Child brick workers

Puno, Peru – August 2012

A Peruvian boy turns raw bricks for drying at a brick factory in the outskirts of Puno, Peru, 2 August 2012. Child labour is a common practice at the artisanal brick factories, found predominantly in socially deprived areas of the urban zones. Poverty and lack of employment force parents, mainly season workers coming from rural areas of the country, to employ their own children, in an effort to ensure the livelihood for the whole family. Children aged 4-7 take part in simple jobs while children aged 8 and up tend to work regularly, same as adults. A family group, consisting of 2 adults and 2-3 children, may earn 20-25 USD per day, working almost the whole day, often in harsh climatic conditions.