Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

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

Articles 3(a) and 7(2)(a) and (b) of the Convention. Effective and time-bound measures. 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. Debt bondage and forced and compulsory labour in sugar cane and Brazil nut harvesting. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the prevalence and conditions of exploitation of children working in hazardous conditions in the sugar cane and nut harvesting plantations.

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report contains no new information concerning measures taken or envisaged – either national or time-bound – that are targeted to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in the sugar cane and Brazil nut harvesting plantations. Nevertheless, the Committee notes that the Government has implemented a project concerning children’s human rights in sugar cane and nut harvesting plantations and mining, which aims to, among others, implement measures to remove children from working in these hazardous conditions. According to the report on the advancement of the project, 5,000 families had been mobilized from sugar cane plantations between May and November 2013, including 2,900 children under 13 years of age, and 2,500 children had been identified in the nut harvest plantations. The Committee also notes the Government’s corporate incentives programme “Triple Sello” which preconditions certain benefits on the company’s demonstration that it does not practise any form of child labour, including in work related to nut harvesting. The Committee also notes, based on the 2013–17 Plan of Action with UNICEF, that a programme was put in place in 17 Bolivian chestnut and sugar cane-producing municipalities to provide education assistance to children, and that 3,400 children were reinstated into basic education. Finally, the Committee notes the Government’s statistical information, which cites the number of investigations undertaken in the sugar cane plantations but provides no information concerning the number of infractions or penalties administered in that respect. Noting the absence of concrete information on this point, the Committee again urges the Government to take the necessary measures, including effective time-bound measures in the context of the projects mentioned above, to prevent children from 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. The Committee further requests the Government to explain how it ensures 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.

Articles 3(d) and 7(2)(a) and (b). Hazardous work. Children working in mines. Effective and time-bound measures for prevention, assistance and removal. The Committee previously noted that over 3,800 children work in the tin, zinc, silver and gold mines in the country, and that although section 134 of the Children’s and Adolescents’ Code contains a detailed list of the types of hazardous work prohibited for young people, including work carried out by children in mines, there was no information on the application in practice of the national legislation. It had further noted the awareness-raising and educational measures and the economic alternatives offered to the families of children working in mines.

The Committee notes the Government’s statistical information, which indicates that only 8 per cent of the 62 inspections in mines involved working children under the age of 12 years. The Committee also notes, however, that according to the report on the advancement of the project concerning children’s human rights in sugar cane and nut harvesting plantations and mining, approximately 2,000 children were identified in labour activities in traditional artisan mines in the municipalities of Potosí and Oruro in 2013. The Committee further notes the statistical information provided by the Ombudsman (Defensoría del Pueblo), according to which 145 young persons were found working in mining activities in Cerro Rico in June and July 2014. Noting the Government’s indication that it intends to elaborate a national policy to eradicate child labour within the next two years, the Committee requests the Government to continue its efforts to develop this policy, as well as to take effective and time-bound measures to prevent, remove and rehabilitate children undertaking hazardous work in mines.

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