EU and Peru agree on cooperation activities to ensure respect of labour rights

Today, the Commission has published a list of cooperation activities agreed with Peru to ensure the respect and implementation of labour rights in the country, according to six priorities defined jointly.

The objective of the agreed list is broad and ambitious: it aims at strengthening the implementation of the labour system in Peru as a whole.

The list of activities outlines the next steps, and it builds on the ongoing cooperation between the Commission and the government of Peru in the six priority areas of social dialogue, freedom of association, child labour, forced labour, labour informality, and the labour inspection system.

This positive outcome stems from the implementation of the Trade and Sustainable (TSD) chapter of the EU-Colombia-Peru-Ecuador Trade Agreement. It demonstrates the important role of civil society and NGOs in alerting and monitoring the respect of TSD provisions in third countries. It also shows how free trade agreements provide a crucial platform of engagement to discuss and jointly tackle issues such as the respect of labour rights.

The implementation of the list of activities covers a period of two years. It will be supported by an extensive technical and financial programme by the EU. The Commission also relies on the support of the civil society organisations in Europe and in Peru, to help with the concrete implementation of activities on the ground.

Background

The agreed list of activities has been triggered by a complaint received by the Commission in May 2022. CNV Internationaal, a Dutch NGO, filed a complaint through the Single Entry Point (SEP) concerning labour rights in the mining sector in Peru and Colombia.

Following the complaint, the EU and the government of Peru have engaged in a fruitful dialogue. The complaint was the first one to be filed under the Single Entry Point (SEP) established by the Commission to investigate possible violations of its Trade and Sustainable Development chapters.

Discussions with Colombian authorities are still ongoing, The EU and Colombia have agreed on the priority areas to work on with the view of establishing a technical cooperation programme. The work is ongoing and should be concluded in the course of the year.

For more information

List of cooperation activities

TSD chapters in free trade agreements