Child Labor In Bolivia

1458 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Child labour 1800

Child Labor in Bolivia

In order to understand the child labor laws in Bolivia, we must understand what child labor stands for, the International Labor Organization (ILO) defines child labor as work that “deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity and that is harmful to their mental and physical development (Diallo, Etienne, & Mehran, 2013, p2).” In order for certain types of work to be included as “child labor” depends on the child’s age, the type of work, the hours of work performed, the conditions under which it is performed (United Nations, 2013).
Child labor is not a new phenomenon; it has been practiced throughout history. Even though child labor is decreasing, it is still an issue in developing countries. …show more content…

Working in the mines, pay the most at $40.00 a day and some days at zero dollars (Enzinna, 2013). In 2008, 60 children died in the mines and a lot of mines are being depleted of minerals, causing them to cave in. The $40.00 is then taken home and divided, with ½ going to school supplies and ½ going to the family to survive. Some children will stand and yell destinations for buses and can receive $.12 for every bus they fill, yes 12 cents! Children sleep out on the streets and suffer a lot of abuse. They become addicted to drugs and or alcohol. The worst forms of child labor, you will find the worst living conditions.
“There are two different types of child labor: a child who chooses to work to survive and a child who is forced to work or exploited (Stewart, 2017).” A child is looked down upon if he does not work and help the family survive. It is a harsh reality, but, if parents were paid more, then children would not have to work. It becomes a matter of life or death. This again falls back to the poverty of the country and being the poorest in South America. Bolivian government prints money to pay its bills, this drives up prices of goods, which in return increases child labor. It becomes a circle and poverty and child labor go hand in hand and non-educated …show more content…

One organization is Union of Child and Adolescent Workers of Bolivia (UNATSBO), changes the children’s lives and helps them understand their rights, teaches them to speak up and defend themselves. Some 13 year olds have the mind of an adult, where some adults have the mind of a 13 year old. These organizations are run by children and they support the law and what they are fighting for. The children campaigned for a new law which was passed to pay a child $250.00 USD a month, where a child used to have to negotiate their own wages. Children must attended school, because again education is the only way to overcome poverty. “It’s a step in the right direction (Lind, 2017).” Many still believe the children are being exploited by a failing law in Bolivia. “Bolivia is sending the wrong message: hard labor, not education, is the only escape from poverty (Lind, 2017).”
If children are to be conserved as the most important asset of their country, we must educate the children, the parents and the government on the importance of child labor. A child should have the oppurtunity to go to school, play with their friends, they need love and care by their parents, but unfortunately due to poverty, children must work to help their families survive. Childhood is the most memorable period of the life which everyone has right to live from birth. Allowing a child to develop would lead to greater benefits

Show More
Related

  • Colombia Case Study

    2226 Words  | 5 Pages

    Most public school in Colombia are underfunded and have very few resources. According to the CIA Fact book education expenditures equal to 4.4% of the GDP. School life expectancy is 13 years and the unemployment rate for your ages between 15- 24 is 21.9 %. These numbers are in direct correlation with the terrorism conflict. The state has to concentrate its spending on military expenditures. This conflict also caused Colombia to become the country with the highest number of Internally Displaced Population. Official, there are 4,175,000 internally displaced people that lost their farms or homes due to the conflict in the rural areas. These people do not receive any assistance and went from being farmers and having a source of income to absolutely nothing. Most move into large cities and live in slumps. President Santos realizes the importance of education assured that “If we want to be free of poverty, if we want to combat it and if we wish to be the most socially unequal continent in the word, worse than Africa, education has to be our primary tool”. Santos believes that this has to be an “American movement. All of the Latin American states have to join together and make education a fundamental objective by creating a regional education

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Hard At Work By Ritu Upadhyay

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    This is shown explicitly in the article, Hard at Work, by Ritu Upadhyay, where Ecuadorian families “face the difficult choice of either putting food on their tables or sending their kids to school.” Having food on the table to eat daily is more important than having education, but education seems more important. Children shouldn’t be sent to school for education if it means that their family won’t have anything to eat. Parents and children in third world countries dream about receiving education as they believe it will lead to more money from a better job but, extremely suffering while trying to chase something very uncertain, is not worth the time and effort. Safety plays an important role as it determines if risking one’s life is safe and worth enough to be taking that challenge. To gain security in life, one has risk what they for a greater gain. As shown in the Declaration of Independence, in the 1700s, Americans were controlled by the British as they had food and little protection (US 1776). They risked what they had for something they valued more, independence. Gaining independence gave Americans, dependable leadership, acceptable living conditions, and protection moving on. Likewise, families in Ecuador have no other option but to risk their children 's’ lives, “Kids working in the industry are exposed to harmful chemicals … and use sharp, heavy knives” (Upadhyay). The problem is if they do not let their children work, there will not be sufficient money for food, so risking kids’ lives is more

