3071-The political economy of new slavery

152 Child Labour in Latin America
Problems and limitations of legislation
Several difficulties present themselves in the implementation process
of Convention 182. These are mainly contradictions and gaps within
national legislation. One of the central problems is the lack of consensus
within national legislation as to the minimum age for the admission
to work. This is problematic, especially in that the Constitution sets
16 years as the basic age for admission to work, whereas the Children’s
Code sets it at 14 (Comisión Nacional, 2000b, p. 92).In order for the
implementation process of Convention 182 to go ahead, a consensus on
minimum age will have to be found.
The PAN points out some limitations as to the application of the
pertinent legislation. It specifically refers to the Children’s Code and the
fairly limited competence of the institutions in charge of monitoring
child labour and applying sanctions. The PAN stresses that the general
institutional limitation is especially marked in the informal sector and
the Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL). 45 This situation is exacerbated
by a lack of training programmes as well as instruments and institutions
for denouncing the exploitation of child labour, which in turn limit the
implementation process of Convention 182 (personal communication).
Therefore, the policies undertaken for institutional strengthening and
capacity building are extremely important and it is certainly a point
that needs to be developed more strongly.
In conclusion it can be said that legislation is undoubtedly important
in setting the policy framework for action on child labour. But it has
to be kept in mind that legislation alone is not enough to combat the
complex problem of child labour. It will have to be attacked at more
than one level. It has been argued that legislation was only a supporting
factor in the eradication of child labour in Europe. The main factor was
economic growth and progress, which called for better-skilled labour
and made child labour unnecessary (Basu, 1999).
Conclusion
This chapter aimed to give an overview of child labour issues and
policies in Honduras. Child labour is a very complex problem, which
is accentuated by difficulties in defining it. The two most prominent
positions are first, that childhood and work are incompatible, and
second, that due to the realities in LDCs many children have to work
to support themselves and their families. There has been a shift in