ILO and government data indicate that 26.4% of children in Bolivia between the ages of five and 14 are in child labour. Child labour is much more prevalent in rural areas (65%) than urban areas (15%). ILO research suggests that a large majority of children working in rural areas are in the agricultural industry, with a larger proportion of boys working in the industry than girls. In urban areas, children are work in the service sector, in hotels, restaurants and street vending services. Girls are more likely than boys to participate in the service industry in urban areas. Worst forms of child labour (including the sale and trafficking of children, forced labour, sexual exploitation) are also reported, but the lack of a national reporting mechanism means that the full extent of the problem is not well understood.

The Child and Adolescent Code (2014) sets the minimum age for employment at 14, prohibits a list of hazardous activities by workers under the age of 18, and sets out a five-year ambition to eliminate child labour. However, a controversial amendment to the Code allows children as young as 12 to be employed with parental consent and those as young as 10 to be self-employed. The ILO has expressed deep concern about these provisions and UNICEF has been working with the government to improve capacity to tackle child labour.

The government’s ratification of ILO Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age of Employment and No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour signals a commitment to protecting children’s rights in the workplace. Nevertheless, food and beverage and travel and tourism businesses should ensure due diligence activities support the eradication of child labour. Specifically, companies should ensure that their policies specify a minimum age of employment that meets international standards and put in place child labour remediation and safeguarding procedures to prevent and redress cases of child labour.

Bolivia has ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. Bolivian laws prohibit the production, sale and consumption of child pornography. While there are reported cases of child pornography being consumed, it is not yet well understood how much online child sexual exploitation material is produced, distributed or consumed in Bolivia. The country introduced safeguards that would limit children’s access to online pornographic material, but media-monitoring mechanisms to protect children from being exposed to harmful information have not yet been implemented.

As a result, ICT operating in Bolivia should ensure that due diligence efforts capture their impact on the commercial sexual exploitation of children, including children’s access to pornographic material.

Bolivia has ratified key conventions on children’s rights in the marketplace, such as the Constitution of the World Health Organisation. Some protections for children and adolescents are covered in national legislation, including age limits for purchasing tobacco. Many provisions of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes are incorporated into national laws. There is a self-regulatory marketing and advertising code, which states that companies should not advertise or market children products that are inappropriate for their age.

However, Bolivia has not introduced laws regulating age limits for alcohol sale or alcohol advertising. There are also no regulations limiting marketing and advertising targeting children for unhealthy foods and beverages, including those high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS). An estimated 18.7% of young people aged 13 to 15 years use tobacco products and more than 10% have received free cigarettes as a product promotion. Furthermore, 8.7% of children under the age of five are overweight and there are rising levels of obesity among adolescents.

As such, food and beverage companies should take steps to ensure responsible and age appropriate marketing and advertising of products.

Bolivia is vulnerable to climate change and subject to recurrent natural disasters, including severe droughts and floods. With climate change these disasters are becoming more frequent and severe, displacing thousands of families and children. For instance, a recent assessment of internal displacement found that 7,000 people were displaced in 2016 due to natural disasters.

Displacement can be highly disruptive to children’s lives and interrupts their access to essential services such as education and health care. Businesses should consider taking action to minimise their contribution to climate change and establish due diligence procedures to ensure that children’s rights are respected.

Although the government has been making progress, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) shortcomings are among the top challenges facing children in Bolivia. According to the most recent UNICEF data, while 88% of the population has access to improved water sources and just 46% has access to improved sanitation. Water and sanitation challenges are heightened during reoccurring periods of flooding and drought, especially in the eastern and western parts of the country. Pollution and WASH challenges are a cause of death for children in Bolivia, particularly where poor water quality causes diarrhoea. According to WHO data, 7 deaths per 100,000 population are attributed to poor WASH each year in Bolivia.

For companies, particularly those in the extractives industry, enhanced due diligence should be carried out to ensure that operations do not impact the quality and quantity of water available to communities.

Bolivia is one of the world’s most culturally diverse countries, with the most indigenous peoples in the Americas making up 60% of the country’s 10 million people. Indigenous children and communities are among the most marginalised and excluded in the country, and there is considerable inequality in land ownership and access. There are conflicts between indigenous peoples and land appropriation for public works projects.

As a result, companies investing or involved in land acquisition for commercial purposes – especially extractive industries and food and beverage companies - should ensure that they obtain free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), with procedures that ensure equal participation of indigenous women and children in consultations.