Description
The program consists of guidelines and a specific budget for SUAS* to operate in municipalities with a higher prevalence of child labor, to carry out activities to prevent and combat child labor.
AEPETI was implemented in 2013 and agreed in 2014. It is a redesign of PETI that was created in 1996.
Since its creation in 1996, the program has undergone significant changes in 2005 and 20141,2,3,4, and since 2020 it has been operating without budget support from the Federal Government5.
This set of changes is characterized by the virtual elimination of the monetary benefit offered by PETI (PETI Scholarship), since in 2005 families with children removed from child labor and with Per Capita Family Income (RFPC) eligible for the Bolsa Família Program (PBF) now have priority access to this program, which offers a more generous benefit than that of PETI.
From 2005 onwards, PETI was also integrated into SUAS, initially through the preferential access of people benefited to the Service of Community Living and Strengthening of Bonds - SCFV (which even becomes necessary conditionality to receive the monetary benefit of PETI). As of 2014, PETI has become a management strategy, strengthening services. PAEFI, SCFV and SEAS are the main services that serve these victims.
Since 2014, therefore, the income transfer component has practically ceased to exist since it was replaced by the PBF benefit, and the support component for children at risk or removed from child labor and their families also begin to occur fundamentally within SCFV. Therefore, PETI has become fundamentally a financial resource and a guide for strategic actions formally designated as the PETI Strategic Actions (AEPETI), which are guided by the five axes below6,7,8:
Information and mobilization of society;
Monitoring incidents of child labor;
Identification of spaces most subject to child labor;
Offering social protection to children and families exposed to child labor;
Acting to defend and hold accountable those who promote child labor.
* SUAS is the abbreviation in Portuguese for Unified Social Assistance System. According to the MDS: “The Unified Social Assistance System is a public system that organizes social assistance services in Brazil. With a participatory management model it coordinates the efforts and resources of the three levels of government, i.e., municipalities, states and the Federal Government, for the execution and financing of the Brazilian Social Assistance Policy (PNAS), directly involving national, state, municipal and Federal District regulatory structures and frameworks. SUAS has 12 nationally typified services, as listed below.
- Basic Social Protection
- PAIF – Protection and Integral Support Service to the Family
- SCFV – Service of Community Living and Strengthening of Bonds
- DPDI – Basic Social Protection Homecare Service for People with Disabilities and the Elderly
- Specialized Social Protection
- PAEFI – Protection and Specialized Care Service for Families and Individuals
- PCDIF – Specialized Social Protection Service for People with Disabilities, the Elderly and their Families
- MSE – Social Protection Service for Adolescents under Probation (LA) and Community Services Measures (PSC)
- SEAS – Specialized Care for Vulnerable Populations
- SEPS – Specialized Homelessness Services
- SAI – Institutional Shelter Services
- SAR – Communal Housing Services
- SFA – Foster Family Service
- SCE – Protection services in a declared public calamity and emergencies
These services are subdivided into those of Basic Social Protection (PSB, acronym in Portuguese) and Specialized Social Protection (PSE). The PSB is intended to support people whose social vulnerability exposes them to the risk of having their rights violated, but who are not yet subject to such rights violations. Vulnerabilities that expose people to the risk of having these rights violated include insufficient income, difficulty accessing essential public services (such as health and education), and situations that undermine community and family life (such as in the case of families with dysfunctional relationships or people without ties to their communities). Violations of rights, as already mentioned, are the object of the Specialized Social Protection (PSE) of SUAS, and refer to situations such as abandonment, physical and/or psychological abuse, sexual abuse, use of psychoactive substances, compliance with socio-educational measures, homelessness, child labor, among others.
National Secretariat for Social Assistance (SNAS) of the Ministry of Social Development and Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger – MDS (which during 2019-2022 was designated Ministry of Citizenship – MC), by means of an inter-federative SUAS management structure.
Reference Centre for Social Assistance (CRAS) and Specialized Reference Centers for Social Assistance (CREAS).
In 1996, with substantive revisions occurring in 2005 (integration with SUAS and PBF) and 2014 (when monitoring families with children removed from slave labor is handled by the SCFV, other key actions become the primary responsibility of other nationally defined SUAS services in coordination with the Rights Guarantee System - SGD[i]).
[i] SGD is formed by several institutions, such as: federal public agencies, the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Public Defenders' Offices, the Attorney General's Office and state attorney general's offices, police and specialized police stations, guardianship councils, ombudsmen and human rights defense entities responsible for providing legal and social protection, Centers for the Defense of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, among others.
Still in operation. Since 2020, AEPETI has been financed only with contributions from state and municipal governments, given the absence of transfers from the Federal Government, although the AEPETI budget line has been included in the Budget Guidelines Law (LDO).
The coordination with SCFV characterizes the offer of Service of Strengthening Bonds. And interactions with the SGD to combat child labor configures a Support service to carry out Justice and Citizenship activities, such as income security; social assistance work with families; and socio-educational activities with children/adolescents.
