Child Labour in Bolivia

The 7-minute NYT video below discusses the role of child labour in Bolivian society and in its economy. Bolivian law explicitly allows children as young as 10 to work. According to the video, child labour has been a tradition in Bolivia “for generations.” Naturally, that in itself doesn’t justify having children as young as 6 years old working in brick factories. But as the video points out, for some children there (and, we would add, in other very poor countries) the alternatives are worse. International pressures have helped reduce child labour, but they’ve also reduced opportunities for income. According to one advocate shown in the video, child labour isn’t the problem…exploitative child labour is the problem. >>>


LINK: In Bolivia, Legitimizing Child Labor (by Mathias Meier for NYT)

Bolivian legislation allowing children as young as 10 to work has created a rift between those who support it as Andean tradition and others who condemn it as exploitation…..

What do you think?

See also: Victoria’s Secret and child labour: Child labour is always bad, but it’s not always wrong.

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