ILO’s Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour: Challenges for Its Application in Latin America

Cecilia Zsögön

Abstract


Child labour, including its “worst forms”, is spread in Latin America. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, the number of children engaged in work increased by 8.4 million between 2016 and 2020, marking the first rise since 2000, with millions more are at risk due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this scenario, what is the role of the conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) related to child labour, specifically Convention 182 related to its worst forms? Even though this Convention was the first to achieve universal ratification its real impact on the situation of vulnerable children is not straightforward. This paper analyses the role of ILO conventions on child labour in the post-COVID scenario in Latin America and how they could contribute to improve the situation of vulnerable children in the region. A right-based approach is a valuable tool to monitor child labour, but the reinforcement of legal instruments requires an interdisciplinary approach together with social and economic policies. Finally, due to the specificity of the region, other issues like the naturalization of child labour demand a cultural change along with sufficiently effective and dissuasive penalties.


Keywords


Convention 182; worst forms of child labour; Latin America; COVID-19; children rights

Full Text:

PDF

References


LITERATURE

Baxi U., Human Rights in a Posthuman World: Critical Essays, Oxford 2007.

Bourdieu P., O Poder simbólico, Rio de Janeiro 1989.

Collier F., The Family Economy of the Working Classes in the Cotton Industry, 1784–1833, Manchester 1964.

Cunningham H., Viazzo H. (eds.), Child Labour in Historical Perspective, 1800–1895: Case Studies from Europe, Japan and Colombia, Florence 1996.

Freeman M., Human Rights, Cambridge 2011.

King M., Children’s Rights as Communication: Reflections on Autopoietic Theory and the United Nations Convention, [in:] Children’s Rights: A Comparative Perspective, ed. M.D.A. Freeman, Aldershot 2004.

Nardinelli C., Child Labor and the Industrial Revolution, Bloomington 1990.

Pedraza Gómez S., El trabajo infantil en clave colonial: consideraciones histórico-antropológicas, “Nómadas” 2007, no. 26.

Pilotti F., Globalización y convención sobre los derechos del niño: el contexto del texto, Washington 2000.

Quijano A., Colonialidad del poder, eurocentrismo y América Latina, Cuestiones y horizontes: de la dependencia histórico-estructural a la colonialidad/descolonialidad del poder, Buenos Aires 2014.

Zelizer S., Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children, New Jersey 1985.

Zsögön C., Discourse Analysis around the Issue of Child Labour in the Global South, “Language, Discourse & Society” 2021, vol. 9(1).

ONLINE SOURCES

Etala C., Los convenios de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo y su interpretación, 2001, http://www.derecho.uba.ar/institucional/etala-los-covenios-de-la-oit-y-su-interpretacion.pdf (access: 19.8.2024).

Trueman C.N., Children in the Industrial Revolution, 31.3.2015, https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/britain-1700-to-1900/industrial-revolution/children-in-the-industrial-revolution/?utm_content=cmp-true (access: 19.8.2024).

REPORTS

Economic Comission for Latin America, Panorama Social de América Latina, 2020 (LC/PUB.2021/2-P/Rev.1), Santiago 2021.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, International Labour Organization, Estudio regional sobre trabajo infantil en la agricultura en América Latina y el Caribe, 2019.

International Labour Office, Application of International Labour Standards, 2022.

International Labour Office, COVID-19 Impact on Child Labour and Forced Labour: The Response of the IPEC+ Flagship Programme, 2020.

International Labour Office, Eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labour: A Handbook for Parliamentarians, 2002.

International Labour Office, Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labour, Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour (SAP-FL), 2014.

International Labour Office, Protecting Children in the World of Work, “Labour Education” 1997, vol. 3(108).

International Labour Office, Un crecimiento débil y crisis global frenan la recuperación del empleo en América Latina y el Caribe, Serie Panorama Laboral en América Latina y el Caribe, 2022.

International Labour Office, United Nations Children’s Fund, Child Labour, Global Estimates 2020: Trends and the Road Forward, 2021.

International Labour Office, United Nations Children’s Fund, COVID-19 and Child Labour: A Time of Crisis, a Time to Act, New York 2020.

IREWOC, Las Peores Formas de Trabajo Infantil en América Latina: Identificación y Opciones Estratégicas, Amsterdam 2008.

United Nations Children’s Fund, Child Labour, May 2022.

United Nations Children’s Fund, Child Marriage and the Law, New York 2008.

United Nations Children’s Fund, La Adecuación Normativa a la Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño en América Latina: Avances y Deudas con la niñez, 2019.

United Nations Refugee Agency, La pandemia del coronavirus aumenta el riesgo de violencia de género hacia mujeres y niñas desplazadas y apátridas, 2020.

CONVENTIONS

International Labour Organization (ILO), Minimum Age Convention (No. 138), 6 June 1973.

International Labour Organization (ILO), Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182), 17 June 1999.

United Nations, Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted 20 November 1989 by General Assembly Resolution 44/25.

United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children (Palermo Protocol) General Assembly Resolution 55/25, 15 November 2000.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/sil.2024.33.3.157-172
Date of publication: 2024-09-27 21:28:17
Date of submission: 2023-02-07 12:53:02


Statistics


Total abstract view - 222
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 0

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2024 Cecilia Zsögön

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.