Bolivian government ready to legalize work from age 10
Print Edition
WHILE most of the world is trying to diminish child labor, Bolivia is on the verge of becoming the first nation to legalize it from age 10. Congress has approved the proposal and all that’s now required is President Evo Morales’ signature.
The bill’s sponsors say lowering the minimum work age from 14 simply acknowledges a reality: Many poor families in Bolivia have no other choice than for their children to work. The bill offers working children safeguards, they say.
“Child labor already exists in Bolivia and it’s difficult to fight it. Rather than persecute it, we want to protect the rights and guarantee the labor security of children,” said Senator Adolfo Mendoza, one of the bill’s sponsors.
Under the legislation, 10-year-olds will be able to work as long as they are under parental supervision and also attend school. It sets 12 as the minimum age for a child to work under contract. They also would have to attend school.
“To eliminate work for boys and girls would be like eliminating people’s social conscience,” Morales said in December in support of unionized young workers who marched on Congress to prevent it from ratifying a minimum work age of 14.
“The president gave us his support. He also worked as a boy, herding llamas,” Rodrigo Medrano, head of the Union of Boy, Girl and Adolescent Workers, said, adding there is no alternative in a society where half the population is poor.
Jo Becker, the children’s rights advocacy director at New York-based Human Rights Watch, disagrees. “Child labor may be seen as a short-term solution to economic hardship, but is actually a cause of poverty,” she said.
Becker said people who start work as children end up with less education and lower earnings as adults.
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