Within the framework of the International Labour Conference No. 58 held in June 1973, ILO convention number 138 was adopted on June 26 to defend the right of children to enjoy their childhood. A child who does not work has more opportunities to develop appropriately both from a physical and a mental perspective, and thus become a healthy adult.
This Convention on the minimum age for admission to employment or work establishes 15 as the minimum age. In this case, the "employment" of adolescents, should happen under special protection criteria to be supervised and monitored by the different countries’ Ministries of Labour.
When defining minimum age, the standard establishes that it “should not be below the age at which compulsory schooling ends, or in any case, 15 years of age”. It further states in point 4 of Article 2 that “a Member whose economy and educational facilities are insufficiently developed may, after consultation with the organisations of employers and workers concerned, where such exist, initially specify a minimum age of 14 years.”. That is the reason why in several countries of the region 14 is still the minimum age for admission to employment, under the commitment that once the above described conditions disappear, the age should be progressively raised.
The same Convention determines that any type of work performed by persons below the minimum age for admission to employment is banned, as is the work done by people younger than 18 which, by its nature or the conditions in which it is carried out, is likely to harm their health, safety or morals.
The minimum age issue should be assessed considering the population growth in Latin America. In the region, between 30 and 50% of the people are aged 15 or less, according to whether the countries' relative development is higher or lower. Considering that the WHO establishes 25 years as the age defining psychophysical and emotional adulthood, it is understood that the decade in which youth could be admitted to the world of work (between 15 and 25 years of age) requires enhanced protection and compensation levels or -in the future- to comprehensively reconsider the minimum age for admission to youth employment.
Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, and Recommendation 190 concerning the immediate action for its eradication were unanimously adopted by the ILO Member States on June 17, under the framework of the 87th Session of the International Labour Conference held in June 1999, and they became effective on November 19, 2000.
The Convention highlights the five worst forms of labour to be eradicated in order to advance the struggle against this problem. They are as follows:
All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom;
Forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
The use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;
The use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;
Work that, due to its nature or to the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.
It is clear that the worst forms of child labour are related to the main scourges that affect modern society, particularly in developing countries. The worst forms of child labour include organized crime linked to drug trafficking, human trafficking, armed violence and the new forms of slavery. Their eradication is supported by the cross-sectional policies that jointly and effectively combat these crimes through criminal systems. These allow taking to justice and effectively punishing those who commit such crimes.
• On a different level of control and application of the corresponding penalising schemes, the policies that protect the environment, workers’ health and safety, citizens’ safety, migrant populations, public health, etc. help detect hazardous situations and render visible the exposure of children to those situations. In that sense, the role of the State is key and enterprises’ risk management programs become a mandatory tool.
• Likewise, the Tripartite declaration of principles concerning multinational enterprises and social policy (Declaration concerning Multinational Enterprises), adopted in 1977, and amended in 2000 and 2006, offers guidance to multinational companies, governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations. It was the first ILO instrument meant specifically for enterprises and includes provisions on minimum age and the worst forms of child labour.
• Finally, the ILO Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work adopted on June 18, 1998 by the International Labour Conference No. 86 binds the Member States to respect and promote the principles and rights included in four categories, even without having ratified the pertaining conventions. Within those categories are the elimination of forced or compulsory labour and the eradication of child labour.
• Therefore, under this Declaration, even the Member States that have not yet ratified these Conventions should abide by, promote and put into practice the principles established therein.
COMMITMENTS UNDERTAKEN
From the adoption of ILO Convention 138 to date, the commitments and activities carried out to effectively eradicate child labour have grown and evolved. Throughout these 20 years, three world conferences were held that represent fundamental milestones in the progress attained.
The first one was held in Oslo, Norway in 1997. It helped to place the issue on the regional and global agenda, which contributed to significantly reduce child labour.
