Artwork - Mineur Boy, Potosí

On my first trip to South America in 1987 I also went to the Altiplano in Bolivia, the high plateau in the Andes, and the city of Potosí. It is a very dry and barren landscape on about 4000 m above sea level. In the early 17th century, this big city was made rich because of the silver and tin deposit. The tunnels deep down in the mines are very narrow, so only small people can access them, which is one of the reasons why many kids work in there, just as this 11 year old boy. Child labour in the mines is still happening today; in 2014 the Bolivian government passed a law establishing the minimum age of workers at 12 years old and regulating what activities are forbidden for adolescents, in order to adapt restrictions imposed by international conventions on child labour.