Land where children work legally from the age of 10
ISAAC Quispe sat on the pavement, watching as people rushed by and scanning their feet to quickly assess their needs.
“A shine, sir? I have tan polish,” the 11-year-old told one man. “I’ll work hard for you,” said the boy, who works to pay for his school books.
That such a young boy is toiling at a job is neither remarkable nor illegal in this South American country.
Bolivia has the world’s lowest minimum age for child labour: 10.
At that young age, children can work legally for themselves or their families. Once they hit age 12, they can work for others.
The controversial law, passed in 2014, is unique in the world, but three years later the government is still struggling with how to implement the regulation and protect children from abuse and exploitation.
The United Nation’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) and many other groups oppose the law, saying children under 14 should not work. An estimated 850,000 Bolivian children work, which is nearly 30 per cent of children aged five to 17, according to Unicef.
The ILO has urged Bolivia to repeal the child labour law, but its supporters say children have the right to work.
Young Isaac often toils into the night. Just past 10pm, a man stopped and would not pay full price for a shine, but his shoes needed dusting off. Isaac cleaned the shoes and collected his pay: the equivalent of 10 pence.
Advocates who oppose letting children like Isaac work say some are exploited or sexually abused, while others wind up living on the streets, plagued with crime, violence and addiction.
Legalising child labour “was terrible, a mistake,” said Amparo Carvajal, president of the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights in La Paz, Bolivia’s capital.
Supporters of the law say legalising child labour empowers children. Plus, child workers helped write the law, sociologist Manfred Liebel said.
Bolivian lawmakers had planned to set the minimum working age at 14, but that idea led to riots as shoe shiners and other child workers – some as young as 10 – clashed with police in 2013.
The law passed with support from Bolivian President Evo Morales, who said jobs help children develop “social awareness”.
“The work of children and adolescents should not be eliminated, but we should not exploit or force them to work, either,” said Mr Morales, who herded llamas at the age of six with his father.
Simon Mamani continues such traditions on the high plains near Lake Titicaca.
Mr Mamani, 46, whose three children help on the family’s dairy farm, said: “They started to work at five years of age. If we didn’t work, we wouldn’t live. We don’t have days off.”
The 2014 law gives children a voice and has helped boost young workers’ selfesteem, said Peter Strack, a sociologist in Cochabamba, southeast of La Paz. Authorities do not punish child workers, so “at least they are not hindered and deprived of some rights”.
Juan Enrique Basilio, who started shining shoes in Cochabamba at 12, said people used to treat him “like almost nothing”.
“Things have changed,” said Mr Basilio, now 19. “They don’t treat you like an animal. You start to feel like a human being.”
Parents are required to sign permits allowing children to work. Mr Strack estimates that no more than 10 permits have been issued in Cochabamba, where child workers in December complained about low wages. Most children earn £3 to £6 per day at the city’s sprawling La Cancha market. Vendors exploit some children, especially those ages eight and nine, paying them £1 to £2 per day. Or they are given only meals, said Sandra Caiguara, director of the Brother Manolo Centre, a Christian group.
Children begin streaming into the market at 6am to wash dishes and sell produce, and many do not leave until 4pm or later, Ms Caiguara said. “I don’t think anyone agrees that a child should work or should be on the street all day.”
Most children must work to support themselves and their families.
“I feel good about myself because I am helping my family,” said Jade Sanjinez, 14, an aspiring football player who has sold papers in La Paz since he was11. “We all work,” said the teenager, who has four brothers and sisters.
Jhony Felix, nine, earns about £1 per day cleaning tombstones in Cochabamba. “I also say prayers and fetch water for families that visit.”
Many Bolivians see it as “normal” for children to work at a young age, said sociologist Victor Paredes.
He researched a community where a cement plant was built in 2015. He saw children and adolescents fetch bricks, wash clothes and sell turnovers. Some girls were abused. Others wound up pregnant after having relationships with adult construction workers.
The government doesn’t investigate such cases, he said. “At the national level, they are totally unaware of the problems that different communities suffer,” Mr Parades added. Some children work in “semislavery,” said Marcos Gandarillas, a Cochabamba sociologist who studies the mining and oil industries.
“Globalisation demands very cheap natural resources from Bolivia,” and child workers are cheap and easy to replace, he said.
Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, with an estimated 59 per cent of the population living in poverty. The situation has left many communities struggling to meet their basic needs.
If we didn’t work, we wouldn’t live. We don’t have days off