    Read More

  • Human Rights in Ender´s Game by Orson Scott Card

    569 Words  | 2 Pages

    The children who are paid, get a very low salary compared to the adults who work in industries, here is something to think about. Say you go to the store, a...

    Read More

  • Bolivia – Privatization or Nationalization?

    3363 Words  | 7 Pages

    Bolivia was once a rich and prosperous country but is now one of the poorest nations in the world. The economy of Bolivia used to be rich in agriculture and mining but now searches to find something prosperous again. Privatization of certain companies has started in the country but was expelled when mass protests began. The companies’ prices are too high and the people used their culture and history to get rid of them. The Cochabamba protests of 2000 and the Bolivian gas referendum of 2004 are a couple of examples that show the power the people of Bolivia have over their own government.

    Read More

  • Sweat Shops

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    The lives of people in some third world countries such as Honduras and Indonesia are completely different than ours hear in a much more prosperous nation. So when citizens of this great nation hear about people working for thirty to fifty cents an hour they think it’s absolutely absurd. But what they don’t realize is that this amount of profit is acceptable to these people. David R. Henderson backs this up by stating, “Take the 31 cents an hour some 13-year-old Honduran girls allegedly earn at 70-hour-a-week jobs. Assuming a 50-week year, that works out to over $1,000 a year. This sounds absurdly low to Americans but when you consider that Honduras’s GDP per person in 1994 was the equivalent of about $600.” You can also see proof of this in Cathy Young’s article when she writes, “I have also wondered why, when we are shocked by reports of 50-cent-an-hour wages, we never think of those Save the Children ads reminding us that a contribution of $15 can feed and clothe a Third World child for a whole month.” Also, Young brings up another good point by stressing the fact that to many Third World country families having children is one more financial burden, “…in poor societies, a family cannot afford to support a child for 18 years. For virtually all of human history, most children worked…”

    Read More

  • Child Labor

    1721 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout time children have worked myriad hours in hazardous workplaces in order to make a few cents to a few dollars. This is known as child labor, where children are risking their lives daily for money. Today child labor continues to exist all over the world and even in the United States where children pick fruits and vegetables in difficult conditions. According to the article, “What is Child Labor”; it states that roughly 215 million children around the world are working between the ages of 5 and 17 in harmful workplaces. Child labor continues to exist because many families live in poverty and with more working hands there is an increase in income. Other families take their children to work in the fields because they have no access to childcare and extra money is beneficial to buy basic needs. Although there are laws and regulations that protect children from child labor, stronger enforcement is required because child labor not only exploits children but also has detrimental effects on a child’s health, education, and the people of the nation.

    Read More

  • Child Labor in the United States

    1478 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is Child Labor?Child Labor is work that harms children or keeps them from attending school. Around the world and in the U.S., growing gaps between rich and poor in recent decades have forced millions of young children out of school and into work. It is estimated that 215 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 are currently working under conditions that are considered illegal, hazardous, or extremely exploitative.1 Underage children work many different types of jobs that included commercial agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, mining, and domestic services. Some children were involved in illicit activities that included drug trade, prostitution, and other traumatic occupations that included serving as soldiers. Child Labor involved threatening children’s physical, mental, or emotional well- being. It involved intolerable abuse, such as slavery, child trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor or illicit activities and prevented children from going to school.

