Black paper against Mexico

Labor Exploitation and Human Trafficking in Agriculture

The farming sector in Mexico employs a lot of people, but it's also full of issues like
exploitation and trafficking. Many workers, especially migrants, deal with unsafe work
environments, low pay, and poor legal protections.
Key Issues:
A lot of farm workers don’t get paid fairly, often earning less than the minimum wage.
Workers are often in dangerous situations without proper safety measures.
Vulnerable groups, like women and kids, are at risk of being trafficked for farm work.
Many individuals migrate from rural to urban areas or cross borders in search of better
opportunities, leading to increased vulnerability to exploitation in the agricultural sector.
Corruption within local law enforcement and government can hinder efforts to combat
labor exploitation and trafficking, perpetrators may evade justice due to bribes.
Agricultural workers often have limited access to unions or worker organizations that
could advocate for their rights and provide support against exploitation.
A significant portion of agricultural work in Mexico is informal, meaning workers lack
contracts or legal protections, making them more susceptible to abuse and exploitation.
Women in agriculture often face additional challenges, including gender violence and
discrimination, which can exacerbate their exploitation and limit access to resources.

Recommendations:
Update labor laws to better protect farm workers, make sure existing rules are enforced.
Create programs to educate workers about their rights and the risks of exploitation.
Give more funding and support organizations that go against trafficking and exploitation.

Food Insecurity and Agricultural Rehabilitation in Conflict Zones

Key Issues:
Many farmers are forced to leave due to violence, which disrupts ability to grow food.
Conflict destroys important farming infrastructure, making it tough for communities to
produce and get food.

Ongoing conflict reduces investment in farming, making food insecurity worse.

Areas affected by drug cartel violence often experience disruptions in agricultural
production, leading to food insecurity and loss of livelihoods for farmers.
Conflicts over land ownership and usage rights can prevent farmers from accessing
their land, further complicating efforts for agricultural rehabilitation.
Mexico faces significant challenges regarding climate change, leading to droughts that
affect food production, particularly in conflict-prone areas.
In many conflict-affected regions, there is insufficient government support for agricultural
recovery, leaving communities to fend for themselves with limited resources.
As a result of ongoing violence and economic instability, many farmers are forced to
abandon their land and migrate, leading to long-term agricultural decline in those areas.

Recommendations:
Rebuild Agricultural Infrastructure: Invest in fixing up the infrastructure to help with
farming and getting food to markets.
Support Sustainable Practices: Encourage farming methods that can handle the effects
of conflict and climate change.
Community-Based Programs: Create projects that involve local people in rebuilding
farming systems and improving food security.

1. Forced labour, modern slavery and trafficking in persons. (2024, December 10).
International Labour Organization. http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-
labour/lang--en/index.htm
2. UNODC publications - Human trafficking and migrant smuggling. (n.d.). United
Nations : Office on Drugs and Crime. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-
trafficking/publications.html
3. The State of Food and Agriculture 2024. (2024). In FAO eBooks.
https://doi.org/10.4060/cd2616en
4. Backgrounder: Child Labor in Agriculture (Human Rights Watch Backgrounder,
June 11 - 2002). (n.d.).
https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/crp/back0610.htm
 White paper for mexico

Families often accompany workers to the Mexican farms, where they face institutional
neglect in areas such as health, housing, food, education and access to justice. Although
there are similar conditions and obstacles in their communities of origin, traveling with the
families reinforces family ties during extended stays in the farm fields, reducing
abandonment and oAering greater safety to women traveling on their own to do agricultural
work. Those traveling to the farms in the United States or Canada face a wide range of
obstacles, making the option of traveling with their families unfeasible.

The lack of acknowledgment and attention to particular cultural and linguistic issues, and a
lack of understanding of gender and migration aAects the workers—especially women—
and their families as well.

Migrant women farm workers put up with double and triple work shifts, risk exposure to
harassment, workplace- and/or sexual violence, as well as being excluded from-
or discriminated against when trying to access better jobs or equal pay for equal work,
because according to normalized gender roles they are not considered fit to carry out other
tasks.

In 1989, as a way to address these gaps, the federal government created the National
Program for Agricultural Day Workers (PRONJAG Spanish acronym) with six lines of action:

1. Housing and environmental health

2. Healthcare and pension

3. Food and sourcing

4. Education, culture and leisure

5. Employment, training and productivity

6. Administration of justice

In 2003, this policy became the Agricultural Laborer Support Program (PAJA Spanish
acronym) under the Secretariat of Social Development that became the Secretariat of
Welfare in the period 2018-2024 and then the program disappeared entirely in 2019. This
transition took place with no option to replace the services PAJA provided, leaving a
significant gap in guaranteeing this population their rights, with nothing to help them cope
with the enormous issues they face.

