On June 17, 2026, more than 400 girls, boys, and adolescents gathered in Guatemala City for an Informational Fair organized by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (MINTRAB) to mark the World Day Against Child Labor. Vice President Karin Herrera and Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Miriam Roquel opened the event, which brought together students, teachers, families, and government officials in support of the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) 2026 campaign theme: “Show Child Labor a Red Card.”
Free the Slaves (FTS) participated alongside our local partner, Fundación Sobrevivientes, and a group of survivor experts whose advocacy work FTS supports through an ongoing partnership. Together, they raised awareness about children’s rights and the prevention of child labor as a form of modern slavery.The event was notable above all for who spoke. Among the voices in the room were survivors of child labor and its worst forms, including domestic servitude. These women, now members of domestic workers’ organizations and advocates with direct lived experience, had already taken a major step the month before. In May, they presented their own public policy recommendations to the Minister, Vice Minister, and senior officials of MINTRAB, focused specifically on Guatemala’s Roadmap for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor and Its Worst Forms under Alliance 8.7, the global commitment to eliminate all forms of modern slavery. That direct exchange between survivors and senior policymakers holds real potential to shift systems.
The Scale of the Problem
The numbers behind this work are sobering. According to MINTRAB, nearly 350,000 girls and boys between the ages of 10 and 14 are currently working in Guatemala, representing 17.8% of that age group. Two out of three are Maya, more than 60% work without pay, and more than half work in agriculture.
Guatemala also documents all of the worst forms of child labor defined under ILO Convention 182, including trafficking and labor exploitation, commercial sexual exploitation, recruitment by organized crime, hazardous work in the garment and fireworks industries, child domestic servitude, and work in garbage dumps. The data confirms what communities already know: the problem is widespread, structural, and deeply tied to poverty, inequality, and discrimination.
What Survivors Recommend
The survivor experts who participated in the fair arrived with concrete proposals grounded in their direct experience of domestic servitude, labor exploitation, physical and sexual violence, and deprivation of freedom. The document they presented to MINTRAB officials on May 6, developed with technical support from Free the Slaves, outlines eight priorities.
Their first priority is formal participation in the Roadmap’s monitoring mechanisms. Survivors understand where exploitation is concentrated, where abuse is occurring, and which programs are reaching communities. Guatemala has the opportunity to become the first country in Latin America to formally incorporate survivor voices into the review of its Alliance 8.7 commitments.
Their second proposal addresses gaps in the legal framework around child domestic servitude. They call for ratifying Legislative Initiative 49-81, which would bring ILO Conventions 189 and 190 into domestic effect, covering decent work for domestic workers and the elimination of violence and harassment at work. They also call for expanded inspections in high-risk sectors, including domestic work, agriculture, and construction.
The third priority is a reporting system that is accessible, confidential, and centered on the dignity of those who use it. Survivors call for complaint mechanisms available 24 hours a day, with guaranteed anonymity and staff trained to support people who come forward with care and respect.
The remaining priorities cover coordinated support for children and survivors across health, justice, education, and child protection; structural prevention through social programs, adult employment, and school attendance incentives; education as a prevention tool, including the teaching of labor rights and human rights in schools; improved data collection on conditions inside households where domestic workers are employed; and accountability measures with effective sanctions for employers who abuse, harass, or restrict the freedom of girls and adolescents in their care.
A First Step Toward Something Larger
Free the Slaves has long held that those who have survived slavery understand best how to dismantle it. What happened in Guatemala City and in the Ministry of Labor this past month reflects that principle in action. These women brought their expertise directly to decision-makers, arriving prepared with detailed recommendations and making their case to ministry officials on their own terms.
We hope this is the first of many moments where survivors of child labor and its worst forms, and particularly of child domestic servitude, bring their expertise directly to the authorities with the power to act. Guatemala’s Roadmap depends on that knowledge, and the country’s children deserve a response that reflects it.
