• Director(s):

    HUISMANN (WILFRIED)

  • Producer(s):

    ARTE GEIE

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2016

  • Language(s):

    German, English, French

  • Rights:

    TV, DVD, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET, VOD

In Bolivia, nearly a million children work for less than 4 Euros a day, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. – entirely legally.

Since 2014, a new law has enabled - and monitors - child labour from the age of 10. The International Labour Organisation, the ILO, has strongly condemned this violation of international law. But for Bolivian head of State Evo Morales, child labour is an integral part of indigenous culture: it gives children the opportunity to assert themselves and to become independent, if it is well supervised. Their union, the Unatsbo, considers that the ILO is unaware of the context in Bolivia, where everybody plays a role, from youngest to oldest. But the law that promised to bring social protection, job security and salaries to these children could prove to be a political boomerang for Evo Morales. The register of child labourers is far from complete. In deepest Bolivia, the law has not improved their living conditions. Employed in brickyards, sugarcane fields and mines, without any form of inspection, young Bolivians are very unlikely to be as lucky as Evo Morales, a former shepherd turned president.