How has child labor been normalized in Venezuela?

• Since 2007, there have been no official figures on child labour, although organisations such as Cecodap and Rednna estimate that it might have doubled due to factors such as school drop-outs and the complex humanitarian emergency. This exposes children to forms of exploitation and high-risk jobs such as mining.

Under a traffic light in Plaza Venezuela, in the heart of Caracas, a group of children take advantage of the red light to clean the windshields of cars in exchange for alms. In Los Teques (Miranda state), a teenager of regarding 12 years of age sells candy on the buses, without going to school, to help his family. South of Bolívar, under the scorching sun, a teenager of 15 years of age removes mud with a shovel in an illegal gold mine.

None of these activities are appropriate for them, but they are part of a reality that has been normalized in Venezuela for years. According to the Organic Law for the Protection of Boys, Girls and Adolescents (Lopnna), the minimum age that the State allows for work is 14 years old. This is provided that it is for less than six hours a day and does not compromise their safety or their right to education and recreation.

July 21 is celebrated as Children’s Day as a way to promote the well-being and rights of children. However, a month earlier, June 12, is also the World Day Against Child Labour. On that date, different organizations expressed their concern because there are currently no official statistics that allow us to investigate this problem in the country, despite the fact that in recent years it has become more visible in the streets and fields.

Informality

Several children clean car windows on a street in Caracas in October 2021. Photo: EFE/ Miguel Gutiérrez

In an interview for Radio Faith and Joythe representative of the non-governmental organization Caleidoscopio Humano, Emmanuel Rivas, indicated that the last record on child labor in Venezuela published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) dates back to 2007. At that time, there were around 81 thousand minors incorporated into the labor market.

INE reports at that time indicate that the activities carried out by young people were usually related to work in the countryside such as agriculture and livestock, or informal trade (peddling). A trend that might continue today, although it is estimated that the figure might have doubled or tripled.

The fact that most children and adolescents work in the informal sector is extremely problematic for the organizations responsible for protecting their rights. Cecodap warned that, as with adults, not having a signed contract means that they are not protected by labor laws and do not enjoy guarantees such as social security, vacations, the right to strike and participation in unions, or other requirements established by the Lopnna.

What do Venezuelan laws say regarding child labor?

Photo: EFE

Chapter III of the Lopnna is especially dedicated to the right to protection in matters of work. The law allows adolescents to enter the world of work, seeking to ensure that there is harmony with the effective enjoyment of their right to education. In other words, the State, as well as the family, society, and even their employers must ensure that young people do not abandon their studies.

Articles 98 and 99 of the Lopnna establish that in order to work, children must be registered in the Registry of Working Adolescents, managed by the Council for the Protection of Boys, Girls and Adolescents. This body can authorize in special cases, such as in the artistic or sports world, the participation of children under 14 years of age, provided that they do not break the law.

It also establishes in its following articles that employers are obliged to register their adolescent workers in the Social Security System. In addition, they must provide them with vacations and an annual medical examination, or at least facilities for them to receive periodic care. They will also enjoy freedom of association and the right to enter into collective agreements.

The working day of adolescents may not exceed six hours per day and must be divided into two periods, neither of which shall be longer than four hours. Between these two periods, adolescents shall enjoy a one-hour break. The weekly work schedule may not exceed thirty hours. Overtime work by adolescents is prohibited,” establishes article 102.

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In the case of rural work, regardless of whether it is within the family environment, adolescents must receive a minimum monthly income set by law, which cannot be less than that of adult workers for the same work. The same applies to domestic workers, who may enjoy a minimum two-hour break during their working day, without prejudice to other breaks provided for in labour laws.

For necessity

Photo: courtesy

The complex humanitarian emergency that Venezuela has been experiencing since 2014 has exacerbated many of the structural reasons that led children and adolescents to work in 2007. In many cases, lack of income and food insecurity were the triggers that led them to earn a living to help their families, even abandoning school.

“We understand that there are families who, due to their multiple needs, are forced to allow children or adolescents to carry out some type of economic activity. However, the conditions that allow the integrity of minors to be protected must be guaranteed,” said Julio Parra, coordinator of the organization Geografía Viva in a report for the Network for the Human Rights of Children and Adolescents (Rednna).

For its part, Cecodap indicated that following the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, when school activities were interrupted, many young people did not return to the classrooms, but instead began working to generate income at home. Something to which the country’s own educational situation has also contributed, with schools closed due to a lack of teachers or poor infrastructure, and which has led many young people to attend classes in reduced hours or between two to three days a week in public schools.

The National Survey of Living Conditions (ENCOVI) for 2023 found that 31% of men between 12 and 17 years of age reported having dropped out of school because they had to work, although it clarified that not all of them were necessarily due to economic reasons. This is an increase from the 14% recorded in 2017. Meanwhile, 2.6 million children and adolescents have been affected by irregular school attendance, representing 40% of the school-age population.

High risk

Photo: Courtesy of Transparency Venezuela

“There are jobs carried out by children and adolescents in very precarious conditions in different places, where the condition of these workers under 18 years of age is not respected, and they often have to perform work activities that are not suitable for their age,” Parra said.

The Rednna establishes that the minimum age of 14 years is not applicable for jobs that pose risks to the integrity and development of the adolescent. However, in practice, many minors are exposed to high-risk jobs. In its report Analysis of human rights trends for children and adolescents in Venezuela, the Rednna documented that between August 2023 and February 2024 at least three minors died while working. Two of them were searching for water for their families in deep wells, and one was electrocuted while working on a farm.

There is also the case of 34 teenagers and 61 children who had to be evacuated from a mining camp in La Paragua, Bolívar state. On this point, the Human Rights Center of the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB) reported that at least 1,300 minors under 18 years of age work in illegal mines in Bolívar and Amazonas. Many of them are used as “divers” to enter spaces where an adult would not fit.

Photo: CDH UCAB

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In its report, Rednna lists the jobs in which it has recorded the death or serious injury of minors as: mining, carrying water in deep wells, and working with farm animals without adult supervision. This is without mentioning the exposure to accidents and different forms of violence to which children and adolescents are exposed when they work on the street in the informal economy or provide services such as cleaning windows, shining shoes, or taking care of cars.

“These facts lead us to insist that, although allowing access to sources of employment for adolescents is a right that cannot be violated, the very independence of human rights requires us to examine the ways, means, advantages and risks that working implies for them. It is therefore up to the State to guarantee and for families to ensure that minimum conditions exist so that minors can work without giving up their other rights and not because they need to, but because they want to,” the study concludes.

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