(Cancun, Mexico; December 3, 2015) The XIX Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor (IACML) of the Organization of American States (OAS) is the framework for the presentation of the exhibition “Secretos del Trabajo” , a project by the Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labor (IR), with the support of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare of Mexico(STPS). The exhibition aims to raise awareness and influence public policy decisions in the region aimed at reducing child labor, aligned with the Agenda for Sustainable Development, which has included a goal aimed at “ending child labor in all its forms by 2025 ”.

"Secrets of Work" is an exhibition that seeks to show the invisible of different sectors of production and services in our countries: the presence of girls, boys and adolescents exposed to various risks in agriculture, construction and mining, the three sectors most dangerous to work at any age and where child labor is generally hidden from people's eyes.

Child labor is all work that deprives girls, boys and adolescents of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that harms their physical and psychological development. Regardless of whether the activity is salaried, independent or other, child labor prevents or limits their rights to education, play and their integral development.

In the most extreme forms of child labor, children and adolescents are subjected to slavery, separated from their families, exposed to serious dangers and diseases or left to their own devices, often from a very young age.

• The ILO estimates that the number of girls, boys and adolescents working in the world is 168 million, of which more than half carry out work classified as dangerous.

• According to the ILO itself, Latin America and the Caribbean account for 8.8% of this population, with 12.5 million girls, boys and adolescents in child labor.

• In Mexico, the host country of the XIX IACML, child labor affects more than 2.5 million girls and boys under 18 years of age; many start working from the age of 5 to help their families with their survival strategy.

The inauguration, which will take place at the CIMT headquarters hotel, will be attended by the Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare of Mexico, Alfonso Navarrete Prida; Ambassador Neil Parsan, Executive Secretary for Integral Development of the OAS and José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Regional Director of the ILO for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Having the exhibition "Secrets of Work" within the framework of the IACML, at the same headquarters in Cancun, represents a favorable space to share experiences and provide feedback on the public policies of decision makers in the world of work, from a committed approach with respect for human rights in all its forms.