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/MAY DAY/ CENTRAL AMERICA: More than 1.9 Million Child Workers
By Néfer Muñoz
SAN JOSE, Apr 28 (IPS) - More than 1.9 million children in Central
America face a serious threat to their chance of obtaining an
education and pulling out of the vicious circle of poverty because
they have to earn their daily bread.
IPS was given exclusive access to the preliminary results of a
study being carried out by the International Programme for the
Eradication of Child Labour (IPEC), which found that 16.2 percent
of the nearly 12 million children between the ages of five and 17
in Central America currently work.
The phenomenon of child labour helps perpetuate under-
development, and creates a breeding-ground for dramatic social
conflicts that could erupt in the not-so-distant future, warned
experts consulted by IPS.
''What we are doing to the children of Central America harms
their present and will have an enormous impact on their future,''
said researcher María Luisa Rodríguez of IPEC, an International
Labour Organisation (ILO) programme.
The preliminary results indicate that there are 1.94 million
children aged five to 17 working - and often not attending school -
in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua
and Panama.
Moreover, most of the children who work are assisting their
parents, and receive no pay themselves, said Rodríguez.
The study forms part of the ILO programme on statistics and
follow-up on child labour, and the final results for Central
America will be published in 2004.
Close to half of the child workers were found in Guatemala
(937,530), while the country with the smallest absolute number of
child labourers was the tiny Belize (8,582).
Guatemala, a country of 12 million, has the largest population
in Central America, followed by El Salvador (6.2 million),
Honduras (6 million), Nicaragua (5 million), Costa Rica (3.8
million), Panama (2.7 million), and Belize (250,000).
Minors in Central American mainly work in agriculture or as
street vendors. Others are involved in the services and
manufacturing sectors.
''This is extremely dangerous for the region, because the
rights to dignified development and health of these children are
being violated,'' United Nations children's fund (UNICEF) adviser
María Conde pointed out to IPS, when she was informed of the new
statistics.
Although many child workers also attend school, work tends to
take priority over education as they grow older.
In Belize, 18 percent of working five to 14-year-olds are not
in school, while the proportion stands at 21 percent in Costa
Rica, 32 percent in El Salvador, 34 percent in Honduras, 37
percent in Panama, 40 percent in Nicaragua and 41 percent in
Guatemala.
Children who begin to work at a young age and drop out of
school tend to reach the upper limit of their vocational
possibilities at a very young age, which often leads to an
accumulation of social discontent and temptations to turn to
crime, noted Conde.
''Last decade, we saw that poverty had a woman's face. And in
this new decade, we are clearly observing that now poverty has a
child's face,'' said Conde, who works at the UNICEF office for
Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Panama.
In Costa Rica, 15 public figures from the fields of science,
sports, music, religion and politics said they would sign a
statement against child labour next Friday.
Among the signatories will be former Costa Rican president and
Nobel Peace Prize-winner Oscar Arias, Costa Rican-American
astronaut Franklin Chang, and classical music composer Benjamín
Gutiérrez.
''Work is not tiring, but sometimes it's a little bit boring,''
said Jorge Luis Cerdas, who is small for his age and looks much
younger than his 16 years.
Cerdas said he began to work when he was 11, and only completed
primary school before dedicating himself full-time to helping his
father at their vegetable and fruit cart.
''My biggest dream? To have a vegetable and fruit stall in the
market. I don't like having to move around all the time,'' said
Cerdas, who works under the scorching tropical sun from seven in
the morning to six in the evening.
The boyish adolescent in slightly shabby clothes parks his cart
Monday through Friday in downtown Cartago, a city located 22 kms
east of San Jose.
Under his father's gaze, Cerdas told IPS that his 15-year-old
sister had also dropped out of school, and that his younger
brother, 11, was the only one who still attended class.
Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) say the governments
of Central America and programmes like IPEC do not do enough to
attack the causes of child labour.
''It seems to me that small parts of the fire are put out, but
the real causes of the fire are not attacked,'' said Virginia
Murillo, executive president of the Costa Rican section of Defence
of Children International (DCI), who added that that only a small
fraction of child workers in the region receive any kind of
support.
The activist told IPS that governments in the region should
show a greater interest in reducing poverty and increasing the
quality of education.
DCI, an international child advocacy organisation, warns that
many child workers in the region are exposed to toxic pesticides,
work long days, and carry loads that are too heavy for their age.
Young street vendors, meanwhile, are at risk of traffic accidents
and abuse and mistreatment by adults.
The Commission for the Defence of Human Rights in Central
America (CODEHUCA) has also expressed concern over the phenomenon
of child labour.
According to the non-governmental rights organisation, the
situation of child workers reflects the precarious social
conditions in Central America, which, paradoxically, have worsened
since the Cold War-era armed conflicts that plagued the region
came to an end.
Child labour is just one more demonstration of how economic,
social and cultural rights are constantly violated in this region,
said CODEHUCA general coordinator Daniel Camacho.
(END/2003)
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