The Worst Forms of Child Labour in Latin America Identification and Policy Options. Main findings from Guatemala, Bolivia and Peru

This research project, implemented by the IREWOC Foundation, carried out in-depth studies in Guatemala, Bolivia and Peru on specific sectors which are labelled as the worst form of child labour according to ILO Convention 182. This Convention explicitly calls for immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of those forms of child labour that pose a direct threat to the physical and moral health of children. In Guatemala research was carried out in the coffee sector and in the stone quarries. In Peru the mining sector, garbage dumps and markets were studied; and in Bolivia child labour was explored in the mining sector and on sugar cane plantations. The specific aim of the anthropological fieldwork was to document the reality of child labourers in the worst forms of child labour, to discover the reasons why children are (still) working under these conditions and to identify best practices of governmental and non-governmental organisations to eradicate these worst forms.