Child Labor in Venezuela

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Bolivian Republic of Venezuela is a county in South America. It was one of the countries that emerged from collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (Baguley and Winter 15). Hugo Chavez is the president since 1999. He was democratically elected president in 1998, after the approval of the new constitution in 1999, which is the highest law of the land (Baguley and Winter 12). Venezuela is subdivided into 23 states, a Capital District correspondent in the city of Caracas, and the Federal Dependencies (Baguley and Winter 15). The county is also divided into ten administrative regions, which were established by presidential decrees (Baguley and Winter 20). Children can be found working in agriculture, small to medium size businesses, scavenging in garbage dumps and gold (Baguley and Winter 15). Child Labor started in Venezuela because the government had failed to solve the education, working conditions and government corruption problems in the count (Coronel 2).

One of the problems, the government failed to solve is education for all the children (Baguley and Winter 10). Education free under the 1999 constitution however is not mandatory for all children in Venezuela to attend school (“Constitution Venezuela”). The government has set up 35 percent of the national budget to education. The student education budget has increased, but many children do not attend school due to poverty (“2008 Findings”). Children must work to keep the house running and to have food every day (Baguley and Winter 11). Indigenous and African descent children also do not get access to education (Baguley and Winter 15). There is twenty percent of the population without formal education. In April 2002, in Venezuela eighteen percent of the children that started prima...

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...nd they will be able to get an education (Baguley and Winter 30). The government should have a minimum wage set for the workers (Baguley and Winter 20).This will allow people in the county to make enough money that will allow them to run their house and they don’t have to make their children work. There should be stricter safety laws that will prevent workers from working in conditions that are dangerous to their health (Baguley and Winter 25). Also, the government should take education mandatory for all children in the county (Baguley and Winter 22). This will prevent a large number of children working in the child labor force (Baguley and Winter 20).However, this all will not be possible if the government of Venezuela does not step up and make changes to help the innocent children that are part of the growing child labor force in Venezuela (Baguley and Winter 30).

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