Latin American countries call for end to child labor

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Xinhua

Latin American countries call for end to child labor


www.chinaview.cn 2008-06-13 13:47:21

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua and Chile on Thursday marked the World Day Against Child Labor by appealing for an end to child exploitation.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a decree that widens the scope of what can be classified as child labor in the country, including domestic work in the same category as slavery, sexual exploitation and drug trafficking.

The president said the decree provided government inspectors with instruments to punish slavery.

Lula, who worked as a bootblack on the streets of Sao Paulo in his childhood, added that many children in the country help their parents in their daily jobs.

Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/13/content_8361092.htm

[pattmarty]

1. Hey, we'll just have to start it here in the ghettos..............

......so we can keep the prices down for the "folks". I'm sure there's plenty of money to be made on child slavery, uh I mean work for children conservative programs. Already in this country we have both parents working at LEAST one job a piece, hell, let the kids in on the fun too. This will also help the "choice" agenda as well. The more kids you have, the more money you'll make and the quicker you will achieve the "American dream".:sarcasm:

[sasquatch]

2. I bet Tom Friedman is against it already

[Trillo]

3. Interesting.

Still no recognition that education is unpaid student labor that may never pay off.

[otherlander]

13. That

is the most interesting comment I've read on DU all day. And even if it does pay off, does that justify its structure? Isn't education supposed to be more than job training? But that's another thread.

[HughBeaumont]

4. American corporations call for end of living-wage adult labor.

"Think of our situations! How will I manage with only ONE house? How will we ever be able to buy luxury items?? This goddamned income gap simply isn't WIDE enough! This race isn't over yet!"

[Judi Lynn]

5. Plight of Bolivia's child miners

Page last updated at 08:10 GMT, Saturday, 14 June 2008 09:10 UK
Plight of Bolivia's child miners
By Andres Schipani
BBC News, Potosi



Ramiro, 12, works as a driller in the
high-altitude mines of Potosi

Watching children and young adolescents push loaded wheelbarrows out of the dark corridors of the tin, zinc and silver mines of the Bolivian town of Potosi, it is clear that the harsh reality of adulthood comes far too early.

"I work out of necessity," explains 12-year-old driller Ramiro, helmet in hand, as he stands at the entrance of one of the mines that honeycomb the Cerro Rico - meaning Rich Hill - that towers above the town.

He feels bad because he knows that working in the mine puts his health at risk, he says, and "that is what every single one of the children that works inside feels; sometimes some die, some survive".

Wiping his sweaty forehead, which is covered in dark dust, he adds: "For us, who work inside the mine, it is not good; the mine brings a lot of disease, a lot of death."

It is prolonged exposure to that dust that gives the average miner a life expectancy of only 40 years. The culprit is what they call the "mal de mina", the lung disease silicosis.

More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7448032.stm

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. Uh, I thought every child was a miner?

:silly:

[gtar100]

6. We have such a long way to go on this issue

It's too well hidden from the people and too entrenched in the ways of business. And there's a lot of interest in keeping it that way.

[MrBlueSky]

7. Interesting...

I like the idea... however, there is nary a peep about this in the Brazilian Mainstream media (Globo, Record, SBT, etc)... and we had to get this from the Chinese media outlet, Xinhua, out of their office in Rio de Janeiro.

- MrBlueSky... reporting from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil (officially on vacation, but couldn't resist this post!)

[Phred42]

9. The fact that they have to dfo this in the 21st Century should tell you something

about the Catholic Church.

If any of the Popes of the 20th Century actually gave a rats ass about kids - this would have been don long ago

[lame54]

10. This is awesome...

now time for Asia to step up

[happygoluckytoyou]

11. GOP isn't going to like losing their CHEAP LABOR......

[otherlander]

14. I wish it was just the GOP.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Are you implying Democrats benefit from child labor, as well?

Please explain how you know this is happening.

Democrats need to know, considering the fact the Democratic Party has ALWAYS been the party of progressive labor reform, always moving to protect working class people from inhumane exploitation, from the very first.

Child Labor in U.S. History

~snip~
1892 Democrats adopt union recommendations
Democratic Party adopts platform plank based on union recommendations to ban factory employment for children under 15

More:
http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/us_history.html

~~~~~~~~~~~

We Cannot Buy Golden Opportunities With Tin-Cup Budgets
by Paul Wellstone and Bill Dauster
The Progressive magazine, January 1999

~snip~
From the beginning of this century, the progressive movement sought a better society and better government. The movement, and this magazine, advocated laws to shield workers and consumers from unchecked industrialization and corporate monopolies. They fought for open and honest government and to broaden popular participation. And they advanced the ethic of improving the human condition.

We have so come to rely on what they accomplished that we take their achievements for granted. Progressives led the fight for child labor laws, the eight-hour day, tax reform, old age security, unemployment compensation, a minimum wage, occupational health and safety, and health insurance. Progressives gave us the universal right to vote, the direct election of Senators, the initiative, the referendum, and the recall.

More:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Reforming_System/TinCupBudgets_Wellstone.html

[otherlander]

16. Like Bill Clinton signing NAFTA into law didn't lead to kids working in sweatshops?

Paul Wellstone was one of the great ones. If his party followed his ideals, we'd all be in a better place today, but they don't.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Don't forget the child labor still going on in all the countries with banana plantations.

Central America, and Ecuador, prior to its new President, and Colombia.

Damned sad.