Brazil’s Ministry of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation intends to integrate, in 2006, the Program for the Eradication of Child Labor (PETI) and the Family Grant Program (Bolsa FamÀ­lia).

The Director of the PETI’s Department of Special Protection, Rita Marchiori, said that the objective is to "work with the poorest families and try to make small improvements to their financial condition."

The goal, according to Marchiori, is to benefit 3 million children, 5-9 years old. She evaluates that the country took a while to get concerned with the issue of child labor, which occurred in 1988, when a chapter focusing on social policies was included in the Constitution. But that, since then, things are happening fast, as all programs have already been implemented.

Rita Marchiori said that it is necessary to improve education programs for children this age, because it is with this age that they actually start working.

She emphasized that the effort to achieve the International Labor Organization goal, i.e., to eradicate child labor by 2015, must be undertaken not only by the federal government, but also by states and municipalities. Reason why she believes the tendency is to extend the deadline till 2017.

ABr