In 1992 the ILO launched the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), to help Member States in the implementation of the measures needed to eliminate the worst forms of labour. Also, the Programme highlights child labour cases where support can be offered to the victims and appropriate solutions to each situation.
In this sense, the State plays a key role in remedial and compensatory actions, instrumenting processes and approving coverage schemes to compensate for the negative consequences on children’s and adolescents’ rights which the private sector caused or contributed through actions or omissions.
Subsequently, in 2010 the II Global Child Labour Conference was held in The Hague, Netherlands, focusing on the worst forms of child labour. A Roadmap that presented a series of guidelines on the actions and measures to be put in place was produced. One of the outstanding topic that was discussed was the compelling need to increase efforts as the only possibility to reach the goal by 2016.
Finally, in 2013, the Third Global Conference on Child Labour was held in Brasilia. The Brasilia Declaration on Child Labour recognized the impossibility of reaching the goal established in the previous conference, despite a significant drop in child labour. The elimination of the worst forms of child labour is still an outstanding debt, recognised in the 2030 Agenda which has established the goal for 2025, and extended it to all forms of child labour.
At the regional level, in 2001 the Ibero-American Agenda for childhood and adolescence established goal 13 on the eradication of child labour; the approval of the Regional Plan to prevent and eradicate Child Labour in the Mercosur (2002); in 2005 the Action Plan of the VI Summit of the Americas commits to eradicate the worst forms of child labour by 2020; in 2006 the ILO Sixteenth American Regional Meeting in Brasilia was held. In that meeting, the document "Decent work in the Americas: An agenda for the Hemisphere, 2006-2015" was adopted under the tripartite modality and defines coordinated economic, legal, institutional and labour market policies to advance in the promotion of decent work in the countries of the Americas, including two goals on the Eradication of Child Labour and its worst forms (eliminate the worst forms by 2015 and fully eliminate child labour by 2020).
In 2010 the Roadmap to turn Central America, Panama, and Dominican Republic into a zone free of child labour and its worst forms was adopted; in 2013 a group to drive the regional initiative Latin America and the Caribbean free of child labour was established. The regional initiative is an intergovernmental cooperation platform made up by 27 countries (Argentina, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela), with the active participation of employers’ and workers’ organizations, and a Technical Secretariat which at the countries’ request was turned over to the International Labour Organization.
Its strategic goals are to accelerate and intensify the prevention and eradication of child labour and increase awareness about the negative consequences of child labour, especially its worst forms.
In 2015, under the framework of the XIX Inter-American Conference of the Ministers of Labour (IACML) of the Organization of American States (OAS), the 2015 Cancun declaration was produced: Achieving Decent Work with Social Inclusion and Sustainable Development in the Americas, and a joint Declaration by the Trade Union Technical Advisory Council (COSATE) and the Business Technical Advisory Committee on Labour Matters (CEATAL). Both Declarations voice the parties’ commitment to play an active role in the IV Global Conference against Child Labour to be held in Argentina in 2017.
Rescheduling and extending the goals for the sustainable eradication of child labour in all its forms requires a critical in-depth analysis by all key stakeholders, namely: the State, Employers Organizations, and Trade Unions in order to assess the impact of the various factors that prevented to achieve the goals in due time, including in this analysis labour informality, gender issues and the region’s structural poverty.
The examples characterising child labour in the region relate mostly to informality, although not only to it. Children harvesting crops, working in the agriculture and livestock sector in isolated places or where the State is absent, in the production of handmade bricks, in rubbish dumps, in urban waste recovery, in street vending, or in clandestine textile shops, together with undocumented workers and in other hazardous situations are only some examples that should be considered and rendered visible.
EMPLOYERS’ POSITION
It should be recognized that the action of the Government is key to the success of sustainable efforts to prevent and combat child labour and offer the appropriate protection to adolescent workers. Enterprises cannot replace governments in carrying out these essential functions of the state. Consequently, the commitment and effective cooperation of governments will be often essential to the efforts of the enterprise when putting in place measures to approach child labour and the protection of adolescent workers.