According to Data Mexico, in the first quarter in 2024, the population involved in
agricultural activities came to 2.93 million people (87.8% male and 12.2% female), earning
an average monthly salary of $3,040.00 Mexican pesos and comprising 78.9 percent of
informal labor. On average, this demographic group has 6.12 years of schooling compared
to the national average of 9.7 years. It is important to take into account that mobility makes
it diAicult to gather statistical information on this group.

Migrant agricultural workers have to cope with greater vulnerability due to their national
and international mobility, and the historical and structural discrimination they experience
as a high percentage of them belong to indigenous communities of Mexico.

In 2023, the United States OAice of Foreign Labor Certification certified

20,379 applications for H-2A visas, corresponding to 378,513 jobs. Some 84 percent of
these applications were submitted by agricultural workers and day laborers. The
International Organization for Migration identified that, out of the 298,336 H-2A visas that
had been approved in 2022, 93 percent had been issued for Mexican workers. This
percentage has exhibited no significant variation since 1997. Furthermore, in 2023, Canada
registered 45,500 Mexican holders of temporary foreign worker permits and 13,725
Mexican holders of International Mobility Program work permits.

As for international labor mobility toward Mexico, in the first quarter of 2023, the National
Institute of Migration issued 747 Border Worker Visitor Cards (TVTF Spanish acronym) for
cross-border workers in Campeche, Chiapas, Tabasco, Quintana Roo and Yucatan. This
authorization includes agricultural labor.

In 2021, against the backdrop of these complex and pressing challenges, Fundación Avina
promoted PERIPLO an alliance now composed of twelve organizations. PERIPLO seeks to
help create a domestic and international labor migration system that is fair and co-
responsible in terms of the rights of migrant agricultural workers in the agricultural industry
supply chains in Mexico and between Mexico, the United States and Central America.

This objective can only be reached through the concerted eAorts of the governments of
Mexico, the United States, and Guatemala, with state and municipal entities, businesses,
academic institutions, civil society organizations, and the workers themselves.

We call on the three branches of government, especially the Executive, taking oAice in
October 2024 under the leadership of President elect Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, in
coordination with state and municipal governments, as well as legislators in the federal
and state chambers. We also call on the Mexican government to promote trans-national
policies with other States, in order to extend the broadest possible protection to migrant
agricultural workers, and to promote economic development based on shared prosperity.

International Agenda
Strengthen cooperation with the governments of North America and Central America to
work on programs that promote anti-discriminatory practices, access to information for
migrant agricultural workers, as well as regulate regional-level recruitment agencies.

Advocate before the United States to continuously improve the Deferred Action for Labor
Enforcement (DALE) and H-2A labor visa program, working closely with workers and the
organizations that support them. For instance, extend DALE protection to five years, and
eradicate structural gender discrimination that women and the LGBTQI population have to
cope with.

Promote the creation of a temporary work program for Central American migrant
agricultural laborers to work in any state in Mexico, taking into account the lessons learned
from the United States H-2A visa program, and with the engagement of- and
recommendations by workers and the expert social organizations that support them.

Revise the temporary work permit that Mexico oAers Central American workers,
streamlining procedures and improving the protection of labor human rights.

Federal Agenda

Advocate so that national and international migrant agricultural workers, their families and
the organizations that support them can participate in the process of policymaking and
implementation, in order to ensure their voices and needs are heard.

Ensure that legislation is enforced and that policies are created with a cross-cutting
perspective, taking into account crucial aspects such as gender, age, social condition,
language and cultural heritage, putting an end to structural discrimination, violence,
inequality, forced labor and child labor, traAicking in persons, labor exploitation and abuse.

Create comprehensive human rights-based support programs for migrant agricultural

workers for direct impact enhancing their quality of life. The priority is for these programs to
complement concrete actions in the communities of origin and destination, to counteract
the lack of access to fundamental rights like justice, education, social security
(healthcare/pension), comprehensive health, adequate food, water and housing.

Education policy initiatives—especially for children and adolescents—in the territory and
context of agricultural day laborer communities, with human rights-based policies that are
responsive to migration and ethnic background.

