Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (Ratification: 2003)

Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Clause (a). Debt bondage and forced or compulsory labour. Child labour in sugar cane and Brazil nut harvesting. In its previous comments, the Committee noted a communication from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) indicating that over 10,000 children work with their parents in the sugar harvest in the country. The tasks performed by children vary: boys work with the men in cutting sugar cane, and girls and young children work with the women in gathering, stripping and bundling the cane. They work very long hours, suffer from respiratory ailments and sustain injuries through the use of machetes. The ITUC added that, in the case of the Brazil nut harvest, children start at the age of 7 helping their parents in plantations, assisting with picking and processing the fruit. The work they do is hazardous because they use machetes to crack the nuts and extract the kernels, and they have to walk for hours to find the fruit-bearing trees and work begins in the middle of the night. According to the ITUC, child labour in the sugar industry and in the nut harvest is a practice similar to slavery because the children have no alternative but to work with their parents. They therefore have joint liability with their parents for the debt and are compelled to work to help their parents repay it. The Committee also noted the study entitled Enganche y Servidumbre por Deudas en Bolivia (Entrapment and debt bondage in Bolivia), published by the Office in January 2005, which reports that tens of thousands of indigenous agricultural workers are in a situation of debt bondage in the country, certain of whom are subject to permanent or semi-permanent forced labour in the Chaco region, as well as in the areas of Santa Cruz and Tarija (sugar harvesting) and the northern Amazon (Brazil nut harvesting).

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report that, following an assessment of the situation carried out in 2007 by the NGO Cedla at the request of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Welfare, with the support of UNICEF, on the situation of children and their families working in the sugar cane and Brazil nut harvest in the departments of Beni and Pando (frontier regions with Brazil), it was found that, of the 16,957 workers identified in total, 4,671 were under 18 years of age and worked under conditions of exploitation. The Committee, however, notes that the Government’s report does not provide information on the number of investigations conducted and prosecutions initiated following this assessment.

The Committee also notes that the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its concluding observations of 16 October 2009 on the Government’s fourth periodic report (CRC/C/BOL/CO/4, paragraph 73), expressed particular concern at the situation of the Guarani children living in conditions of servitude, who are victims of forced labour and abuses in the Chaco region. The Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that persons using the labour of children under 18 years of age in the sugar cane and Brazil nut harvesting industry in conditions of debt bondage or forced labour are prosecuted and that effective and dissuasive sanctions are applied to them. It once again requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the effect given in practice to the provisions of the national legislation respecting these worst forms of child labour, including statistics on the number and nature of the offences reported, the investigations undertaken, prosecutions, convictions and penal sanctions applied.

Article 3(d). Hazardous work. Children working in mines. The Committee previously noted ITUC’s indications that over 3,800 children work in the tin, zinc, silver and gold mines in the departments of Ururo, Potosí and La Paz. Children who work in the rivers of gold mines are engaged in extracting and washing gold deposits. However, the rivers are contaminated with mercury, sulphur and other chemicals used in mining. Furthermore, because of their small size, children aged 8 to 12 years are sent into certain narrow parts of the mine where an adult would not be able to pass. Children also work on extracting ore and preparing and exploding dynamite. Sometimes, in mines where there are no wagons to shift heavy ore, the children have to carry it on their shoulders to the ore processing area. In the first step of processing, the children have to handle a tool – a very heavy stone that can weigh up to 60 kilos, which they balance with the help of a metal plank on smaller stones. In the second phase, they have to recover the remaining ore, which is mixed with chemicals, and are in danger of suffering burns and inhaling toxic gases. The Committee notes that section 134 of the Code on Children and Adolescents contains a detailed list of the types of hazardous work prohibited for young people, some of which are related to the work carried out by children in mines, including the transport of heavy loads, the handling or inhaling of toxic substances and the handling of dangerous tools or explosives. It requested the Government to provide information on the application in practice of the national legislation.

The Committee observes that the Government’s report does not provide information in this regard. It notes that the CRC, in its concluding observations of 16 October 2009 on the Government’s fourth periodic report (CRC/C/BOL/CO/4, paragraph 73), expressed particular concern at the situation of children engaged in hazardous work in mining. The Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures in law and practice to protect children under 18 years of age from hazardous work in mining. In that respect, it requests it to take the necessary steps to ensure that in-depth investigations and effective prosecutions are carried out against persons who employ children under 18 years of age in hazardous work in mines and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive sanctions are applied to them. It once again requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the effect given in practice to the provisions of the national legislation.

Article 5. Monitoring mechanisms. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Welfare now has four labour inspectors specialized in child labour. These inspectors are located in the departments of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Potosí and Beni. According to the Government, 90 technical inspections were carried out in 2009 in the sugar cane industry in Santa Cruz and Bermejo, in the Brazil nut harvest in Riberalta and in the mining sector in Potosí. These inspections showed that the use of children under 14 years of age for work was only found in 5 per cent of cases. The Committee, nevertheless, notes that, according to the information contained in a report on the worst forms of child labour of 15 December 2010, available on the website of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, labour inspectors carry out inspections in response to complaints, but not surprise inspections, due to the lack of resources. Moreover, inspectors encounter difficulties in gaining access to plantations in the Chaco region. The Committee therefore requests the Government to intensify its efforts to strengthen the capacities of the labour inspection services and to ensure that regular inspections, including unscheduled inspections, are carried out with a view to improving the surveillance of child labour, particularly in sugar cane and Brazil nut harvesting, as well as in the mining sector. It requests the Government to continue providing information on the results achieved through these inspections.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clauses (a) and (b). Preventing children from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour and providing assistance for their removal from such labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration. 1. Debt bondage and forced and compulsory labour. Child labour in the sugar cane and Brazil nut harvesting industry. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that an education strategy had been put into effect by the Ministry of Labour and the Fundación Hombres Nuevos, in collaboration with UNICEF, in ten municipalities in the sugar cane area of Santa Cruz. Over 3,000 girls and boys and their families, and 60 teachers from education units, were to benefit from the strategy. The Committee requested the Government to provide information on the results achieved.