• Firstly, it is important to highlight that for decades the employers’ sector, both internationally and domestically, has been making collective efforts and implementing actions to eliminate child labour in all its forms, creating awareness about its relevance, engaging in training activities, drafting materials to be used as guidelines, and creating networks, alliances and platforms.
• This is done in the belief that not hiring child labour is the right decision. Sparing the children the agony of hard and hazardous work is desirable in itself since it allows children to have a happier life immediately and appropriate to their age. Therefore, it is imperative for employers to prevent and remediate the damage caused by child labour, both from an ethical and human rights perspective.
• Globally, employers’ organizations have endorsed the adoption of ILO conventions against child labour, and domestically they have actively participated in tripartite dialogue related to the ratification of conventions, and the adoption of national legislation against child labour and its compliance.
• Employers and employers’ organization also take part with the ILO and other interested organizations in various projects and programmes aimed at reducing child labour.
• One of these programmes, which importance in the region should be highlighted, is the above-mentioned regional initiative Latin America and the Caribbean free of child labour. This tripartite Regional Initiative has produced innovative proposals to drive the reduction of child labour with specific tools in line with the 2030 Agenda goals. It also complies with the contents of all Development Agendas (Aid Effectiveness in Latin America, Financing for Development, and South-South Cooperation Agenda) and is consolidated as a true South-South cooperation platform.
• The above mentioned ethical perspective whereby employers prevent, reduce and eliminate child labour in all its forms is based on several factors, namely:
Social Factors
Violates fundamental human rights
Deepens inequality
Prevents or limits adequate education: if children don’t attend school they do not acquire basic skills (learn how to read, write, do maths) nor develop critical thinking skills.
Self-esteem and social adaptation are negatively affected
Stigmatization and discrimination
Their education and training possibilities dwindle, as does their employability potential, limiting them to less skilled, poorly paid jobs that tie them to the cycle of poverty. These children are trapped in low-profile and badly-paid jobs. Research has shown that the earlier a child starts to work the greater the consequences they will face in future life, earning low incomes as adults.
Undeveloped families, communities and societies and, by and large, this translates into lower development possibilities for the country.
Physical and psychological factors
It frequently threatens children’s wellbeing and health
Their childhood is not as it should be; they do not have time to play, and/or they end up living in “adult environments”, not suitable for children
Irreparable physical harm, sexual harassment and abuse
Growth delay
Lesions, diseases and infections
Physical fatigue
Considering the above, some dangers that are low risk for adults may involve high risk for children who are still growing. Also, a series of social factors contribute to increase the risk, for example: the lack of job experience that negatively affects their ability to make grounded decisions; the willingness to work well without awareness of the risks involved; the lack of training in safety and health; copying wrong behaviours seen in adults in relation to safety and health; strict or inappropriate supervision; and powerlessness in terms of rights.
• According to studies on the topic, among the main physical weaknesses the following should be highlighted:
Skin: a child’s dermis is 2.5 fold larger than an adult’s when compared to the body weight, which added to the fact that the child’s skin is thinner, may result in more toxins being absorbed.
Respiratory System: children’s breathing is deeper and more frequent than adults’ thus increasing the risk to inhale hazardous substances.
Brain damage: the development of the brain may be damaged by exposure to toxic substances. The brain of a child retains metals more easily during childhood and in a higher proportion than in adults.
Gastrointestinal, endocrine and reproductive systems, and kidney function: The internal systems develop during childhood and adolescence and are then less effective to eliminate pathogens. Exposure to toxic substances may affect their development. The endocrine system and hormones play a crucial role in growth, a function that may be interrupted by exposure to chemical substances.
Energy consumption: Children's energy consumption during that growth phase is high, which may involve a higher exposure to toxins.
Liquids: Children are more prone to dehydration than adults, since they lose more water through lungs and skin, compared to their weight, and their kidneys’ capacity to concentrate urine is lower.
