Rural Child Labour in Andean Countries

According to its global report The End of Child Labour: Within Reach, the ILO estimates that 218 million children in the world work, of which 126 million in hazardous working conditions. SIMPOC/ILO estimates that 69% percent of all working children work in agriculture. In Latin-America 5.7 million children are involved in child labour, and again, the majority work in rural areas (70%). Although rural child labour in many Latin-American countries has been the subject of research and policy measures, the Andean region, which is one of the poorest regions of Latin-America, has been mostly overlooked. Currently ILO/IPEC Latin America, together with the National Institute for Statistics of Peru (INEI), is undertaking a Peruvian national census on child labour; in previous meetings with ILO/IPEC Latin-America it was suggested that IREWOC’s research would supplement the statistical national census with specific qualitative information on child labour in rural areas in the Andes region.

IREWOC is therefore initiating a research project in two Andean counties, Bolivia and Peru, in June 2008. In each country, child labour on small family farms will be compared with child labour on commercial plantations. The main research population includes the children engaged in rural forms of child labour, their parents and (N)GO staff working with this target group. The research will produce knowledge on rural child labour informed by ground reality that looks beyond quantitative numbers, and which identifies the (context) specific needs of the children and their caretakers. The research will explore the different forms of rural child labour and document the opinions of the children, caretakers and development workers on the possible solutions to the problems.

Part of the fieldwork for this project will be carried out by local research institutes. They will be chosen based on their experience with doing research on child labour and on their capacity to conduct anthropological research. At present, we are discussing options with several local institutes.

This project has been partially financed by the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, but negotiations are ongoing with other possible donors, specifically for the inclusion of local research institutes. Interested parties can contact IREWOC director Kristoffel Lieten, or project coordinator Marten van den Berge, for more information.

The IREWOC research project on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin America (see below) has been extended into 2, possibly 3 or more, Asian countries.

At present research has already begun in Nepal, where Afke de Groot is studying the situation of children working in the brick kilns and as porters in the fruit and vegetable markets.

In June, Anna Ensing will start her research in Bangladesh where she will study the working conditions of children in the leather and fishing industries.

In August, Research Capacity Training Workshops will commence in Indonesia, in which local researchers are instructed in conducting research with working children.

This research is being funded by Plan Netherlands. Please contact the relevant researchers or Professor Kristoffel Lieten at info@irewoc.nl for more information.