NewsWhore
03-02-2007, 02:50 PM
The government and the First Lady's Office launched the National Plan for the Elimination of the Worse Forms of Child Labor yesterday. The plan calls for annual programs that will help reduce the number of children who are obliged to work by 2015. First Lady Margarita Cedeno de Fernandez, US ambassador to the DR Hans H. Hertell, Labor Ministry sub-minister Daniel Rondon Monegro and vice-president Rafael Alburquerque were among the attendees at yesterday's event. Alburquerque commented that during the 1990s child labor was common in the DR but that the fight against this type of labor is a reality in the DR today.
Cedeno, quoted in Hoy, said that 436,000 kids in the country, between the ages of 5 and 17, are at high risk of contracting disease. Cedeno said that of these children, 80% work in degrading situations that endanger their lives. The First Lady also commented on how these children are also the victims of prostitution and are hired to carry drugs. Ambassador Hertell said that since 1995 the U.S. Department of Labor has donated more than US$535 million in funds to fight forced child labor and said that the funds have taken 27,000 kids in the DR out of forced hard labor.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
Cedeno, quoted in Hoy, said that 436,000 kids in the country, between the ages of 5 and 17, are at high risk of contracting disease. Cedeno said that of these children, 80% work in degrading situations that endanger their lives. The First Lady also commented on how these children are also the victims of prostitution and are hired to carry drugs. Ambassador Hertell said that since 1995 the U.S. Department of Labor has donated more than US$535 million in funds to fight forced child labor and said that the funds have taken 27,000 kids in the DR out of forced hard labor.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)