Millions of Central American Children Suffer Child Labour
The International Labour Organization (ILO) assured that 2.5 million children in the Dominican Republic and Central America are forced to work, because of the poverty in which they live.

Of more than 246 million children suffering child labour in the world, 350,000 are from Honduras, said Rigoberto Astorga, Regional Coordinator of the ILO International Program for Eradication of Child Labour (IPEC) on Monday.

Investigations conducted by IPEC, based in Costa Rica, revealed that the average age of minors when they start working is between 10 and 11 years, although many of them start when they are seven years old.

Male children are mostly involved in working in agriculture, and selling things on the street, and females are mainly hired for domestic labour.

These studies showed that almost 50 percent of children working in this region and in the Dominican Republic have no access to education, Astorga said.

"One of the main causes of child labour is poverty, so it is important to understand that the further they are from educative alternatives, the more the circle widens. Boys and girls limited in their education accept low-salary jobs, and in conditions of greater exploitation," he pointed out.

"Many of the girls working in domestic tasks are not paid the minimum salary established by law, and in many cases, they do not even receive any economic remuneration, working for food and accommodation; they are submitted to long working hours which may affect their health, sexual harassment, discrimination, loss of their identity, and absence of leisure and educative activities," he added.

It is important to guarantee their access to education, as a means to break the cycle, and avoid perpetuation of poverty, he concluded.