Forced Labor Traps Adopted Children in Paraguay

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In January 2024, the Paraguayan news outlet El Surtidor published an article by Jazmin Bazán about the practice of criadazgo, forced domestic labor involving adopted children who receive neither wages nor an adequate standard of living. Paraguay’s Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas estimates that about forty-seven thousand children, ages 5-17 (approximately 2.5 percent of Paraguay’s total population), are subject to criadazgo, working without adequate time to rest, appropriate pay, or opportunities to leave. Many of these adopted children are girls or young women, some are sexually abused, and most of them keep silent about their situations.

As Bazán noted, according to Paraguay’s El Ministerio de Niñez y Adolescencia (Ministry of Children and Adolescents), 76 percent of the children affected by criadazgo are girls or adolescent women. They are typically put to work as maids or domestic servants. Their youth, gender, and separation from family and friends put them at particular risk for sexual exploitation. Bazán cited a 2021 Amnesty International report that found Paraguay’s Public Health ministry received, on average, twelve reports of sexual violence against children and adolescents per day, while experts estimate that the real rate of sexual violence against minors and adolescents may be five times that. Moreover, an average of two Paraguayan girls aged 10 to 14 give birth each day.

Bazán explained that the practice of criadazgo has its roots in Paraguay’s deeply Catholic, patriarchal culture and in the economic deprivation of large sections of the population. But she pointed out that Paraguay’s successive military dictatorships—particularly the authoritarian rule of strongman Alfredo Stroessner, who controlled the country from 1954 to 1989—also played a role in strengthening and normalizing the practice.

Paraguay is a party to several international agreements protecting the rights of children, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Criadazgo is a clear violation of the terms of those agreements. But the country has yet to adopt specific legislation to combat the practice. The United Nations has asked Paraguay to do more to curtail criadazgo and to make it a crime. International children’s rights organizations such as PLAN International are also working to raise awareness about the issue.

There has been no coverage of this story in US corporate media despite the fact that Bazán’s reporting was funded in part by the US-based Pulitzer Center. However, the practice of criadazgo has gotten some coverage in Latin American news media over the years. The BBC’s Spanish-language news outlet BBC Mundo published a report on criadazgo in 2016. A 2022 article in Paraguay’s La Nación explored the lives of low-income families in Paraguay and the reasons their children are forced to work. Bazán’s report on criadazgo was also published by Uruguay’s La Diara.

Jazmin Bazán, “Criadazgo: La Explotación Infantil Atrapada Entre Las Paredes Del Silencio,” El Surti, January 30, 2024.

Student Researchers: Eva Creighton, Mathias Lundgren, and Andrew McCleery (College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University)

Faculty Evaluator: Bruce Campbell (College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University)