The Committee notes that the Government’s report does not provide information on this matter. However, it notes the indication that the Government is envisaging the formulation of a new five-year plan based on the results of the final evaluation of the National Plan for the Gradual Elimination of Child Labour (2000–10) (PNEPTI (2000–10)) and the Three-Year Plan for the Progressive Elimination of Child Labour (2006–08) (Three-Year Plan (2006–08)). The Committee strongly encourages the Government to strengthen its efforts and requests it to take effective time-bound measures in the context of the five-year plan to prevent children becoming victims of debt bondage or forced labour in the sugar cane and Brazil nut harvesting industry and to remove child victims from these worst forms of child labour and ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. It requests the Government to provide detailed information in its next report on the measures adopted in this respect and the results achieved.

2. Child labour in mines. The Committee previously noted the awareness raising and educational measures and the economic alternatives offered to the families of children working in mines. It noted with interest that 20 per cent of the children who participated in the vocational training programme stopped working in mines and that the remaining 80 per cent reduced their hours of work. Finally, it noted that the Three-Year Plan (2006–08) and the PNEPTI (2000–10) had both set the objective of the elimination of child labour in mining.

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report that the Inter-Institutional Commission for the Elimination of Child Labour (CIEPTI), in collaboration with the NGO Care, has been implementing, since May 2009 a project entitled Oportunidades Educacionales para adolescentes en Distritos Mineros del Cerro Rico de Potosí (Educational opportunities for young persons in the mining areas of the Cerro Rico de Potosí). The primary objective of the project is to prevent young persons working in mines through the provision of vocational training programmes. It also notes that awareness-raising and educational measures have continued in two mining districts, Llallagua and Potosí, with the participation of 167 students in 2009. Finally, the Committee notes that the Government envisages the adoption of a new five-year plan as a follow up to the PNEPTI (2000–10) and the Three-Year Plan (2006–08). The Committee strongly encourages the Government to pursue its efforts and requests it to provide information on the measures adopted or envisaged in the context of the five-year plan to: (a) prevent children under 18 years of age from being engaged in hazardous types of work in mines; and (b) provide the necessary and appropriate direct assistance for the removal of children from this worst form of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration. It also requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved in terms of the number of children and young persons benefiting from these measures.

Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Indigenous children. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that in the large estates of the Chaco region, families of the Guarani community are subject to debt bondage, as a result of which the children of these families are in the same situation. It noted that a national plan of action for the elimination of forced labour was to be adopted, which would take into account the problem of Guarani families in a situation of debt bondage and include special measures for the children of these families.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the CIEPTI held consultations in 2009 with 80 Quechua and Guarani communities concerning their views and position with regard to the issue of child labour. The final objective of this consultation process is the formulation of public policies on the matter. The Government’s report adds that the NGO Dya, in collaboration with the CIEPTI, has been implementing a three-year project (October 2007 – January 2011) in the department of Santa Cruz, with the objective of offering educational opportunities to 5,800 indigenous children and young persons who are engaged, or are liable to be engaged in agricultural work, domestic service, agro-industry, trading and forced labour.

The Committee nevertheless notes that the CRC, in its concluding observations of 16 October 2009 on the Government’s fourth periodic report (CRC/C/BOL/CO/4, paragraph 73), expressed particular concern at the persistence of the economic exploitation of indigenous children. Observing that the children of indigenous peoples are often the victims of exploitation, which takes on very diverse forms, and are a population at risk of being subject to the worst forms of child labour, the Committee requests the Government to intensify its efforts to protect these children from the worst forms of child labour. It requests the Government to continue providing information on the measures adopted, particularly in the context of the National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Forced Labour, to prevent these children from being in a situation of debt bondage or forced labour and from being recruited to carry out hazardous work in mines.

Part V of the report form. Application of the Convention in practice. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the study on the extent and characteristics of child labour in Bolivia, contained in the 2008 national report published by the ILO/IPEC in 2010 and based on the results of the child labour survey carried out by the National Statistical Institute (INS) in collaboration with the ILO/IPEC Statistical Information and Monitoring Programme on Child Labour (SIMPOC) during the last quarter of 2008. According to the survey, 848,000 children, or nearly 28 per cent of children and young persons in the country between the ages of 5 and 17 years, are engaged in a paid or unpaid economic activity. Most of them work in agriculture and mining and are unpaid family workers. The Committee also notes that the great majority of these children perform hazardous types of work (746,000 children and young persons between 5 and 17 years of age). This is particularly the case for indigenous children and young persons in rural areas (between 78 and 80 per cent of the total population of indigenous girls and boys in rural areas). The Committee nevertheless observes that, with regard to the worst forms of child labour, only statistics concerning hazardous types of work were captured in the 2008 survey. Expressing grave concern at the number of children and young persons performing hazardous types of work, and particularly indigenous children in rural areas, the Committee strongly encourages the Government to intensify its efforts to ensure the elimination of the worst forms of child labour in the country. It requests the Government to continue providing information on the nature, extent and trends of the worst forms of child labour, particularly in the agricultural and mining sectors. To the extent possible, all information should be disaggregated by sex and age.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.