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Jan. 9 (UPI) — On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced grants of up to $12.4 million to three organizations to reduce child and forced labor in Mexico and support migrant workers’ rights at the Southern border.
The move also helps Mexico fulfill its United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement commitment through its historic 2019 labor reforms to combat child labor and help promote the rights of migrant workers.
According to the Labor Department, the money will include $4.4 million to Verite Inc. to work locally to reduce child labor in the municipalities of Chiapas and San Luis Potosí.
The grants also will provide $5 million to the Pan American Development Foundation for its work in addressing child labor, forced labor and other labor violations. The organization works to promote domestic workers’ rights in Mexico City and Queretaro, and the funding will provide access to legal and social services.
U.S. funding also will provide $3 million to the International Labor Organization, which advances protections for migrant workers, particularly Mexican nationals participating in U.S. temporary foreign worker programs.
The USMCA — also known as “New NAFTA” or “NAFTA 2.0” — is the updated variation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which the U.S., Mexico and Canada agreed to after negotiations between the three countries in 2018.
Tuesday’s announcement by the department comes after then-Deputy Secretary of Labor Julie Su’s April 2022 visit to Mexico to announce U.S. investments to support expanding worker rights, freedom of association, the right to bargain collectively, and the elimination of child and forced labor.
The same year of Su’s 2022 visit — and despite Mexico’s 2019 labor reforms — the U.S. Labor Department said Mexico made only “moderate advancement” in its effort to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.
Two years prior, the Labor Department had praised Mexico for the “significant advancement” it had made against child labor.