Until 2005, when the PETI Scholarship was still being implemented, there was a requirement that children stop participating in child labor.
Families with children removed from child labor (i.e. children under the age of 16, except those aged between 14 and 16 as young apprentices) are the target audience of the PETI Scholarship, and are given priority access to PBF.
The most structuring actions to combat child labor (also known as AEPETI), however, have co-financing from the Federal Government focused on states and municipalities with a higher prevalence of child labor, as found in the comparison of the most recent Census (which in the Brazilian case are those of 2000 and 2010). More specifically, states and municipalities that presented more than 400 cases of child labor in the 2010 Census are prioritized, or that had an increase of 200 cases between the 2000 and 2010 IBGE Census.
The targeting of the PETI Scholarship or preferential referral to PBF is based on the findings made by the social assistance teams, in most cases based on administrative records of the SGD acting collectively in the inspection of work environments.
Program beneficiaries must be registered in the Single Registry, which collects self-declared information that includes variables such as income and occupation. The Single Registry cross-checks with other administrative records a few times a year, and summons people for whom registration inconsistencies are raised to explain themselves to avoid having the benefit canceled.
On the other hand, the composition of SCFV activities aimed at combating child labor is guided according to the social work of the social assistance teams regarding the priorities in each context, which are also informed by the Social-assistance Surveillance, by data from the IBGE and other sources.
AEPETI, in turn, focuses on data on the prevalence of child labor based on the 2000 and 2010 Census.
In 2004, the PETI Scholarship benefited 929 thousand families9. From 2005 onwards, the beneficiaries began to receive priority access to PBF, in a non-cumulative manner, so that the coverage of the PETI Scholarship became residual, benefiting only a few tens or hundreds of families each year since 2018. In 2021, for example, only 35 people benefited. And there is no record of any beneficiary in 2022.
Persons benefited by the PETI Scholarship (number of individuals)10
Year | Number of beneficiaries |
2004 | 929.000 |
2013 | 19.032 |
2014 | 18.034 |
2015 | 15.284 |
2016 | 14.235 |
2017 | 3.069 |
2018 | 951 |
2019 | 272 |
2020 | 77 |
2021 | 35 |
2022 | 0 |
AEPETI focuses on 1,913 municipalities that accounted for 80% of child labor in Brazil in 2010. In 2014, for example, 1,032 municipalities were covered by federal co-financing. Since 2020, however, AEPETI has been fully financed only by state and municipal governments, with no disbursements from the Federal Government in this period.
In 2021, 16,209 AEPETI activities were recorded, distributed as follows11.
• 55% no eixo de informação e mobilização da sociedade;
• 14% no eixo de monitoramento das ocorrências de trabalho infantil;
• 13% no eixo de identificação de espaços mais sujeitos a ocorrência de trabalho infantil;
• 13% no eixo de oferta de proteção social a crianças e famílias expostas ao trabalho infantil;
• 4% no eixo de atuação para defesa e responsabilização de quem promova o trabalho infantil.
The Federal Government´s co-participation in AEPETI, in turn, provides for monthly transfers to the states, varying (according to the prevalence of municipalities considered to have a high rate of child labor) between R$ 12,000.00 and R$ 50,000.00. In addition, the municipalities should receive monthly amounts of between R$ 3,600.00 and R$ 17,000.00 (depending on their size)12.
AEPETI includes activities in the following five thematic axes 13:
- information and mobilization of society;
- monitoring incidents of child labor;
- identification of locations most subject to child labor;
- offering social protection to children and families exposed to child labor;
- acting to defend and hold accountable those who promote child labor.
Payment of the PETI Exchange were made by CAIXA (Federal Bank with presence in almost all Brazilian municipalities), both through a bank account and through a withdrawal card unlinked to the bank account.
Federal transfer to AEPET*
Year | Amount |
2014 | R$ 38.096.400,00 |
2015 | R$ 22.331.600,00 |
2016 | R$ 84.144.300,00 |
2017 | R$ 79.940.100,00 |
2018 | R$ 9.255.200,00 |
2019 | R$4.796.000,00 |
*Source: (GoB, Min. Desenvolvimento Social)
Based on the PNAD microdata and quasi-experimental method, it was inferred that between 1997/98 and 2001 (therefore before the virtual elimination of the PETI Scholarship), there was a desirable effect in reducing child labor in municipalities that joined the program in 1997 and 1998. No impact on educational and family income indicators was observed14.
The initiative is entirely aimed at this public, to combat child labor.
In absolute numbers, child labor in Brazil affects more black and brown boys, urban and over 14 years old. However, labor is more common in rural households, with girls being the majority in domestic work and sexual exploitation, although these numbers are underreported (FNPETI, 2024).
Due to these realities, there is an inherent gender bias in the program that combats this phenomenon.
