por Amanda Pereira Arrigo
“Child labour is a violation of a basic human right, and our goal must be that every child, everywhere is free from it. We cannot rest until that happens.”
(UN, 2022)
The latest global estimate reveals that 160 million children were in child labour in 2020 and according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) a further 8.9 million children are expected to perform child labour by the end of 2022 as a consequence of the rising levels of poverty globally driven by the COVID-19 pandemic (ILO, 2020). Even though 193 countries have made a commitment to end child labour in all its forms by 2025 through the 2030 Agenda (SDG 8, target 8.7), it is quite clear that child labour remains a persistent problem throughout the globe. In this matter, this analysis intends to focus on child labour in Latin America and the Caribbean by evaluating the impacts of the COVID-19 on children in this specific region.
Conventions about children’s rights regarding child labour
There are three main international norms addressing the boundaries for child labour: the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the ILO Minimum Age for Admission to Employment Convention (No. 138) and the universally ratified ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182) (ILO, 2020).
According to these conventions, child labour is definied as “work that children are too young to perform and/or work that, by its nature or circumstances, is likely to harm children’s health, safety or morals” (ILO, 2020). However, the kind of work that children are obliged to perform can be so harmful to them that it was necessary to create the category of “worst forms of child labour” which entails, for instance, all forms of slavory or similar to it, debt bondage and serfdom, compulsory labour and recruiment of children for use in armed conflicts (ILO, 2020).
Thus, no government that is a member of the United Nations can argue that there are no clear definitions of what child labour entails. Yet, a report made by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the International Labour Organisation to measure and monitor progress towards the target 8.7 showed that child labour has risen to 160 million as a result of the pandemic - the first increase in two decades. Moreover, it brings into attention the impacts the economic shocks and school closures due to the pandemic caused on children, meaning that many of them may be working longer than usual, under worsening conditions and may even be forced into the worst forms of child labour because of income losses among their families (UNICEF, 2021).
Understanding the scenario for children in Latin America and the Caribbean
Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have been taking actions to tackle this problem and have successfully reduced by 2.3 million the amount of children in child labour from 2016 to 2020 (ILO, 2020). For instance, a 2011 World Bank research paper showed that there was a 10 to 12 percent decrease in child labor in Colombia due to the legislation created to prevent dangerous forms of child labor and a conditional cash transfer program which provides financial support to low-income families (O’BOYLE, 2014). Another example is Ecuador’s law in 2003 which raised its minimum working age to 15 and included several forms of work as unsuitable for children under 18 years old, such as jobs in mines, for instance (O’BOYLE, 2014).
However, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to reverse this trend since this region has been the hardest hit region around the world, according to the World Bank. It is expected by this organisation that the COVID-19 crisis will have a long-term impact on the economies in this region, with lower levels of learning and employment (WORLD BANK).
As a result of income loss, school closures, high level of economic insecurity and increased number of children in income-poor households, according to ILO and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), more than 300.000 children could be obliged to work, adding to the 10.5 million children already involved in child labour at the present (ILO, 2020).
It is important to understand that in this specific region, 77% of children under these conditions are boys and 48,7% work in the agricultural sector, one of the most dangerous and risky sectors for children inasmuch as they are exposed to long working days, extreme weather, chemical products and so on (ILO, 2019). Moreover, the seasonal character intrinsic to this activity increases children's migration and makes them even more vulnerable to violences (ILO, 2020). These children from rural area begin to work between the ages of 5 and 7 (END CHILD LABOUR, 2021).
Brazilian approach on children as one of the most influential countries in Latin America
Firstly, it is important to understand that the 227 Article of Brazil’s Federal Constitution establishes that it is the family’s, society’s and the State’s duty to assure, with absolute priority, children and adolescent’s rights of life, health, nurturing, education, leisure, amongst others fundamental rights (BRASIL, 1988).
However, since the eclosion of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been arising new challenges to the fight against children and adolescent’s violation and the setbacks have already been seen. In 2019, from the data collected by the Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios Contínua (PNAD, 2019), it was estimated that 1.8 million people from 5 to 17 years old were in children’s labour situation and from these, 709 thousand people were in occupations considered as the worst forms of children labour. When the data is analyzed, the profile is clear: black children are the targets since 66,4% of all children in child labour are boys and 66,1% are black (PNAD, 2019).
Regarding school’s attendance, the data comproved what is a well-known fact: children who perform child labour don’t go to school. According to PNAD Contínua (2019), while the school’s attendance of people between the ages of 5 to 17 years old was 96,6%, amongst the child workers this number dropped to 86,1%. The most affected age group was the one of 16 to 17 years old: 76,8% of those who work were unable to study as well, in contrast to 85,4% of the average population in the same age group who didn't work.
In Brazil’s case, it is not hard to conclude that Brazilian people are failing to protect their children and adolescents and are far from fulfilling the 227 Article. Clearly, the governmental sphere has great responsibility and power in placing children as its absolute priority. However it is also worth mentioning that civil society needs to play its role by monitoring the situation and reporting to authorities whenever they see a situation of children’s rights violation.
Final considerations
Considering that child labor is a clear violation of children’s rights that can scar their lives for good and also that the COVID-19 pandemic -and the way the governments have dealt with it- have had huge impacts on this matter, it is urgent that governments throughout the world truly commit to the end of child labour. Organisations such as UNICEF and ILO are calling for increased spending on public services, decent work for adults, laws to protect children and effective enforcement as ways to reduce child labour worldwide (UNICEF, 2021). In Latin America and the Caribbean, it is also important that the governments focus on child labour in agriculture, for all the reasons that were highlighted in this analysis.
It is clear that even though all countries have committed to the Agenda 2030 in 2015, an universal agenda that aims to improve well-being, eliminate poverty and protect the planet, the reality is that they are far from achieving these goals. The target set in the 2030 Agenda is only three years from now and what we have seen is an increase rather than a reduction in child labour worldwide. It is preposterous to have to acknowledge that we live in a world where hundreds of million children are losing their childhood and, too often, their lives in child labour.
Referências
BRASIL. Constituição (1988). Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil. Brasília, DF: Senado Federal: Centro Gráfico, 1988.
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GT Agenda 2030. Grupo de Trabalho da Sociedade Civil para a Agenda 2030 de Desenvolvimento Sustentável no Brasil. Relatório Luz sobre a Agenda 2030 no Brasil, 2021. Disponível em: https://brasilnaagenda2030.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/por_rl_2021_completo_vs_03_lowres.pdf. Acesso em 28 abril 2022.
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O’ BOYLE, Brendan. Explainer: Child Labor Legislation in South America. Americas Society Council of the Americas, 2014. Available at: https://www.as-coa.org/articles/explainer-child-labor-legislation-south-america. Access on August 17 2022.
Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios Contínua: PNAD Contínua. 2019. Disponível em: https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/visualizacao/livros/liv101777_informativo.pdf. Acesso em 01 maio 2022.
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