3071-The political economy of new slavery

144 Child Labour in Latin America
to include outsourced labour in the form of family production lines
in the informal sector. In the increasingly globalized trading system,
firms are coming to rely more and more on such production systems
(SCF, 2001; ILO, 1997). In conclusion, not all work is harmful for children.
At times they can learn from it and often their family’s subsistence
relies on it. This shift in thinking is born out in Convention 182 of
the ILO. It sees the eradication of the worst forms of child labour as a
priority for action.
Honduras
The third part of this chapter examines the issues and policies of
child labour in the context of the case study of Honduras. This is of
particular interest since the topic of child labour in this country has
been underresearched. Furthermore, the Honduran case illustrates one of
the main reasons why children work, namely endemic poverty, which
was exacerbated by Hurricane Mitch and the ensuing social problems.
Moreover, Honduras is signatory to the relevant international legislation
on child labour and to the CRC.
First, a brief overview of the country will be given by placing it in the
Latin American context. Then the extent of the problem in Honduras
will be assessed. In a further step, the policies to combat the problem
will be outlined and evaluated, which will shed light on where the
debate on child labour stands in Honduras, what has been achieved and
what remains to be done.
Social panorama
Latin American economies have most recently been characterized by the
debt crisis of the 1980s and the structural adjustment programmes (SAPs)
which were introduced to correct the structural imbalances. These, in
turn, had a detrimental impact on the region’s social indicators, since
social expenditure was the first to be cut back in an effort to streamline
countries’ budgets and economies. This resulted in increased poverty,
with higher child labour and school drop-out rates (Raman, 1998, p. 6). 20
Latin America has a number of very specific characteristics such as a
fairly high degree of urbanization, income inequality and unequal access
to means of production, poverty, dependence on primary commodity
exports, and a large proportion of the population being under the age
of 18. The latter point means that a high percentage of the poverty
burden is born by children under the age of 15 (60 per cent) (Bartell,
2001, p. xxi). According to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)