:00:07. > :00:17.human rights improvements. Our world this week is set in Guatemala.
:00:17. > :00:19.
:00:19. > :00:29.This is the story of two worlds that straddle a beautiful land. It
:00:29. > :00:29.
:00:29. > :00:35.is about sugar and inequality. Hope and the unknown. Who are these
:00:35. > :00:45.people coming up to us? So duty. you think we should go? There is a
:00:45. > :00:47.
:00:47. > :00:56.lot of violence. People heard people. It is about how selling
:00:56. > :01:01.Sugar might make things Ferrer and safer. We welcome any meant Bach's
:01:01. > :01:11.-- Denmark's and anything that leads to maturity. It is also a
:01:11. > :01:38.
:01:38. > :01:43.story about the children of the We are flying due south of
:01:43. > :01:53.Guatemala City to one of the world's most modern ports, --
:01:53. > :02:03.modern boards. We meet Jose A Reeve, a man with a vision. He represents
:02:03. > :02:16.
:02:16. > :02:21.the sugar industry of Central Guatemala is rich in agriculture
:02:21. > :02:31.and resources. But society is corrupt and violent. People are
:02:31. > :02:38.
:02:38. > :02:42.poor and hungry. The government is We have flown 40 minutes out of the
:02:42. > :02:49.capital. They are about to land at the shipping terminal specially-
:02:49. > :02:59.built to export sugar. His belief is that trade is the key to
:02:59. > :03:01.
:03:01. > :03:08.building strong democracy. Nearby is a milk owned by Pantaleon, the
:03:08. > :03:13.biggest sugar company in Central America. -- and mill. Rock, freshly
:03:13. > :03:23.harvested sugar-cane enters its first stage of processing. Tens of
:03:23. > :03:25.
:03:25. > :03:35.thousands of people rely on it for It has been in the sugar business
:03:35. > :03:54.
:03:54. > :03:58.since 1849. since 1849.t how There has now been a landmark
:03:58. > :04:07.international deal that puts these grains of sugar under the closest
:04:07. > :04:14.of scrutiny. It's between the 27 countries of the European Union and
:04:15. > :04:24.the six of Central America and its the first of its kind. -- it is the
:04:25. > :04:30.
:04:30. > :04:34.first. I feel proud. I feel proud because the productivity that my
:04:34. > :04:38.family dedicated itself to is helping the country have an
:04:38. > :04:44.opportunity for growth. In the case of sugar, it has been taken to such
:04:44. > :04:52.levels of efficiency. Central America can now sell sugar and
:04:52. > :04:58.other food to the European Union and get a higher price. To achieve
:04:58. > :05:04.that, it must co-operate on for more than just product quality. On
:05:04. > :05:08.sensitive issues like human rights and corruption. In short, the
:05:09. > :05:18.European agreement is about how the rich share with the poor and how
:05:19. > :05:19.
:05:19. > :05:27.people are treated. We will create growth, growth that
:05:27. > :05:31.is sustainable and respecting human rights and democracy. You welcome
:05:31. > :05:39.the fact that that is part of the trade agreement? Sure. You cannot
:05:39. > :05:49.develop a country without that. We need to have sustainable economic
:05:49. > :05:50.
:05:50. > :06:00.growth. And we understand it is very hard to have a stable
:06:00. > :06:04.
:06:05. > :06:09.government without economic growth. We have to work together.
:06:09. > :06:15.The history of sugar is far from sweet. It is a story of slavery and
:06:15. > :06:20.cheap migrant labour. Back in the 18th century, the writer Voltaire
:06:20. > :06:30.described appalling injuries to workers as the price they paid for
:06:30. > :06:34.
:06:34. > :06:44.For a very long time, low wages and dangerous conditions had given rich
:06:44. > :06:56.
:06:56. > :07:03.-- have given rich countries. The work might look the same. Things
:07:03. > :07:12.are different in this particular field. These cutters work for the
:07:12. > :07:19.big international sugar exporter Pantaleon. It employs 25,000 people.
:07:19. > :07:29.In the harvest season, thousands of cane cutters. They earn about $500
:07:29. > :07:34.
:07:34. > :07:43.a month. That is far above the Dima Saliva tells me he has been
:07:43. > :07:48.working the field since 1983. It is hard and filthy. Much has changed.
