Indigenous child labor in Brazil: a parallel between cultural diversity and the universality of human rights

Abstract

Indigenous children and adolescents are exploited in work activities, however, this rights violation is often supported by a cultural diversity discussion that ends up masking and naturalizing it. The general goal of the work is to understand the context of indigenous child labor through a parallel between cultural diversity and the universality of human rights. The specific goals, aim to contextualize indigenous child labor in Brazil, demonstrate the legal protection against child labor exploitation, as well as to analyze a parallel between the cultural relativism discussion and the universality of human rights in the context of indigenous child labor. As a research problem, it is questioned: how should indigenous child labor be tackled, taking into account the cultural diversity and universality of human rights? The hypothesis indicates that despite the establishment of a respect for cultural diversity, there is legal protection against the exploitation of child labor and children and adolescents fundamental guarantees, therefore, cultural relativism can not be used as a justification for human rights violations. The approach method of the present research is deductive and the procedure method is monographic, the study being developed through the use of bibliographic and documental research techniques. The main results demonstrate the necessity of an intercultural dialogue in order to achieve the universal values, including human dignity and to provide means to tackle indigenous children and adolescents rights violations.