Bolivia has become the first country to legalise child labour after a law was signed by Vice- President Alvaro Garcia Linera on Thursday.
The new legislation was first approved by Congress earlier this month, and now the signature from Linera means the age that children can legally work is to be lowered from 14 to 10.
Under the new legislation, children above the age of 10 will be allowed to become self-employed workers as long as they have enrolled in school and have the permission of their parents.
Children over the age of 12 will be permitted to take on contract work, again with parental consent and compulsory school attendance.
The law to lower the age in which children can legally work, is all part of the Bolivian government’s plan to help Bolivians living in poverty.
It is hoped that adding another wage to a family’s income could alleviate the financial burdens that a large proportion of Bolivians face.
An estimated 1m children under the age of 17 currently work in Bolivia
Senator Adolfo Mendoza, one of the bill's sponsors told the Associated Press: “Child labour already exists in Bolivia and it's difficult to fight it. Rather than persecute it, we want to protect the rights and guarantee the labour security of children."
Child labour is something that is engrained in Bolivian culture, with a large percentage of the adolescent population having to work.
It is estimated that a total of 1 million of Bolivia’s children between the ages of five and 17 currently work, making up 15 per cent of the country’s workforce.
Even the President, Evo Morales, worked as a 14-year-old herding Llama in his hometown of Isallawi.
He is a supporter of the bill and has been quoted in the past as saying that “emiliminating work for boys and girls would be like eliminating people's social conscience."
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The decision by the government has led to a number of anti-child labour groups condemning the decision, claiming that the Bolivia’s new legislation goes against international law.
Carmen Moreno, an International Labour Organisation official working to reduce child labor, said Bolivia's law contravenes a UN convention designating 14 as the minimum work age.
Jo Becker, the children's rights advocacy director at New York-based Human Rights Watch, called the decision short sighted and not a solution to the economic hardship Bolivian people experience.
“Bolivia's move is out of step with the rest of the world,” she said, "child labour may be seen as a short-term solution to economic hardship, but is actually a cause of poverty."
She argued that Bolivia should instead be investing in other ways to try and lift its poorest families out of poverty.
The eradication of child labour around the world and particularly in South America has progressed a lot in the last fourteen years.
According to the International Labour Organization, global child labour had been reduced by a third since 2000 and in between 2008 and 2012 child labour in Latin America and the Carribean had fallen by nearly 2 million.
However, it is argued that the move by Bolivia could halt the progress currently being made.
“The new law runs against the regional current,” said Moreno, “Mexico has set 15 as the minimum age and Chile age 16”.
Additional Reporting by AP
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that Evo Morales de facto communist president for life
of Bolivia is also head of the coca growers union
and that Bolivia is source of much of the coca that feeds the cocaine trade flowing north
If the goverment of Bolivia are being realistic and recognising the problem that the exsiting law is being ignored. Then better to get to grip with the situation and encourage that they do education at the same time in life which they currently do not get. These chidren will probably have a greater hunger for education as they will want to get on and use the Presidents example of social mobility.
Not entirely sure why we have to pay (enornously) "professional" teachers in order to learn.
I also see no harm in children earning a little money.
Sory about that now...
Such is the gross unequality of economic power, the West's Vogons can even export (offshore) exploitation & slavery, then the imported cheap goods are sold at inflated prices to their more advantaged citizens (Walmarting). The USA has done this to such an extent, it has destroyed its once thriving industrial base & reduced many of its citizens to unemployed, peon status. The US state has been robbed of tax income by its monster corps claiming tax-free, international status. Meantime, its downtrodden citizens are hunted relentlessly for income tax if they work abroad - 'Only little people pay taxes'.
So Bolivia has approx' 7 billion people in work. Someone should tell IDS - he could learn a thing or two.