Bolivia’s New Child Labor Law: A Violation of Human Rights

Child labor is a dangerous, exploitative practice constituting a violation of human rights, which many nations have tried to eradicate. Yet Bolivia—a country that has more than 500,000 children working to supplement the family income—has instead done something drastically different: Bolivia has lowered the legal working age to allow children to work from the age of 10, provided they attend school and are self-employed.

One of the poorest countries in South America, Bolivia is the first nation to legalize child labor, as the measure was approved by the Bolivian Congress earlier this month and signed into law. It dictates that 10-year-olds can work as long as they are under parental supervision and attending school. The minimum age for a child to work under contract is 12 years, and those children will also have to attend school. The legislative decision was made with the hope that the law would help end the extreme poverty in Bolivia. Rather than persecuting the child labor prevalent in Bolivia, the law instead is viewed by the Bolivian government as a means to protect the rights of the children workers.

The International Labour Organization investigates a new law in Bolivia that allows children as young as 10 to work [Picture: AFP PHOTO / ALI BURAFI]

“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.

However, on the contrary, lowering the minimum age a child can work is a poor decision that will result in the continuation of poverty. The younger a child worker is, the harder it becomes to break the damaging cycle of lifetime low-wage work. While the law necessitates that child workers attend school, it will become difficult for children in work to continue with their education. Long hours and intensive work will result in them taking more days off from school to recover, as well as the failure to productively complete their school assignments, which could possibly lead to them dropping out of school altogether.

As a result, children who become involved in work miss out on educational opportunities and are more likely to continue the level of low-wage work. Child workers who find a job are less likely to want to return to school as the need for an income trumps sitting in a classroom. This short-term decision has lasting impacts on the future work and lifestyle the child will experience, but the choice to leave school is often simply a means of survival. Employing child labor is viewed as a necessity for the family: it is mandatory to work, as the extreme level of poverty means family members, regardless of age, must contribute any income possible.

For Bolivia, lowering of the legal age for child workers might seem like a solution, but upon assessing the long-term impact one can note the harmful implications that are revealed. Most obvious of these is that more children will be sent to work, which means there is less of a chance to escape the poverty and, as a result, these children will become entrapped in low-wage work throughout their life, with little means for improvement.

Boys working in the Cerro Rico de Potosi tin mine in Bolivia [Photo: Alamy, The Telegraph]

While child workers will have more work, it comes at a cost. These children will be working in dangerous conditions with little attention given to their safety or well-being. Child laborers also don’t have minimum wage requirements and will not advocate for more rights in the workplace, which is detrimental to the employment prospects for adults in Bolivia and, therefore, to the overall economy of the country. Employers will choose to hire children instead of adults, who will face fewer opportunities for decent work, because of the exploitative practices enacted on the child laborers.

Lowering the legal age for child workers also means Bolivia will be the recipient of much backlash and criticism from the international community, as no other countries have legalized child labor. Within the region, Bolivia stands alone: Mexico has 15 as the minimum age and Chile has 16 years. The age enacted by the Bolivian government also goes against international regulations, as the International Labour Organisation says children under the age of 15 should not be allowed to work, though the ILO does permit the working age in developing countries to be 14 years.

By enacting this law, many countries will interpret that Bolivia has, in effect, approved the continuation of harmful working conditions, low wages, and the poverty that children experience. Lowering the age for children to work only cements this human rights violation into law. To counteract a lifetime of poverty, the Bolivian government must implement policy measures to increase education opportunities for youth, as well as provide further support to social programs.