In 2019, it was estimated that 45% of miners in Venezuela’s Bolívar State were underage and extremely vulnerable to labour exploitation. Children are especially at risk of being trafficked in the area, as they are often unaccompanied, and those as young as nine have been found working in mines, exposing themselves to polluting and toxic substances and dangerous working conditions. They are also sometimes used by the criminal groups operating illegal mines as watchmen or informants.