:07:48. > :07:58.He has access to health care and a pension fund and has given safety
:07:58. > :08:05.equipment, goggles, gloves, leg guards. The hour was a shorter and,
:08:05. > :08:12.for the company, more Keane is cut. -- sugar-cane. The cost of looking
:08:12. > :08:18.after them pays for itself many times. US. It pays a lot. Does
:08:18. > :08:23.everybody understand that in the sugar industry? Yes. It is a well-
:08:23. > :08:27.known situation. The tools of the trade might be from another age.
:08:27. > :08:34.The machete is not much different from when Guatemala's for stew
:08:34. > :08:41.refinery opened in 1591. -- first sugar refinery. Life is far from
:08:41. > :08:47.easy but the conditions are well within international law. The
:08:47. > :08:53.industry is straining to achieve a more competitive, sustainable model.
:08:53. > :08:57.It does not respond to people. That means -- model but response to
:08:57. > :09:02.people. Wait to work on providing people with better opportunities
:09:02. > :09:06.for them and future generations through quality training and jobs
:09:06. > :09:11.and respect. Internationally, we want to keep growing. We want to
:09:11. > :09:21.keep securing a place where we achieve what we want because of
:09:21. > :09:23.
:09:23. > :09:32.efficiency and doing things the right way.
:09:32. > :09:36.That was the story of hope. Now we try not more than two hours away to
:09:36. > :09:45.another world for a first glance -- where, at first glance, it doesn't
:09:45. > :09:50.look that different. Julio is a trade union official. Augusto as an
:09:50. > :09:55.activist who knows the cane fields well. He was put to work when he
:09:55. > :10:00.was just 11 years old. They want to show us the dark side of the sugar
:10:00. > :10:10.industry. That is where we are heading.
:10:10. > :10:21.
:10:21. > :10:31.These are migrant workers, casual His name is Michael. Sadly, Augusto
:10:31. > :11:10.
:11:10. > :11:14.That's about $60 every two weeks. About 500,000, one in six of
:11:14. > :11:24.Guatemala's children like Michael, or working. The man with him said
:11:24. > :11:58.
:11:58. > :12:08.If Wright, they make just a quarter what the Pantaleon cutters were
:12:08. > :12:08.
:12:08. > :12:48.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 40 seconds
:12:48. > :12:53.getting and the hours are much Then, we were interrupted. Who are
:12:53. > :13:02.these people coming up to us now? Security. Private security.
:13:02. > :13:10.think we should go? Yes. Things aren't that straight forward. All
:13:10. > :13:14.handshakes, formal ones. It turns out there from a nearby mill.
:13:14. > :13:19.Enough of a presence to prompt a quick departure from Michael, his
:13:19. > :13:29.father and the cane cutters. They have not come to stop us filming or
:13:29. > :14:06.
:14:06. > :14:16.to monitor child labour but to Then they left. But so had Mike
:14:16. > :14:18.
:14:18. > :14:25.Hall. These guys here don't know where they have gone, do they? --
:14:25. > :14:30.Michael. Apparently he was in the next field. So we went to find him.
:14:30. > :14:38.The use of children, the uncontrolled burning, the lack of
:14:38. > :14:42.safety measures... the mainstream industry who we were with before
:14:42. > :14:46.say sugar 1/2 this could this way could never be sold to Europe. --
:14:46. > :14:52.harvested. Their cheques are too rigorous. The European Commission
:14:52. > :14:59.told me it was impossible to be completely certain. But it expected
:14:59. > :15:04.Guatemalan not to break the law and to abide by its promises. --
:15:04. > :15:09.Guatemala. Augusto's sceptical that Europe can change anything here. We
:15:09. > :15:13.think we have found the field where Mike Hall is working. Augusto
:15:13. > :15:20.interrupts the cane cutters lunch to ask where he might be. --
:15:20. > :15:27.Michael. Then the foreman arrives and tells them to get back to work
:15:27. > :15:34.immediately. "Don't argue, just do it," He says. All in good humour,
:15:34. > :15:44.but they get ready. Augusto asks him when he actually started
:15:44. > :16:12.
