Abstract

Child labor is still to this day a global problem, especially for the developing world. In 2014 the Bolivian government went against the international community by removing the minimum age on work in the revised version of their Code for Children and Adolescents. The objective of this research is to present how and why this policy was adopted by the Bolivian government. This thesis also analyses the case of Bolivia using a triangulation of three different theories on child labor.

The findings show that the involvement of the child/adolescent labor unions had a great impact on the final results of the new legislation in Bolivia. Furthermore, the new legislation inherently questions the notion of children as being unable to act independently as subjects.

Key words: Child labor, Bolivia, Child labor policy, Minimum age on work, Child/adolescent labor unions