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Montevideo, November 23rd 2024 - 21:19 UTC

 

 

Argentina's child labour total 1.5 million

Monday, June 12th 2006 - 21:00 UTC
Full article

Some six million children between the age of 5 and 17 work in Latinamerica, half of them in exploitation conditions or doing dangerous risk-life jobs, which bans them from enjoying basic rights, according to a report from the Save the Children organization.

Although the latest report from the International Labour Organization, ILO, showed an overall drop in child's labour in the world, in some countries the number has soared alarmingly.

In Argentina, child labour has rocketed 600% in the last seven years as a direct consequence of the economic meltdown. From 250.000 children working back in 1998, the number has soared to 1.5 million according to Save the Children.

However on the bright side the report indicates that in the last thirty years Latinamerican working children and adolescents (NATS) have organized and now have national, regional and sometimes local representatives.

In Peru, apparently 14.000 working minors are organized; in Paraguay 400 and 200 in Argentina. The umbrella organization NATS coordinates since 1989 efforts in Peru, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia and Venezuela.

The next meeting is scheduled for next July in Colombia when Argentina is expected to join.

The purpose of NATS, which is made up of associations of under 18 years old, is to defend the rights of infancy, protecting children's identities, improving working conditions, fighting exploitation, helping them to continue going to school and have leisure time, among other things.

Categories: Mercosur.

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