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Introduction: The Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin America

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Hazardous Child Labour in Latin America

Abstract

Child labour, despite a broadly accepted understanding that it must be eradicated, and despite the International Conventions, national legislation and various time-bound programmes, lingers on in many parts of the world, including Latin America, which albeit has a much higher GDP than countries in Africa and South Asia. Despite the commitment to include universal primary education leading to the elimination of child labour as one of the millennium development goals, to be achieved by 2015, it has remained difficult to tackle the problem.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Table 5 in the UCW report compiled by Guarcello et al. for the precise calculations. (Guarcello et al. 2006:21 (Table 5))

  2. 2.

    Of the 21 Latin American countries, national worst forms lists are available only for Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic.

  3. 3.

    There have been several country reports on mining (Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Peru), garbage dumps (Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru), domestic labour (Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru) and child prostitution (Haiti, Belize, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador). Several specific worst forms sectors have been identified; see for more information http://white.oit.org.pe/ipec/pagina.php?seccion=44&pagina=175

  4. 4.

    Children in domestic service, prostitution and armed conflict are particularly hidden from these common methods of data collection (U.S. Department of Labor 2006). For children in armed conflict, only one study was conducted by Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch 2003).

  5. 5.

    The sierra regions, or highlands, are those that lie in the Andes Mountains; they comprise high plateaus known as the Altiplano, and high peaks.

  6. 6.

    Legislación Juvenil en Bolivia, available from

    http://www.cinterfor.org.uy/public/spanish/region/ampro/cinterfor/temas/youth/legisl/bol/iii/index.htm, accessed in July 2008. The new Constitution, which was drafted during 2007, includes an article on child labour, stating that all forms of exploitation of minors should be prevented.

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  1. Alberdingk Thijmstraat 62, 2106 EM, Heemstede, Netherlands

    G. K. Lieten

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    G.K. Lieten

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Lieten, G.K. (2010). Introduction: The Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin America. In: Lieten, G. (eds) Hazardous Child Labour in Latin America. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0177-9_1

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