Advocate so that the National Care System covers women agricultural workers, promotes
equal distribution of care-work, and a network of sites for those who are migrating with
their families, such as children and adolescents, people with disabilities, the old or sick.
Take action to ensure migrant agricultural workers have eAective access to their labor
rights, such as a written contract in their own language or that it is read to those who do not
know how to read, provide safe pathways for immigrant regularization for non-nationals,
maternity leave, healthcare/pension, vacations, overtime pay, year-end bonus, utilities and
sick leave, retirement savings, as well as personal protective equipment for handling agro-
chemicals and other hazardous materials that can aAect one’s health.

Advocate for strengthening the labor inspection system in its capacity, eAiciency and
resources to guarantee respect for the rights and benefits recognized in the Federal Labor
Law and the Mexican Social Security Institute, as well as to verify that workplace
conditions are suitable and sanitary.

Develop and implement a specific federal program to strengthen people’s capacities, with
diAerent institutions providing comprehensive care and protecting their rights, before they
undergo a labor mobility process.

Create an open and accessible public registry of agricultural sites, providing security for
workers and facilitating inspection processes.

Promote measures that ensure safety and risk prevention in the work environment,
including daily trips to the farm fields, and trips to and from their communities. Also
request that eAective measures against organized crime be created.

Work with the private agricultural sector to establish strategies that address
responsibilities regarding the right to healthcare, education or job benefits for migrant
agricultural workers.

Create legal reparation systems and mechanisms at all levels, in all regions and sectors, by
strengthening State agencies in charge of inspection and oversight that can sanction
violations of the law, and unify the national line against traAicking in persons in the country,
taking into account the diAerent indigenous languages.

Enhance the process of gathering oAicial statistical information to monitor profound

changes, disaggregating data by gender, ethnic and cultural background, language and age.

Expand the protection of human rights in the Regulations for Job Placement Agencies of the
Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare of Mexico, taking into account the participation of
workers and the organizations that support them.

https://proyectoperiplo.org/en/transform-the-land-agenda-to-strengthen-the-agricultural-
sector-with-labor-human-rights-at-the-center/
Senderos — works with government, the private sector, and civil society to improve
adherence to international standards on child labor, forced labor, occupational safety and
health, and other acceptable conditions of work in the agriculture sectors in Jalisco and
Nayarit. The project is building government capacity to enforce labor laws in agricultural
supply chains, improving private sector awareness and compliance with labor laws, and
increasing farmworkers’ knowledge of labor rights and grievances mechanisms.

Child labor is prevalent in Mexico’s agricultural sector, and children often perform
dangerous agricultural tasks. Agricultural workers, many of whom are migrant workers, are
regularly exposed to abuse such as discrimination, sexual harassment, labor exploitation,
unsafe and precarious conditions of work, and physical violence. They often face labor
rights violations such as salary withholding, restriction of movement, and occupational
safety and health infractions. Existing labor law is inconsistently applied in these cases and
infrequently protects farmworkers in Mexico.

Since 2009, ILAB has supported eAorts in Mexico to address child labor and improve
acceptable conditions of work in agriculture. Senderos builds oA this experience working in
agricultural communities across diAerent sectors. In the states of Jalisco and Nayarit,
where sugarcane and tobacco are produced, Senderos provides stakeholders with tools to
address labor violations in the agriculture sector.

To foster positive change for workers, the project engages diAerent actors such as
government agencies, employers, and workers to deploy tools to monitor and enforce laws
related to child labor, occupational safety and health, and unacceptable conditions of
work in the agricultural sector. The project focuses particularly on the employers to
increase their due diligence and facilitate access to reporting and remediation services and
mechanisms for workers to remedy unacceptable conditions of work.The project also
raises farmworkers’ awareness of their rights under the law through worker-to-worker
education, facilitation of health and safety committees, and worker self-advocacy groups.
The project has provided key support drafting Mexico’s national Protocol for Inspections to
Prevent and Eradicate Child Labor and Protect Adolescents of Legal Age to Work. The
Protocol provides inspectors with pragmatic, clear processes and steps to inspect and
remedy child labor cases country-wide.The project has trained over 3,500 agriculture
workers and private sector on key labor rights, reporting, and remedy , including child labor,
safety, health risks, and forced labor. The project has reached over 35,000 farm workers
and other stakeholders with information campaigns on labor rights in Mexico.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/senderos-sembrando-derechos-cosechando-mejores-
futuros#:~:text=Senderos%20%E2%80%94%20works%20with%20government%2C%20th
e,labor%20rights%20and%20grievances%20mechanisms.