The initiative is strongly coordinated with the other services, programs and social benefits of SUAS, with the Rights Guarantee System (SGD) and other public policies.
Both the regular actions of AEPETI and its adaptations due to Covid varied greatly according to the different contexts.
GoB, Min. Desenvolvimento Social. 2014. PERGUNTAS E RESPOSTAS: o Redesenho do Programa de Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil 2a Versão. https://www.mds.gov.br/webarquivos/publicacao/assistencia_social/cartilhas/cartilha_perguntas_respostas_redesenho_peti_2014.pdf.
Alberto, Maria de Fatima Pereira, Ana Lúcia dos Santos França, Gustavo de Sousa Silva, Claudio Marques Trindade, e Rebeca Kelly Gomes da Silva. 2019. “Enfrentamento do trabalho infantil pela Política de Assistência Social: o que há de novo no cenário?” 24. Dezembro. http://pepsic.bvsalud.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1413-294X2019000400004.
GoB, Min. Cidadania. 2020. Programa de Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil. 21 de agosto de 2020. https://www.gov.br/mds/pt-br/acoes-e-programas/suas/servicos-e-programas/acao-estrategica-do-programa-de-erradicacao-do-trabalho-infantil.
WWP. 2015. Programa de Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil (PETI). https://wwp.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/2.-Programa-de-Erradica%C3%A7%C3%A3o-do-Trabalho-Infantil-PETI-Ficha-resumo.pdf.
Oliveira, Thallita de, e Dyarley Viana. 2022. “Trabalho infantil e orçamento público: investimento na manutenção das desigualdades”. 12 de junho de 2022. https://www.inesc.org.br/trabalho-infantil-e-orcamento-publico-investimento-na-manutencao-das-desigualdades/#_ftn2.
GoB, Min. Desenvolvimento Social. 2014. PERGUNTAS E RESPOSTAS: o Redesenho do Programa de Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil 2a Versão”. https://www.mds.gov.br/webarquivos/publicacao/assistencia_social/cartilhas/cartilha_perguntas_respostas_redesenho_peti_2014.pdf.
Alberto, Maria de Fatima Pereira, Ana Lúcia dos Santos França, Gustavo de Sousa Silva, Claudio Marques Trindade, e Rebeca Kelly Gomes da Silva. 2019. “Enfrentamento do trabalho infantil pela Política de Assistência Social: o que há de novo no cenário?” 24. Dezembro. http://pepsic.bvsalud.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1413-294X2019000400004.
GoB, Min. Cidadania. 2020. Programa de Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil. 21 de agosto de 2020. https://www.gov.br/mds/pt-br/acoes-e-programas/suas/servicos-e-programas/acao-estrategica-do-programa-de-erradicacao-do-trabalho-infantil.
Rocha, Sonia. 2011. “O programa Bolsa Família: evolução e efeitos sobre a pobreza”. Econ. soc. 20 (abril). https://www.scielo.br/j/ecos/a/HHjfN6yK4Pgy6PYMfPNp5BK/?lang=pt#
Annual total for the period 2018 a 2022:
GoB, Tribunal de Contas da União. 2022. “Benefícios ao Cidadão”. 4 de outubro de 2022. Benefícios ao cidadão
Number of people benefited in January for the years 2013-2017:
GoB, Tribunal de Contas da União. 2022. Dados abertos - Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil - CONSULTA_PETI”. 5 de outubro de 2022. https://www.portaltransparencia.gov.br/download-de-dados/peti.
2004 data based on administrative data reported by:
Rocha, Sonia. 2011. “O programa Bolsa Família: evolução e efeitos sobre a pobreza”. Econ. soc. 20 (abril). https://www.scielo.br/j/ecos/a/HHjfN6yK4Pgy6PYMfPNp5BK/?lang=pt#.
11. GoB, Min. Cidadania. 2022. Relatório SIMPETI Brasil do Ano de 2021. https://blog.mds.gov.br/redesuas/relatorio-do-simpeti-de-2021/.
12. GoB, Tribunal de Contas da União. 2013. Levantamento de Auditoria do TCU para apoio ao aprimoramento do relatório de gestão do SNAS. https://www.jusbrasil.com.br/jurisprudencia/tcu/315644741/inteiro-teor-315644791.
13. GoB, Min. Desenvolvimento Social 2014. PERGUNTAS E RESPOSTAS: o Redesenho do Programa de Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil 2a Versão. https://www.mds.gov.br/webarquivos/publicacao/assistencia_social/cartilhas/cartilha_perguntas_respostas_redesenho_peti_2014.pdf.
14. Soares, Sergei, e Donald M. Pianto. 2003. Metodologia e resultados da avaliação do Programa de Erradicação do Trabalho Infantil. https://repositorio.unb.br/bitstream/10482/12498/1/ARTIGO_MetodologiaResultadosAvaliacao.pdf.