According to a report issued by the International Labor Organization, between 1992 and 2004 Brazil reduced child labor in the 5 to 9 age group by slightly over 60%. The decrease in the 10 to 17 age group was over 36%.
The ILO report, entitled "A Reachable Goal: The End of Child Labor," points to Brazil and China as examples of how progress in this area can be made.
"If Brazil and China can make such progress, which is nothing less than historical, there is no reason other countries cannot do likewise," says the report.
Two government programs, the FNPETI (a permanent forum that made it possible for broad-based discussions of the issue), established in 1994, and the Peti (which put one million children between the ages of 9 and 15 in school), set up in 1996, are cited in the report as decisive in Brazil’s significant reductions in child labor over the last decade.
As a result, by 2004, more than 90% of school-age youths in Brazil were where they were supposed to be: in school. At the same time, at the high school level, enrollment has been growing at a steady 10% annually since 1995.
ABr