San José, Costa Rica.- On September 17 and 18, 2015, the ordinary meeting of the Council of Labor Ministers of Central America and the Dominican Republic was held in San José, Costa Rica, in order to address two main objectives : revitalize the agenda and plan of action of the Council of Ministers of Labor of Central America and the Dominican Republic and promote the exchange of experiences, collaboration and horizontal and international technical cooperation, as instruments for the implementation of the plan of action of the Council .

With the support of specialists from the International Labor Organization (ILO), common challenges were analyzed, such as achieving a region free of child labor. To do this, the situation of child labor was reviewed, the progress that has been made, the challenges to face and the opportunities that the subregion has to intensify the actions aimed at eradicating the problem within the framework of the Initiative. Regional Latin America and the Caribbean free of child labor, of which the 7 member countries of the Council are part.

Regarding the matter, the Dominican Minister of Labor and President of the Council of Ministers, Rosa Hernández, said "Here we confirm the commitment to contribute to the creation of policies for decent jobs, to eliminate child labor and its worst forms . " For his part, the ILO director for Latin America and the Caribbean, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, highlighted as one of the goals of the United Nations Post 2015 development agenda the eradication of child labor, considering this as an objective that It is within the reach of Central America if the necessary investments are made. Salazar-Xirinachs also added that Latin America has made important progress in the last decade, but continues to face large gaps in productive development, poverty, quality jobs and decent work.

During the meeting, the Central American ministers adopted the Declaration of San José, which ratifies the priority that the Ministers give to the eradication of child labor . They also included as priorities compliance with national and international labor legislation, employment policy and management of labor mobility, employment formalization and social protection floors and social dialogue, with a focus on equal opportunities and non-discrimination, to be addressed in the implementation of the Regional Action Plan, which must be defined by the technical focal points of the Ministries of Labor, with the technical assistance of the ILO, in order to identify joint action in each of the prioritized areas.