Catha Worthman

Before delving into an in-depth analysis of child labor in Brazil, Liliane Fiuza reminded her audience at CLAS that child labor is not only a problem in other countries, but also in the United States. The noted antiÐchild labor activist from Brazil and trained sociologist urged more people to discuss the issue, to bring the problem of child labor the world over out of the shadows and into public consciousness.

According to the 1990 census, 3.8 million children between the ages of five and 15 were working in Brazil. In the United States, 5.5 million children between the ages of 12 and 17 were working, with an estimated 290,000 working illegally. Ms. Fiuza explained that these statistics understate the problem, often missing those children who work in the informal sectors and the underground economy, including in prostitution and narcotrafficking.

Liliane Fiuza Lima

The statistics also fail to capture the tragic working conditions some children experience. Ms. Fiuza told her audience about a friend of hers in Brazil, now 15 years old, who walked with her in the Global March Against Child Labor, which she organized two years ago. This boy was so small she could carry him in her arms when he fell asleep during the march. The boy worked in the orange plantations of Sergipe, filling crates with oranges and then loading the crates onto trucks. He earned $1 per ton of oranges, and was able to earn a total of $2 per week. His family has more than 10 children, each of them working at the same job. The acids in the oranges had erased the impressions on his fingertips. Nonetheless, Fiuza emphasized, her friend like other child-laborers would play with a ball when he had the chance. "Children who work are still children," she said.

The majority of working children in Brazil, about 60 percent, are employed in agriculture. Children work to earn money for their families, like Ms. Fiuza's friend, and only rarely on family-owned farms. In the orange fields as in other agricultural jobs in Brazil, children begin work as young as three, four, and five years old. The remaining 40 percent of Brazilian working children are employed in urban centers, working at jobs such as shoe assembly, leather work, and garment production, often in sweatshops.

Gender is an important factor in the situation of child laborers. The majority of children who work belong to single-parent households headed by women, and children of illiterate women have a 14 percent greater chance of being part of the labor market. Girls are more vulnerable than boys, in general, to sexual abuse and violence. Domestic work, for example, is more commonly done by girls than boys. Girls from rural areas are often sent to the city to take care of middle- to upper-class households. The law requires that the host families "sponsor" the girls, and send them to school, but too often they spend their days washing, ironing, cooking, and caring for the other families' children. Isolated from their own families, these girls may be vulnerable to sexual exploitation by men of the host households.

Child labor is not new in Brazil, in either cities or in rural areas. For example, indigenous children were put to work at the time of the Portuguese conquest of Brazil, and Afro-Brazilian children worked as slaves. In the 19th century, Japanese and other immigrant children also worked, contributing to the development of a new attitude toward manual labor in Brazil. Labor was not only for slaves, but could be a way to enable a human being. Consequently, child labor was sometimes described not as a problem but rather as a solution to problems of poverty and crime.

Activism against child labor is also not new: in the 1917 Brazilian General Strikes, one of the banners called for the elimination of child labor. This is still one of the banners of the struggle for a just society today in Brazil. It is also the banner under which Liliane Fiuza united a wide cross-section of Brazilian activists in a new group called the National Forum for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor (foro nacional).

The movement against child labor has had much success in Brazil in the past several years. Brazil has ratified conventions 129, 138 and 182 of the Industrial Labor Organization, for example, which respectively address rural work, a minimum age for working, and immediate eradication of the worst forms of child labor. Brazilian law now forbids children from working before the age of 14, and allows children between the ages of 14 and 16 to work only in apprenticeship or training programs. Along with the 1988 Constitution and 1990 enabling legislation on the rights of children and youth, Brazilian laws are among the most progressive in Latin America.

Huge gaps remain between the law and reality, however. Enforcement and monitoring are difficult. Moreover, as Ms. Fiuza pointed out, child labor is such a deeply rooted problem that it will take years to eradicate. Activists are now focused on multiple solutions, including national policies, financial incentives rewarding families for sending their children to school, and ensuring universal free access to high quality education. Efforts also focus on increasing educational opportunities for adults. Basic illiteracy remains a problem, for example. Job opportunities for parents are key, including increasing credit, providing opportunities for land ownership, and encouraging job creation and promotion. These measures aim to break the cycle of poverty, so that children who are working today will not have to see their children and grandchildren also work.

Ms. Fiuza concluded by noting that addressing child labor is part of creating sustainable development more generally. She also pointed out that micro-policies are necessary in conjunction with macro-policies. For example, teachers in Brazil are being trained by the teachers' and agricultural workers' unions to incorporate former child laborers without stigma into their age-group classes.

In the United States, she urged, we can also take small practical steps to help eradicate child labor. Self-education is a good place to start, and we can form study groups on the issue, invite speakers, and join and initiate active campaigns. For further information, she suggested looking at the UNICEF web site, or the site for the Global March Against Child Labor. Ms. Fiuza continues working as a leader against child labor, and CLAS plans to invite her again soon to advise more faculty, students, and community members on the issue.