A observância aos princípios da prioridade absoluta e do não retrocesso social no orçamento destinado ao Programa de Erradicação ao Trabalho Infantil (PETI))

Abstract

Child labor is one of the largest and most complex violations of rights in Brazil. According to the Continuous National Household Sample Survey (Continuous PNAD) produced by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), 1 million and 768,000 children and adolescents between 5 and 17 years of age were engaged in child labor in 2019, of which 706 thousand of them practicing activities included in the List of Worst Forms of Child Labor (TIP List). Given this reality, this study aims to analyze the observance of the Principles of Absolute Priority and Social Non-Backward regarding the commitment and, specially, the execution of the budget allocated to the main public policy to combat child labor, namely, the Child Labor Eradication Program (PETI). The methodology used was quantitative for data collection and production; and qualitative for interpretation and critical consideration of the information obtained. To this end, Chapter 1 discusses the concept of child labor and the historical process that led to its constitutional prohibition. In addition, the theoretical framework used is presented, namely the Karl Marx's theory to explain the exploration of child labor by capital and Paulo Bonavides' theory to support public policies arising from Social Democratic State. Chapter 2 deals with the origin, integration, and reorganization of the Child Labor Eradication Program (PETI) and its relationship with the public budget, the Adolescent Child Budget (OCA) and the Principles of Absolute Priority and Social Non-Retrogression. Chapter 3 presents the quantitative data on child labor in Brazil, outlining the profile of the victims of this violation of rights and carrying out a critical analysis of the budget allocated to PETI between 2000 and 2011 and to the Strategic Actions to Combat Child Labor (AEPETI) between 2014 and 2018. Therefore, the result was the observation of the progressive dismantling suffered by the PETI due to lack of budget resources between the years 2000 to 2018, in order to attest the disobedience of the aforementioned Principles regarding the budgetary management of this policy. Thus, the hypothesis to explain such scenario is the federal government's non prioritization for the allocation of resources to PETI, as well as the Program’s loss of centrality after the reorganization. Finally, a greater participation of social control organizations for monitoring the PETI was proposed, as well as popular pressure for political representatives to commit themselves to preventing and combating child labor. Keywords: Child labor. Public policies. Child Labor Eradication Program. Public budget