Brasília, November 19, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Minister Nilmário Miranda, of the Special Secretariat for Human Rights, attributed the 50% increase in child labor in the six major metropolitan areas of the country during the first nine months of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's Administration, as revealed in a study by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), to the economic adjustment carried out by the federal government in 2003.

As a result of this policy, Miranda observed, there was an increase in unemployment and a drop in the income of the population, "inducing poor families to place adolescents on the job market prematurely."

According to the IBGE's Monthly Employment survey, conducted in the metropolitan areas of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, and Porto Alegre, the number of working children and adolescents in the 10-14 age bracket rose from 88 thousand in January to 132 thousand in September.

"In the first place, it is necessary to assure the income of adults. The less the income of adults, the greater the number of working children," the Minister warned, defending the economic policy adopted by the government, without which there would be no stability. He emphasized that the country now entertains the prospect of growing in a sustainable manner, beginning with the Pluriannual Plan (2004-2007).

According to Miranda, "the Pluriannual Plan represents the real Lula Administration. There will be years of economic growth, of incorporating the excluded as citizens, of a tough fight on child and slave labor, of guaranteeing people the right to work, of implementing the First Job Program. This is what will mark Lula's Administration," he underscored.

The Minister participated this morning in a meeting of the National Council to Combat Discrimination (CNCD), at the headquarters of the Office of the Federal Attorney General. (DAS)