    Read More

  • Government Restrictions on Child Labor

    796 Words  | 2 Pages

    Without the government restrictions, one event that would occur would be that our children would be working very long ours, getting paid less than everyone else. Our children could be doing the same jobs adults do or should do, but get paid significantly less. “Nearby, nine-year-old Cristina works alongside five family members, including siblings and cousins. This is her second week- end in the fields and she struggles to keep up with the others. Together, the six hope to earn $100 for a full day’s work, which averages out to around $2 per hour worked. More than a dozen other children are working in the same field. They lean over to snip and gather onions. Exhaustion paints their faces as they carry heavy buckets to burlap sacks stationed around the field. The children earn about a penny for every pound of onions picked” (Child Labour Stories). This implies that the children are doing labor that is significantly harder than the average middle-class jobs, and getting paid as if it is worth nothing. These children should get paid as equal as adults, because they are working even harder tha...

    Read More

  • Child Labor Controversy Essay

    1806 Words  | 4 Pages

    Child labor laws need to be enforced more because governments are paying little attention to those who abuse the laws; therefore children are being abused physically by long hours and economically by low pay. Farmers and many businesses in third world countries are accused of taking major advantage of these laws. This topic is highlighted as one of the highest controversial issues in labor politics. Child labor is a major issue in countries such as Africa, Argentina, and Bangladesh. For example, in Africa, some children do the work of a grown man for as little as one dollar a day. On the other hand, in the United States some studies show that child labor is a bigger problem in the U.S than some third world countries (Barta and others). Many farmers are facing a huge problem; the government is attempting to keep children from working long hours on their family farms.

    Read More

  • Child Labor Argumentative Essay

    1669 Words  | 4 Pages

    Child labor has detrimental effects on kids physically, psychologically, and educationally. Physically, the manual labor that children have to go through everyday takes a toll on them. According to a study by the

    Read More

  • Child Labor Essay

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    Child labor refers to work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; obliging them to leave school prematurely or by requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work (International Labor Organization). Child labor has been a big problem ever since the Victorian Era. Many counties worldwide have used and still to this day use child labor. Though there are many laws that have been implemented against using children to work, many countries tend to ignore them. In my paper I will be discussing countries where child labor is present, push to stop child labor, companies that use child labor, the effects on children, and the reasons for child labor.

    Read More

  • Child Labor

    2143 Words  | 5 Pages

    Child Labor is not an isolated problem. The phenomenon of child labor is an effect of economic discrimination. In different parts of the world, at different stages of histories, laboring of child has been a part of economic life. More than 200 million children worldwide, some are as young as 4 and 5 years old, are slaves to the production line. These unfortunate children manufacture shoes, matches, clothing, rugs and countless other products that are flooding the American market and driving hard-working Americans out of jobs. These children worked long hours, were frequently beaten, and were paid a pittance. In 1979, a study shows more than 50 million children below the age of 16 were considered child labor (United Nation labors agency data). In 1998, according to the Campaign for Labor rights that is a NGO and United Nation Labor Agency, 250 million children around the world are working in farms, factories, and household. Some human rights experts indicate that there are as many as 400 million children under the age of 15 are performing forced labor either part or full-time under unsafe work environment. Based upon the needs of the situation, there are specific areas of the world where the practice of child labor is taking place. According to the journal written by Basu, Ashagrie gat...

    Read More

  • Child Labour: NOT Always Wrong

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    If a child has a part-time job, they can learn the value of money. So I believe that the issue of child labour is not simple. As Unicef’s 1997 State of the World’s Children Report argued, children’s work needs to be seen as having two extremes. On one hand, there is the destructive or exploitative work and, on the other hand, there is beneficial work - promoting or enhancing children’s development without interfering with their schooling, recreation and rest. ‘And between these two poles are vast areas of work that need not negatively affect a child’s development.’

    Read More

  • Advancement Of Women

    877 Words  | 2 Pages

    In document UN/ CRC/ 531, analyzed through UNICEF, an estimated 25% of the world’s children (developing world) are in the web of child labor. To add to this, nearly 70% of all girl/female laborers go unregistered, often performing acts of prostitution and strenuous domestic housework. This form of unregistered work is dangerous to young girls because the employers often abuse their employees sexually and physically, as well as psychologically scarring them for years. This alarming fact can be attributed to the inequality of education given to young girls.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Child Labour

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    Without education children are unable to succeed and break the cycle of poverty therefore being unable to provide for there own family and forcing there own children into the workforce like generations before.6 Child labour often continues the cycle of poverty because children are overworked and economically exploited because they are paid at the lowest rates.7Child labor violates the basic right to a primary education and economically exploits children therefore promoting the cycle of

    Read More

More about Child Labor In Bolivia

Open Document