples of Misiones where malnutrition and you need to speak to understand why so hard to get ahead. We need educational revolution is , if we get all our children and young people access to adequate food and an excellent education in 20 years we have another country.
Is it true that there are more deaths in children are unknown ?
- " A dream for Missions" does not have the resources to carry out scientifically statistics . We know that the guys in yerbales die , while poverty and hunger also kill . There are many diseases associated with poverty .
Can pesticides causes the deaths of the boys?
- A committee of IPEC ( Provincial Institute of Statistics and Censuses - Misiones ) met in August and have been expressed thus: " The provincial government has decided to conduct the first census operation that takes into consideration specifically to these important rural workers who form a key sector of the industry " will have to wait to finish the census to find accurate data, while I can only tell you so much that we have encountered many children with cerebral palsy and their mothers worked in the fields while pregnant . Although IPEC develop until the census we are blind as the state.
Could you talk to the kids or their parents ? What do you say ?
- In general there is a state of resignation , a way of life close to slavery is accepted. See no other possibility although deep sense that they are used. Imagine them like this: your grandparents were poor , your parents too poor vos sos not got nothing, you know your rights , your obligations and your energies are put into getting the calories to arrive tomorrow. Sometimes we have to pay some fees and feel anguish. These people think of getting the basics.
Why being a multimillion dollar business in such precarious working conditions and the kids are out of school ?
- The answer is very personal, could tell you that at 5 corporations that handle mate as they do not mind the money, the government such a thing , other than such opposition ... However , I really think the problem is social . We live in a society in fear of losing what we got to missing work and / or money. Crisis after crisis and live every day accept unfair situations for ourselves and others. This campaign is a way to retrieve the values and curb injustice. If you were to accomplish the task , which is simply to highlight what we as a society do with children who are our future and create a multi- table so that together the government , trade unions, opposition and NGOs , forget what we separated and we focus on eliminating child labor in yerba mate , then maybe we can be an inspiration to others and begin to transform society. There are many people wanting to do the right thing and this feeds my faith that this is possible.
Did you talk to the unions? With the Ministry of Labour ?
- Every time someone signs the petition automatically sends an email to the authorities of the country office of the ILO for Argentina , the Argentine Association Coordinator ( CCAS ) Council and the Secretary General Juan Carlos Schmid, Hugo Moyano, the Secretary General of the UIA and Carlos Taken , the Ministry of Labour , the Central Workers CONAETI Argentina and President John Bruno , Communication CONAETI , among many others. No replies yet. We have also communicated by telephone with CONAETI and you know what? we were asked to send an email , I hope it was a joke , however , I want to acknowledge Daniel Filmus me via Twitter helped one to support the request for a wheelchair for a 12 year old boy with cerebral palsy and one for phones CONAETI the president .
How this problem is solved without political status , without schools nearby for kids to not have to work ?
- It would be a mistake to think that this problem can be treated only with actions involving children , create a safety net for families, serve no spasmodic acts must develop policies and sustained action to eliminate child labor in the grass in 2015 but we must continue with the rest of the work that endanger children by 2016 , as promised in the Argentina international agreements. We need consensus , well-meaning people who embrace the idea of ending it in 2015.
Patricia Ocampo returned from missions to the province of Buenos Aires next week to continue the campaign started because the scourge herbalists living the missionary families . Also, Ocampo sent a letter to Pope Francisco , which had a large membership in social networks .
Hernán Giacomelli
