Parents of working children are also being trained and capacitated to seek and engage alternative income generating activities. Advisory services are being provided to the mining communities and operators on the appropriate technology and processes that will facilitate transition to child labour-free mining services. The projects have been implemented in two remote communities of Peru which lack basic necessities and where children as young as six are subjected to hazardous conditions, including exposure to the mercury used in leaching the gold and which can have dramatic consequences for their health. Few attend school. However, the number of working children is growing in urban areas, particularly in the informal sector.
Many children are also engaged in dangerous activities in places such as stone quarries.
Although primary education is compulsory, no minimum age for its completion is stipulated by the national legislation. School drop-out among working children is high. A Code on Children and Adolescents was adopted in 1992. This Code reduces the minimum age for admission to employment to 12 and establishes the right to work for those who are in economic need. In 1996, a Special Commission was set up to formulate the National Plan of Attention to Child Labour and the Protection of Adolescent Workers 1996-2000.