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 Business News | May 2008 
Illegal Child Labor Stills Defies Bans, In and Out of Mexico
 Vittorio Hernandez - AHN News
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Mexico City - A new United Nations Children's Fund study says about 300,000 Mexican children are illegally employed in farms across the nation. The practice goes on even as Mexico has been criticized by the international community and despite tough regulations imposed by American distributors.
For their work, the Mexican children are paid around $7 a day, or less.
Children below 14 are barred by Mexican law from working, while those between 14 to 16 may work in jobs that would not risk their development.
However, the practice of child labor happens not only in Mexico, but even crosses borders. According to the Mexican Labor Secretariat, 20 percent of Mexican migrant farmworkers, mainly in the U.S., are youth under 15 who sacrifice education and health.
But despite the danger, many young Mexican are willing to forsake school and ignore their health to seek a better life by working early, whether in Mexico or outside the country.
Mexico has no exclusive franchise on child labor. According to United Nations data cited by USA Today, 132 million children from different countries work in farms.
Teresa Rojas, a professor at Mexico's National Teachers' University, pointed out to USA Today it is difficult for states to enforce the prohibition on employment of children because most of the time the children's names are not on the farm's payroll. |
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