Thousands of families and communities in Latin America and the Caribbean still suffer the human, economic and social impact of various natural disasters such as the 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Mathew in 2016 in Haiti, the 2015 earthquake in Chile, the huaicos (overflows caused landslides) in Peru, floods in Paraguay and avalanches in Colombia in 2017.

Similarly, several countries in the region live or have suffered long and painful armed conflicts that have marked the lives of millions of children and adolescents, taking away opportunities, mutilating their dreams and distancing them from the possibility of living and enjoying their childhood.

Many of the 12.5 million children and adolescents who work in Latin America and the Caribbean live in areas affected by natural disasters that deprive their families of the necessary means of subsistence, destroy education and health infrastructure and interrupt health services. social protection; All of this pushes them into child labor, often under dangerous modalities or even as victims of crime, to ensure their livelihood and to recover little by little from the crisis. 

This condition of vulnerability and fragility in the face of emergencies and crises is still not very visible in our region and the protection against child labor, especially in its worst forms, is not considered among the actions undertaken for the reconstruction or recovery of the affected areas. For this reason, in this year 2017, the International Labor Organization (ILO) has decided to call for global and regional mobilization and awareness of these situations that disproportionately affect poor families and in particular their children and adolescents .

In conflicts or natural disasters, the risks and threats for children and adolescents increase. They expose them to environments of greater violence; they are forced to drop out of school as it may be unsafe or destroyed; feel a commitment or obligation to help their families recover from the crisis; to help your community with rebuilding efforts; to migrate irregularly in search of new opportunities, exposing themselves to dangers such as abandonment, abuse, exploitation, etc. For example, in Haiti after Hurricane Mathew, 317,000 boys and girls had their education interrupted; in Peru, due to heavy rains and landslides, approximately two million were unable to attend school; and, in Colombia, as a result of the avalanches, classes were suspended in 12 local schools.

Another less recognized dimension of conflicts and crises is its associated violence and crime. In contexts such as these, which affect several countries in the region in a particular way, children lose the opportunity to live and grow up without fear, enjoy their childhood, enjoy their rights to education, health, play and protection and they are victims of discrimination and exclusion that put their future at risk. 

According to the latest Save The Children report entitled “Stolen Childhoods”, the region has faced high levels of social violence in recent years. Colombia is the fifth country in the world where children suffer the most from conflict [1] . The report "El Salvador: a city without violence?" indicates that around 40,000 boys and girls in that country dropped out of school in 2015 because they were concerned about their own safety.

Thus, conflicts and catastrophes are understood as critical situations for populations, especially for the most vulnerable and the youngest, leaving not only victims but also victims who urge comprehensive humanitarian care and a new opportunity to recover what was lost. and reintegrate into society.

Emergency situations, coupled with high rates of child labor in some countries, reinforce fragile conditions, increase State expenditures, cause loss of economic productivity, exacerbate inequality and poverty, and reduce the chances of achieving sustainable development.

It is a priority that governments and organizations ensure that the actions implemented in emergency situations do not deepen the situation of children in child labor [2] , that they include this issue within humanitarian assistance programs and create efficient strategies to its prevention in these critical contexts. Some proposals are aligned with the promotion and implementation of actions for the financial security of children, through the generation of greater income for the families and affected communities; or in ensuring special education programs during and after conflicts and disasters. In this way, the region will be able to move towards the achievement of Target 8.7 of the 2030 Agenda and ensure the protection of children and adolescents who live or are exposed to emergency situations.

[1] Child Labour Task Force. Inter-agency toolkit: Supporting the protection needs of Child labourers in emergencies, 2016.

[2] UNICEF. Stolen childhoods. World Report on Children 2017.