Child Labour

in
South America
I. 1 – Definition of “Child Labour”

“Child Labour” is used to refer the

employment of children at regular and
sustained labour. This is considered
exploitative by many organizations and
illegal in many countries.

Child Labour was common practice in

many moments throughout history, but
nowadays it has entered public dispute
due to universal schooling and the
changes of working conditions and
human rights.
Child Labour generally harms children or keeps
them from going to school. It also violates a
nation’s minimum age laws, that can vary from
14 to 16, depending on the country.

Child labour can also threaten a child’s physical,

mental and emotional well-being, considering
that it may involve intolerant abuse, like child
trafficking, slavery, illicit activities or debt
bondage.
2. Figures and Map
 3. Causes, consequences and effects of child
labour

There are many causes of child labour, but

the most important are:

a) Poverty and Unemployment

Poor families tend to rely on child labour when work is

scarce and they need to improve their basic necessities.
Children are employed easily due to the fact that they can
be payed less that adults, they are more docile and easier
to exploit.
b) Access to education and other public services is
limited

The government doesn’t always provide free education or

health care or even ways to help them out of poverty.
Therefore, parents prefer to make their children work,
since most of them believe it is not harmful.

c) Dysfunctional
In dysfunctional families
families, when a parent
spends all their money on gambling,
drinking, or other harmful addictions, the
child may be forced to work, or even
leave the family, when there are cases
of abuse.
d) Laws or codes of conduct are often violated or
inadequate

Even if they exist, child labour laws are often not

enforced, or there are exemptions in the area where the
child works (like agriculture or domestic work). For
example, certain countries limit the minimum working
age to 16, yet they do not define how this law affects
working in agriculture or domestic work, which results in a
lot of children working in these areas.

e) The global economy

The expansion of multinational companies across borders

causes competition between countries for jobs,
investment and industry, therefore existing the need to
seek low labor costs, while avoiding international
standards.
The consequences and effects of child labour

Even though most children do not feel coerced and are

proud of their contribution to family income, child labour
has many consequences on children:
They do not get the chance of a
decent education, since they do
not go to school or cannot
concentrate in class, thus creating
a future illiterate and/or ignorant
population.
Many jobs are dangerous and can permanently harm the
child’s health, from poisonous chemicals to dust or
workplace accidents, or simply by placing too much strain
on their growing bodies;

Child labour generally leads to the abuse of those

• Children who start working at a young age also become
mentally and emotionally mature too fast, as well as
responsible. This implies that the child will become
burdened in an age when he or she should have fun and
play, losing one of the most critical phases of life –
childhood;

• The child, who is uneducated, becomes

burdened to a life of hard, unskilled and
badly paid work;

• Therefore, child labour creates and perpetuates poverty.

• In the end, each generation will have child labour as a

result of poor families.
4. Organizations that fight against Child Labour in
South America

• CTERA (Confederation of Workers for the Education of

the Republic of Argentina)
• Forum for Children’s and Teen’s rights
• PAICABI (Corporation for the Promotion and Support of
Childhood)
• FMM (Better World Foundation)
• INNFA – National Institute for the Child and the Family
• CIRD (Center of Information and Resources for
Development)
• CESIP (Center of Social Study and Publications)
 II. 1 – Jobs and Products

Out of all of the children in South America, an estimated

26% are forced to work.

Usually, they work in one of three economic sectors:

-agriculture;
-industry;
-informal economy.
Agriculture work is the most common, on family farms or
on plantations. They often harvest and cultivate coffee.
Some harvest bananas, sugar cane, sisal, tobacco,
oranges, and other fruits and vegetables. Sometimes they
work from sun up to sun down.
The work performed in the industrial sector can be:

-factory working (ex: fireworks and other

explosives);
-mining;
-manufacturing.
The informal sector encompasses domestic services and
most of the work that children do on streets, including
drug sales and prostitution.
 2. Groups and governments against child labour

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international

agencies, such as the International Labour Organisation
(ILO) and the UNICEF began to attract world attention to
child labour.

Several conventions and international programs were

approved:

-The ILO Minimum Age Convention (No 138), 1973;

-The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989;
-The ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No
182), 1989;
Some South American countries adopted educational
iniciatives and financial incentives for school attendance:

Brazil - The “Bolsa Familia”.

Mexico – The “Progresa” program.

Guatemala- Mobile education units for working children,

modified curriculum and vocational training.
 3. Progress on fighting against child labour

A lot of progress has been made since the beginning of

the discussion on this topic.

For instance, “Progresa” program, in Mexico, has been

extremely successful and “Bolsa Familia”, in Brazil,
reached over 1 million children aged from 9 to 15.

South America is making the greatest progress with

respect to the elimination of child labour.

The number of economically active children aged 5-14

has fallen 17, 4 to 5,7 millions over the last four years,
with just 5% of children now engaged in work.
 4. How citizens can help?

Citizens can help eliminate child labour by different ways:

-join anti-child labour groups;

-spread information about this issue;
-participate in campaigns about this topic;
-don´t buy products made by children or when there is no
guarantie that children were not involved in the
production of the item;
-organize debates and activities on the topic of child
labour;
-communicate to the proper autorities, in case of knowing
III- A True Story

By 6am in the market of San Pedro Sula, Honduras,

horses are hauling carts loaded with pineapples, bananas
and vegetables to the market stalls, sending up sweet
smells of pineapple, coriander and rain (from last night's
thunderstorm). As the traffic builds up, smog starts to
clog the dawn sky. The first school uniforms appear. On
the corner two small girls, aged perhaps five or six, are
collating the newspaper supplements ready for sale.
Everyone is chewing on mangoes. A group of teenage
girls lounge around a table, each turning out tortillas from
a huge ball of dough. Their bored, indolent faces contrast
with the speed of their hands, mechanically but expertly
slapping and patting the dough.
At 13, Marina is already part of Central America's tortilla
production line. A diminutive, blonde girl with a prominent
nose, she sports the ubiquitous market woman's apron, as
she struggles back to her stall - a rickety table covered in
blue plastic - with a large bucket of water. A charcoal
brazier under a griddle stands ready for the tortillas.
Marina's father comes past, face hidden under the
obligatory straw cowboy hat, pushing hard on a handcart
with wobbly wheels.

“At 4 am I leave home with my dad. He's a porter in the

market, so we come to work together - it's an hour's bus
ride. I prepare the dough for the tortillas before the
patrona arrives - she takes care of the selling. I finish
around 10am, then I go home to eat. At 2pm, I change
and go the Academy - I'm learning dress-making (I've
finished primary school). Academy finishes at 4, then I go
I get about $2.70 a day, and give about $1.60 to my
mum. I keep the rest for the Academy and all my
materials. Some of the regulars buy me a drink or an
avocado - today I even got sixty cents extra in tips.

My boss is a friend of my dad's. She asked me to come

and wash her plates once, then she decided to give me
work. Before then, I worked for another señora washing
plates, but she bossed me about a lot, so I left after a
month.

I like working. We were always bored at home. Here in the

market I see lots of people, not just my mother and
brothers. At home there was nothing much to eat - here I
eat all the time!”
 Bibliography
http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_childlabour.html;
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/may2005/amer-m11.sht
;
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/01908/800/globalsolution
;
http://www.freethechildren.com/getinvolved/geteducated/
childlabour.htm .