Child labor, the practice of employing children under the legal age set by a government, is considered one of Brazil's most significant social issues. According to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), more than 2.7 million minors between the ages of 5 and 17 worked in the country in 2015; 79,000 were between the ages of 5 and 9. Under Brazilian law, 16 is the minimum age to enter the labor market and 14 is the minimum age to work as an apprentice.
It is estimated that about 30 percent of Brazilian child labor occurs in the agricultural sector, and 60 percent occurs in the northern and northeastern regions of the country. Data indicates that 65 percent of child laborers are Afro-Brazilians, and 70 percent are male.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), poverty is the leading cause of child labor in the world (including Brazil). Children are forced to work to supplement family income, eliminating their studies and social lives.
Since the enactment of the 1988 constitution, child labor has been illegal in the country. The government has taken steps to reduce its prevalence by adopting international conventions and guidelines.
Social movements were created to increase awareness of child labor in Brazil, such as the introduction of the hashtag #ChegaDeTrabalhoInfantil. Other steps included changes to labor laws and increased funding for government welfare programs, such as Bolsa Família, which support impoverished families. As a result, the number of underage workers fell from about eight million in 1992 to five million in 2003.
Despite these improvements, Brazil still accounts for one-fourth of Latin America's underage workers in. Between 2014 and 2015, there was a 13-percent increase in the number of reported child workers under age 10. In 2016, there were 1,238 cases of child exploitation recorded in the public prosecutor's office. However, many instances of child labor in the informal economy (such as child prostitution or drug trafficking) went unrecorded.
Definitions
Brazilian definition and regulation
In Brazil's constitution, child labor is addressed in Article 7, Item 33. The item prohibits night work and any work considered "dangerous or unhealthy" for youth under 18. Minors under age 16 are not allowed to work, except for apprenticeships for minors over 14 years old.
International definitions
Child labor, according to the ILO, is "work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development." It refers to work which can damage children mentally, physically, socially, or morally; work depriving children of the ability to attend school, or work which places heavy burdens on them in addition to schoolwork. The definition of child labor largely depends on the working environment, the legal working age and the type of work done. The organization defines child slavery, child prostitution, child crime (such as drug trafficking) and any work jeopardizing the safety of children as the worst forms of child labor.
UNICEF has different criteria for child labor. For children between 5 and 11 years old, work is categorized as child labor if at least one hour of economic activity or at least 28 hours of domestic work is performed weekly. For children between 12 and 14 years of age, 14 hours or more of economic activity or 42 hours of economic activity and domestic work per week constitute child labor.