:16:12. > :16:20.We find Michael nearby. Hard at work just as he described. But not
:16:20. > :16:24.only him but another child's there. There's no sense among the cutters
:16:24. > :16:30.that this is indeed all wrong. Even the security guys from the other
:16:30. > :16:40.male admitted it was going on, but didn't try to stop it. -- meal.
:16:40. > :16:50.
:16:50. > :16:57.Next to the cane fie village of Las Flores. -- is.
:16:57. > :17:02.Unpaid and poor sanitation. A sugar mill has not yet materialised here.
:17:02. > :17:12.That afternoon we reflected on the lives of Michael and children like
:17:12. > :17:35.
:17:35. > :17:45.For parents that creeping threat is always a worry. With no real sense
:17:45. > :17:50.
:17:50. > :17:58.Have any of you guys met any body from the European Union, or any
:17:58. > :18:02.body that some monitoring the cane For generations there's been a
:18:02. > :18:07.sense that the system will never deliver for them. Historically in
:18:07. > :18:17.Latin America it's fuelled rebellion, creating legends such as
:18:17. > :18:19.
:18:19. > :18:29.The tiny Caribbean Coffee Republic of Guatemala or suffers its 60th
:18:29. > :18:34.
:18:34. > :18:39.political upheaval in 20 years... How to deliver fairness left. Left
:18:39. > :18:46.pitted against Wright was at the heart of Cold War politics. It left
:18:46. > :18:56.Guatemala and the whole region in conflict. -- left pitted against
:18:56. > :18:56.
:18:56. > :19:06.The fighting itself has now ended, although that took time. But the
:19:06. > :19:22.
:19:22. > :19:27.issue of equality remains BP in the sugar belt that produces
:19:27. > :19:35.so much wealth, about half an hour's drive from where we found
:19:35. > :19:39.Michael, is the small town of San Jose Di Idolo. -- deep in. A local
:19:39. > :19:49.businessman ran to become mayor because he said people have been
:19:49. > :20:07.
:20:07. > :20:17.This is Alfredo lamb's regular meeting with mothers and children.
:20:17. > :20:17.
:20:17. > :21:08.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 40 seconds
:21:08. > :21:14.Many of the men are in prison or Then down the Alice of shack homes,
:21:15. > :21:18.almost half the children don't get enough food. -- alleys. Guatemala
:21:18. > :21:28.has one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world and is one of
:21:28. > :22:00.
:22:00. > :22:04.Bad government, a lack of food and money. Yet the sugar industry now
:22:04. > :22:10.says it has a blueprint for the country's development. What's
:22:10. > :22:15.happening here is not government legislation and enforcement. Nor is
:22:15. > :22:20.it an influx of international aid. The sugar industry itself has made
:22:20. > :22:30.a decision that it's got to stop treating its workers badly, and
:22:30. > :22:32.
:22:32. > :22:37.make fundamental changes to gain greater access to global markets.
:22:37. > :22:42.Trade and this new agreement is seen as the way forward. Europe,
:22:42. > :22:47.although so far away, was once torn apart by war, dictatorship and
:22:47. > :22:53.depression just like Guatemala. And it's now been adopted as a guiding
:22:53. > :23:03.beacon. As we fly back from the Pantaleon Sugar Mill, Jose
:23:03. > :23:31.
:23:31. > :23:35.underlines his enthusiasm for the Essentially it's about how the most
:23:35. > :23:40.vulnerable, like Michael, are treated by the secure and powerful.
:23:40. > :23:47.And whether a document negotiated by those unfamiliar with the soot
:23:47. > :23:51.and the grit of the cane fields will have any impact at all. It's a
:23:51. > :23:55.good thing because a succession agreement will give a stronger
:23:55. > :23:59.mandate to the EU to monitor, and a stronger framework for the
:24:00. > :24:04.government to be able to pull together all the actors together
:24:04. > :24:11.and the government itself to do an internal job of monitoring human
:24:11. > :24:18.rights. We are very committed to better and better conditions each
:24:18. > :24:23.day on Human Rights. But it's a trade agreement. It's almost a
:24:23. > :24:28.condition that if you violate any of those, the trade agreement is
:24:28. > :24:38.going to stop. We don't see it as a condition. We see it as going
:24:38. > :24:46.
:24:46. > :24:52.We know that what's happening here is not right. At dusk they elope