Скачать или смотреть PERU: MEMBERS OF GLOBAL MARCH AGAINST CHILD LABOUR VISIT GOLD MINE

(28 Mar 1998) Spanish/Nat

Members of the Global March Against Child Labour have visited a gold mine in Peru where hundreds of children work under harsh conditions to help support their families.

The organisation is calling for an end to child labour which they claim is stripping (m) millions of Peruvian children from a chance to get an education and break the cycle of poverty.

At first glance, these children make this look like a game.

But in reality it's part of their daily job at the Santa Filomena gold mine in the Peruvian department of Ayacucho - 290 miles (470 kilometres) southeast of Lima.

Hundreds of children work here under harsh conditions and are exposed to all kinds of risks.

Each day, they work from dawn to nightfall alongside their parents and siblings digging the ore of this 10-metre-long tunnel in the side of a dusty hill.

Driven by poverty, over one-and-a-half (m) million children and adolescents work in gold mines, markets or selling in the streets of Peru.

A non-government organisation known as the Global March Against Child Labour is calling for this to end.

SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"What the March hopes is that in the future child labour be eradicated. Children are developing beings who have no reason to dedicate themselves to adult activities. Children work mostly to cover the economic needs of their families and that's unfair."
SUPER CAPTION: Issac Ruiz, Global March Against Child Labour

The practice of grinding the gold in these large mortars may seem like fun for these kids.

But in reality it's a dangerous practice that may cause bone and muscle injuries while exposing the children to harmful chemicals, like mercury, which is used to clean the gold.

Not far from the capital - in Huachipa - another group of children help grownups lay bricks.

Most families here have migrated from other provinces looking for a better life.

Instead, they've found more poverty which has forced their children to join them in their daily struggle for survival.

In places like Santa Filomena and Huachipa the lack of schools and health care limit the children's future.

Those who have access to some schooling eventually drop out because of their tiring work schedules.

The Global March Against Child Labour knows that they cannot expect to eliminate child labour completely due to these families' poverty.

However, they hope to at least help organise their workplaces to allow these children to one day break from the vicious cycle of poverty.

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