Child Labor and Child Work in Cuba

Childhood should be an enjoyable part of life without any responsibilities of adulthood. Most children in Cuba do not experience such a typical childhood. They are expected and required to work in order to support their families. Children's contributions are important to the existence of the Cuban economy.

Under the Labor Code stated in the 1997 Human Rights Report, fifteen and sixteen year old Cuban children receive training towards a job or can cover for absentees during a shortage of workers. This code also states that Cuban students over the age of eleven must devote between thirty and forty five days of their summer break to working on a farm. However, they are limited to a maximum of eight hours a day. It is mandatory that Cuban children attend school until the ninth grade. This law is obeyed for the most part amongst Cuban children.

One type of job a Cuban child can possess may fall under the category of labor. This is any job that might be harmful towards a child's life or development, and one which violates sections of the Labor Code. In Cuba, children participating in laborious positions begin working as young as eight years old. This occurs despite a Cuban law which designates the legal minimum working age to seventeen years old. It is common for a Cuban child to work in a market just so the child and his or her family can stay off the streets. For Cubans, every cent or peso counts.

Child work is characterized by those jobs that are rooted in the family. By remaining close to their families on a daily basis, Cuban children develop a sense of identity. In Cuba, typical "work" ranges from being a domestic servant, working around the home; working on the family farm or plantation; and working as a clerk in a family-owned shop.

Although child work and the Labor Code allow more space for Cuban children to develop, both child labor and child work in Cuba place a hindrance on a child's ability to fully develop his or her education and knowledge.

References
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (1997, January). U.S. Department of State: Cuba Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1996. http://www3.ITU.INT/MISSIONS/US/HRC/CUBA.html (1997, January)

Green, D. (1998). Hidden Lives: Voices of children in Latin America and the Caribbean. London and Washington:Cassel

This page was written by Sandi Yarow, contributing group members Lauren Clark, Julia Hitchings, and Jenn Hamm.

The purpose of this website is to portray the lives of children living in Cuba. It was designed by Lauren Clark, Jenn Hamm, Julia Hitchings, and Sandi Yarow, as a part of a collaborative web project in a freshman writing seminar: Children and Society, taught at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Professor April Brayfield.
December 18, 1998