Lima, Peru. -- For over a hundred years, the idea of child labor has horrified Americans, as evident in the recent debate over the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). With the U.S. increasingly dependent on cheap imports from developing countries -- some produced by children as young as six -- opponents of GATT used the issue as a key weapon in the fight against the treaty.
But in many developing countries, voices with similar humanitarian and progressive inclinations not only defend child labor but see it as as an important element in the liberation and empowerment of their oppressed peoples. Proposals to eliminate children's right to work in the name of protecting children are viewed as a form of cultural imperialism.
One such voice is that of Peruvian priest Alejandro Cussianovich. A vigorous proponent of "liberation theology," Father Cussianovich, now 58, was forbidden by his conservative bishop from saying mass more than a decade ago. He has spent most of his priestly life advocating children's rights and founded the Movement of Catholic Adolescent and Child Workers to work expressly for the rights of child laborers.
"There is no question that children are being exploited," the priest says. "But we should fight for better working conditions, not the elimination of their livelihood."
In Peru, where some 5 million children (a quarter of the population) live in extreme poverty, children don't eat if they don't work. Father Cussianovich works to obtain better hours and wages, time off for school and decent lunches for an estimated 700,000 child workers.
He also believes that in a country where dark-skinned Peruvians are denigrated by a highly race-conscious upper class, "work is a great source of identity for children." His movement affirms this identity through a network of "cells" -- modeled on liberation theology's base Christian communities -- for child workers. These groups draw some 2,000 children and more than 100 adult volunteers who provide spiritual nourishment and counseling.
Father Cussianovich draws his inspiration from the Catholic Youth Movement, which was founded in Europe in the 1920s as an alternative to both fascism and communism. It held that work -- even when performed under oppressive and exploitative conditions -- liberates minds, empowers people and links them together in communities. Politically, it believed that strong communities of workers, held together by a common faith and opposition to their exploitation, offered the best hope for poor people -- especially young workers -- to break free from poverty.
The movement spread to Peru, where it formed a widespread network of communities whose beliefs are symbolized by the name of Father Cussianovich's parish church, Jesus Obrero -- Jesus the Worker.
"Poverty without dignity is the worst kind of poverty," says Father Cussianovich. He calls it imperative to help the children see they can fight for better lives for themselves no matter how great the odds. "If they can learn to speak up for themselves, it will not only help them as children but as adults."
In Villa El Salvador, one of Lima's poorest shantytowns, about 16 rambunctious children listen to passages about justice from the Bible at a weekly meeting and share their experiences. Efforts to support one another include helping feed children of striking adult workers, parading through the city demanding better treatment for child laborers, and planning clean-up days in the markets where they work. Each group elects delegates to attend national meetings four times a year to discuss strategy. Villa El Salvador's group delegate is a 10-year-old chicken plucker.
Partly in response to these lobbying efforts, President Alberto Fujimori in 1992 reversed his country's ban on child labor by enacting the Code for Children and Adolescents. The code stipulates that children between 12 and 14 cannot work more than 24 hours a week while those between 15 and 17 cannot work more than 36.
JTC Father Cussianovich acknowledges that enforcement is the real challenge, since many children work twice the legally determined limits. But rather than this being a reason to ban the imports of products made by children, the U.S. should seek to have these kinds of laws enforced and bolster efforts to improve child workers' health and education.
Andres Tapia is a contributing editor of Christianity Today. Piper Lowell is an editor at the National Journalism Center in Washington. They wrote this commentary for Pacific News Service.