When a group of children came out to protest over child labour in Bolivia, it wasn’t to call for its abolition, but to ask for the minimum age to be reduced from 14 to just 10-years-old.
The government did exactly that, but it’s created controversy over whether children could be exploited, as David O’Shea reports for tonight’s Dateline on SBS ONE.
“If you work together as a family… you are conscious of the sacrifice you have to make to earn a penny,” Fanny Lopez Camino told O'Shea.
Her eight children work with her in the family’s bakery. Since her husband passed away, it’s the only way they can survive.
“If you work from very young, you can look after things,” her eldest daughter Annie said.
“I don’t really agree that children shouldn’t work because they can’t play. My little sisters help out, but they still have time to play.”
The family is also supported by social worker Ruben Chambi, who works in the city of El Alto where 60 per cent of the population is under the age of 18.
“In the Lopez Camino family, we find real unity, a strong protective mother, a sense of teamwork, and very capable children,” he told Dateline.
“Families and parents value their children working. They see it as admirable and an important boost to the family budget.”
But Mr Chambi is aware that not all children are so lucky. He took O'Shea to meet one young boy working on minibuses, who’s been involved in several accidents.
He also spoke to two girls who started out as child workers and ended up as prostitutes on the streets of this impoverished country.
“Many children like those who, as we say here are ‘flying on inhalants’, interact with other child workers who are selling things, and they end up mixing together and getting caught up in a cycle,” he said.
Prostitution is legal in Bolivia and he’s concerned that child prostitutes could say that it’s their choice to work.
But the congressman behind the law, Javier Zabaleta, defends it, saying he wants to regulate and eventually eradicate child labour.
“If child labour is invisible, it would be more difficult to register them and collect data,” he told SBS. “Our objective over the next five years is to tackle this problem in Bolivia.”
There are estimated to be hundreds of thousands of children working in Bolivia, and Congressman Zabaleta admitted that he was persuaded by their protests.
“I think it is a positive thing that social organisations, in this case children, help us make these kinds of laws,” he said.
The Child and Adolescent law safeguards the right to education, healthcare and working in a safe environment, but some believe it goes too far.
“A defenceless child cannot make a decision to fully defend their rights,” Bolivian Ombudsman Rolando Villena said.
“So they will always be exposed to exploitation. This is an extreme injustice because it affects human rights."
Congressman Zabaleta knows there’s much criticism of his law – both locally and internationally – but he’s unconcerned.
“Other countries can do what they like,” he said. “We are here to govern for Bolivia. That’s our goal.”
