Compared to 2003, how has child labor on El Salvador’s sugar cane plantations changed?
When we visited El Salvador’s sugar cane plantations in 2003, we found that child labor was widespread. On some of the plantations, over one-third of the workers were children. We heard numerous accounts of children who began work between the ages of eight and 13. By 14, nearly every boy and many of the girls were working with sugar cane in most of the communities we visited. By 2005, in contrast, we heard of only a few children involved in the cutting and planting of sugar cane. Following the release of our report, the government and the sugar industry began to enforce El Salvador’s child labor laws. Unfortunately, they have not put in place adequate alternatives. When we visited in 2005, they had essentially fired all of the child laborers without ensuring they would be able to attend school or benefit from alternative vocational training. This is obviously a complicated issue. While children must be protected from the kinds of dangerous work conditions we found, the government and i
