Brasília,7/16/2004(Agência Brasil) – Minister of Social Development, Patrus Ananias, reports that since the beginning of this month,116,000 boys and girls are being assisted by the Child Labor Eradication Program (PETI) around the country. The program will soon be expanded to assist 930,000 children. And the minister says that by the end of the year 2005, it will assist 1.2 million children.

Ananias also revealed that a Unicef report found that PETI was effective in 98% of the 1,603 municipalities were it operated, resulting in a significant reduction in the number of child labor cases in those locations.

Repórter:Luciana Vasconcelos
Translator: Allen Bennett