A Victory for Children by Children in Paraguay

In Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, a group of homeless children were recruited to work at a shopping mall to help the customers carry their bags and to also clean the bathrooms, the floors, and parking lots of the mall. They were promised compensation from the shopping mall but what they got were only the tips from some of the costumers. The children were afraid of saying something to the owners because they knew that they could lose even the tips from the customers. However, a small group of courageous kids protested for their salary.

The owners immediately fired the protesters, cleared them out of the area, and did not pay them for their work. They made sure to tell everyone that letting the children receive a tip and stay in the mall during the day is more than enough because the streets are dangerous.

I met with CONNATS, a social movement of children run by children, that was created to protect working children’s rights and to prevent the exploitation and slavery of children. CONNATS decided that it was necessary to take this case to court because there is a corporate culture in Paraguay (and in the rest of the world) that makes children consent to unpaid work due to their necessity to subsist.

In order to compete, businesses may find ways to justify the use of coercion. Giving a street child something to eat, is an act of charity. But we cannot ask a child to work for eight hours as exchange for food when s/he has no other option. The recruitment of children by the abuse of a position of vulnerability for the purpose of gaining from their free labor is also slavery.

The children won the case, but the company has appealed the judge’s decision.

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Irvin Santana
Posts: 2

Paraguey Organization CONNATS
Reply #2 on : Sun September 28, 2008, 16:25:23

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Who runs this organization "CONNATS"? I’d like to know more about their organiztion. I fear within the U.S. we wil have generation of children that will be in somewhat a similar situation if we don’t have them already. It woud be nice to become educated on some proactive steps to keep children from having to fight for daily subsistence.<br />
Also, where are the adults in this society? How could so many children be left without families and homes?

Tanja
Posts: 2

Re:
Reply #1 on : Fri June 06, 2008, 14:07:43

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Ciao Kique, it is so nice to have your news, and to hear that you continue doing a great work! I hope you will have the opportunity to help many other children in the world!