Child Labor Prevalent in Central America

  
Child labor threatens the welfare and development of children throughout Central America, concludes a study by the Fundación del Servicio Exterior para la Paz y la Democracia (FUNPADEM) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The joint project is designed to document instances of the problem and determine its magnitude in the five Central American countries--Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Costa Rica--as well as Belize, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Preliminary results of the first two country reports were presented at a conference sponsored by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration earlier this month. In Nicaragua, the study found child labor to be most widespread in the countryside, where children work on coffee and tobacco plantations. The underage workers do not go to school and are paid lower wages than adults. In Honduras, child labor was determined to be prevalent in both rural and urban areas.

The project organizers hope to have reports on all eight countries ready by the end of the year. For more information, see Noticias de FUNPADEM, no. 38, August 20, 2001.