Ti-årige børn må godt knokle, så længe de også passer deres skole og i øvrigt er “selverhvervende”. Sådan siger en ny lov i det fattige Andesland, der har modtaget megen dansk udvklingsbistand, men for nylig smed den store danske NGO, IBIS, på porten.
The law also permits 12-year-olds to be contracted to work for others. But they need parental authorisation, BBC online reports Friday.
Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera said the new legislation reflects the needs of Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in South America.
It also sets harsher punishment for violence against children. The law sets a sentence of 30 years in jail for child homicide.
More than 500,000 children already work to supplement the family income in Bolivia according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Children’s organisations say most young people who find a job do not want to go back to school.
Many work cleaning shoes and selling food in stalls in La Paz and other Bolivian cities. But others face extreme conditions in mines and in agriculture fields.
President Morales’s socialist government hopes the law will help eradicate extreme poverty in Bolivia.
The International Labour Organisation says children under the age of 15 should not be allowed to work.
But it allows a minimum working age of 14 for developing countries.
