ILO probes Bolivia law allowing children to work from age 10

GENEVA: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) said on Thursday it was investigating a new law in Bolivia that allows children as young as 10 to work, amid fears it breached global rules.

"The ILO is still looking into the provisions of the new law," the United Nations (UN) labour agency's spokesman Hans von Rohland told AFP.

"But there are already concerns that the law could amount to a reduction of the minimum age for work below the minima set in the ILO Conventions that Bolivia has ratified," he said.

Bolivia's previous labour code permitted no exceptions to a minimum age of 14, which ILO rules allow developing countries to adopt instead of the global limit of 15.

The new law was approved last week by the parliament of Bolivia, whose left-wing President Evo Morales is a former subsistence farmer and trade union activist.

While it leaves the limit of 14 in place, it allows exceptions when specific legal criteria have been met, taking the age to as low as 10.

The legal limit of 14 had come under fire from critics, including youthful trade unionists, who argued that Bolivians work from an early age out of necessity. Many of the youngsters are employed work in agriculture or as street hawkers.

The ILO's labour convention also says that children between the ages of 13-15 may do light work as long as it does not threaten their health or hinder their education, and that developing countries can cut that to 12-14 years..................http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/ilo-probes-bolivia-law/1253540.html
10/7/14
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