VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #2697/01 3411852
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071852Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9759
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0382
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 002697 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR DRL/IL TDANG, WHA/CAR CWARD 
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR FOR DOL/ILAB TMCCARTER, 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI USAID DR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - UPDATE ON WORST FORMS OF 
CHILD LABOR 
 
REF: STATE 149662 
 
¶1. As requested Reftel, following is an update on host 
government efforts in combating the worst forms of child 
labor (WFCL). 
 
Laws and Regulations Proscribing WFCL 
------------------------------------- 
¶2. The law prohibits employment of children younger than 14 
and places restrictions on employment of children under age 
¶16. Regulations limit working hours of those between the ages 
of 14 and 16, prohibit employment of those under the age of 
18 in hazardous occupations, in establishments serving 
alcohol, and limit nighttime work.  Labor code Article 245 
sets the country's minimum age of employment. 
 
¶3. Article 25 of the Labor Code prohibits forced labor, child 
prostitution and child pornography. The government passed an 
additional law this year criminalizing the electronic 
dissemination, sale, and/or purchase of child pornography. 
The minimum age to join the military is 16 years old. 
 
¶4.  The country ratified Convention 182.  The government 
passed resolution 52-2004 that lists occupations that are 
considered to be the worst forms of child labor. 
 
 
Regulations for implementation and enforcement 
--------------------------------------------- - 
¶5. Fines and legal sanctions may be applied to firms 
employing underage children. While the government effectively 
enforces these regulations in the formal sector, regulations 
have proved inadequate in deterring child labor in the 
informal sector which lies beyond regulatory reach. 
Complaints are investigated by Secretariat of Labor (SET) 
inspectors.  The SET employed 191 labor inspectors this year 
compared to 146 labor inspectors in 2006.  According to the 
Secretariat's statistics, they conducted roughly 69,000 total 
 
SIPDIS 
inspections as of November.  These routine labor inspections 
included examination of work sites for indications of child 
labor.  These inspections resulted in 10 findings of child 
labor violations, down from 15 the previous year. The 
Secretariat offered training for its inspectors to 
 
SIPDIS 
standardize criteria regarding child labor.  They also 
offered, in collaboration with the International Labor 
Organization - International Plan to Eliminate Child labor 
(ILO-IPEC), a workshop for labor inspectors in San Juan de la 
Maguana about child labor. 
 
 
Social programs to prevent/withdraw children from the WFCL 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶6. The government is collaborating with ILO-IPEC to implement 
the time-bound Program to Eradicate the Worst Forms of Child 
Labor.  Phase Two of the program, budgeted at 25 million 
pesos (approximately $750,000 USD) and targeting over 5,000 
at risk youth, began December 3.  Efforts will be focused in 
greater Santo Domingo, the neighboring province of San 
Cristobal, the southeast provinces of Azua, San Juan de la 
Maguana, and Barahona, and the province of Santiago. 
Additionally, DevTech Systems will lead an association of 
nine NGOs and the Ministries of Youth, Education and Labor in 
a program to combat the worst forms of child labor.  The 
program, entitled "Education/Youth Employment Public Private 
Partnerships," budgets nearly $5,000,000 USD over four years 
and targets roughly 8,500 children aged 6 to 17 that DevTech 
estimates are at risk for or involved in exploitative labor. 
Efforts will be directed toward the agricultural sector (on 
the Haitian border, in the South, East and Northeast Cibao 
region) and the urban informal sector, as well as toward 
those children employed as domestic workers and those engaged 
in or at risk for illicit work (e.g., drug trafficking, 
sexual exploitation) in San Francisco de Macoris, Santo 
Domingo, Santiago, Puerto Plata, and the tourist and beach 
areas of Samana, Las Terrenas, Boca Chica and the Eastern 
coast. 
 
 
Comprehensive Policy to Eliminate worst forms of child labor 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
¶7. Last year the National Steering Committee against Child 
Labor implemented a National Strategic Plan to Eliminate the 
Worst Forms of Child Labor.  The Plan sets objectives, 
identifies priorities, and assigns responsibilities so that 
the number of child laborers in exploitative environments can 
 
be significantly reduced by 2016.  It creates municipal and 
provincial committees throughout the country tasked with 
developing strategies and initiatives to combat child labor 
locally.  As part of the Plan, the country's Agricultural 
Bank has included a clause in its standard contract 
forbidding loan recipients from using child labor in their 
fields. 
 
¶8. Education is free, universal, and in theory compulsory for 
all minors through the eighth grade.  Although the Ministry 
of Education reported a 97 percent enrollment rate in grades 
one through eight in 2004, a government study estimated that 
the average grade level achieved by children in public 
schools was the fifth grade in rural areas and the sixth 
grade in urban areas. 
 
Is the country making progress toward eliminating the WFCL? 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶9. Yes.  The Dominican Government continues to work actively 
with non-governmental organizations like the ILO and 
contractor DevTech Systems to identify child laborers and 
remove them from exploitative environments.  The government 
works actively with civil society and with the media to 
develop and implement prevention campaigns targeting the 
country's youth.  One concern, however, is the large number 
of children without documentation.  The Central Electoral 
Board (JCE) estimates that as much as twenty percent of the 
general population are undocumented. Children lacking 
documentation can legally attend school only through the 
fifth grade. 
 
¶10. As last year's Report notes, there has not been a 
comprehensive, focused study on the number of child laborers 
in the Dominican Republic since 2000.  The Central Bank 
statistics department has semi-annual reports available in 
the following links. 
 
http://www.bancentral.gov.do/estadisticas.asp 
?a=Mercado de Trabajo 
http://www.bancentral.gov.do/cgibin/RpWebEngi ne.exe 
/PortalAction?&MODE=MAIN&BASE= 
ENFTNUEVO&MAIN=WebServerMain.inl 
 
¶11. According to the 2000 National Survey of the Labor Force 
(ENTI) 41 percent of working children can be found in 
services, followed by trade (21), agriculture (19), 
manufacturing industries (11) and other (8).  Post has not 
encountered cases of children working in slavery, practices 
similar to slavery, debt bondage, serfdom or forced 
compulsory labor.  Government officials and non-governmental 
organizations state that minors are likely trafficked 
internally for sexual exploitation, but neither the 
government nor NGOs have been able to demonstrate concrete 
cases of trafficking. 
GOUGHNOUR