Sleep: 10 to 18-year-olds must sleep around 9.5 hours a day to develop appropriately.
Temperature: Children's sensitivity to heat and cold is higher, since their sweat glands and their thermal regulation system have not yet fully developed.
Physical strain: Physical strain, especially when combined with repetitive movements in growing bones and joints may delay growth, cause spinal cord lesions and other type of permanent deformities and disabilities.
Cognitive and psychomotor development: Children are less able to recognise and analyse possible safety and health risks and make the corresponding decisions.
Lower life expectancy: albeit hard to quantify, the younger a person starts work, the higher the risk to evidence early signs of aging.
Regardless of the relevance of the above and considering various priorities at enterprise level in the struggle against child labour, and their limited resources, enterprises may need additional arguments, which may very well be the factors related to good business judgement, namely:
Compliance with the law: The first reason to eliminate child labour is that in most of the countries it is illegal. Noncompliance with the law results in punishments and other penalties by the state. Enterprises can interact directly with the authorities and participate in activities organised by the government to promote and support companies, thus establishing a "cooperative" relationship with the authorities, instead of "opposing" them.
Enhancing risk management: Involvement of a company in child labour may expose it to criticism by the public and campaigns staged by civil society organizations and the media that harm its reputation and negatively affect employee hiring and retention. Risk management systems allow companies to use tools to define objectives and goals, responsibilities, to allocate resources, audit their own management and value chain, put in place monitoring and follow-up indicators, and analyse the levels of legal compliance, implement preventive and corrective actions and allow management to review results. With respect to interactions with the state and civil society, companies can have access to coverage systems to transfer residual risks and resort to judicial and extrajudicial instances to seek remedies, simultaneously guaranteeing the business continuity.
Impact on markets: Child labour affects a country’s economic development and consumers’ income, key to long term entrepreneurial success. The introduction and dissemination of supply chain audits to detect diversions beyond the limits of a site, productive plants and assets under the direct control of employers will contribute to boost eradication processes. The notion of value chain, where large enterprises drive SMEs, suppliers and clients, is a successful exercise that may be extrapolated from quality environments to the context of labour.
Greater access to business opportunities: Clients growingly value the implications of risk reduction for them, when working with a company that effectively manages risks related to human rights, especially since public hiring requires human rights considerations to be included.
Positive recognition: Investors are growingly concerned about issues related to human rights and readier to recognize companies’ efforts to face those challenges.
Increased requirements to submit information: National legislation and stock exchanges impose more demands on companies about the disclosure of their systems in place dealing with human rights. The hotlines for communication on "compliance", the codes of ethics, the panels with stakeholders and other extra-corporate communication modalities result in levels of public exposure that boost feedback on risk management systems.
Voluntary initiatives have to a large extent grown because the legislation on child labour and social dialogue alone have not succeeded in eliminating the problem. However, although voluntary follow-up systems are useful, the government should not avoid its responsibility to monitor effective compliance with the existing child labour legislation.
Therefore, governance deficiencies, such as the lack of quality education, misuse of child labour laws and the weakness of the rule of law, the persistence of economic informality and structural poverty are often the fundamental causes underlying child labour.
Las iniciativas voluntarias se han desarrollado en gran medida porque la legislación sobre el trabajo infantil o el diálogo social por sí solos no han logrado eliminar el problema. No obstante, si bien los sistemas voluntarios de seguimiento son útiles, el gobierno no debe desentenderse de su responsabilidad de vigilar el efectivo cumplimiento de la legislación existente en materia de trabajo infantil.
Ello así considerando que las deficiencias en materia de gobernanza, como la falta de una educación de calidad, la aplicación inadecuada de las leyes sobre el trabajo infantil y la debilidad del Estado de derecho, la persistencia de la informalidad económica y la pobreza estructural son a menudo causas fundamentales del trabajo infantil.
