Child labor in Ecuador

By: Patrick Baer, Sam Davis, and Allison Moshier

Overview:

Child labor is common in Ecuador. This includes child prostitution, slavery, and soldiers. This is due to the economic struggles that occur in Ecuador.

Facts:

~An estimated 1.2 million children work in the informal sector, mostly as street vendors.

~1.6 million children are forced to work for a living.

~Children are being trafficked form Ecuador to Venezuela.

~Girls were smuggled from small villages in Ecuador to “stash houses” in Los Angeles.

~Immigrants from Ecaudor stolen from homes and smuggled illegally into the U.S. kept in houses with horrible conditions. Of the 150 immigrants, 98 were from Ecuador.

Child Labor:

~In Latin America, some 42 million children from ages 5 to 14 have been estimated to be working in recent years.

~Alvaro Noboa, is Ecuador's richest man, he owns a famous banana plantation that invovles child labor.

~Child labor is common on plantations, large and small.

~Grim economic realities leave families more than ready to send their boys, and sometimes girls, to work. If it means pulling them out of school.

~"The problem has been made more durable still by the competition that comes with a consolidated global market pressures on bussinesses to be efficient and profitable are often passes on to the world's most vulnerable population, its poorest children." ~Children are forced to work, on average, 18 hours a day.

Child Prostitution:

Sex Tourism- The organization of vacations to take advantage of the lack of restrictions imposed on sex and prostitution by some foreign countries.

~Over 1 million children are exploited in the global sex trade while most often, this constitutes child trafficing, child pornography, and sexual exploration of children.

~Back in 2006 Brazil wanted to reduce the amount of sex tourism by half.

~Brazil admits that due to being one of the countries largest ports, that it is a large opening for sex tourism.

Child Soliders:

In Ecuador, the age to join the military is 17 years of age, so there are no cases of child soliders in Ecuador.

Child Slavery:

• Sex slavery is very common in Ecuador

Girls are smuggled from village in Ecuador to Venezuela. Gulnara Shahinian (important govt. official) stated in a press release, "The government of Ecuador has demonstrated a genuine commitment to the elimination of child labor, including its worst forms, domestic, servitued, forced labor, and debt bondages." It was also stated that although many attempts are made, it is a very difficult task to get the country out of its problem with slavery.

• Children are regularly trafficked to Venezuela where they are forced to work in horrible conditions in positions such as prostitutes, street vendors, or domestic workers. They are kidnapped, or sold by family and taken away. Child prostitutes are sold for $45, and make more than $600 a night. The story of a young girl who was sold into slavery can can be shown in this link:
• http://www.nysun.com/new-york/smuggled-women-modern-slaves-tell-their-tales/13991/

Dangers:

1. Being stolen from ecuador and trafficked into venezuela

2. Working long, and hard hours in horrible conditions

3. Being forced to support families because parents can't find jobs

4. Being underpaid, or not paid at all for their labor

5. Beaten by employees, being underfed, or not fed at all

Prevention:

"In its Global Report on child labour, the ILO has said that the global number of child labourers had declined from 222 million to 215 million, or 3 per cent, over the period 2004 to 2008, representing a 'slowing down of the global pace of reduction.' The report also expressed concern that the global economic crisis could 'further brake' progress toward the goal of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2016."

Work Cited:

~Forero, Juan. "In Ecuador's banana fields, child labor is key to profits." New York Times 13 July 2002: A1. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.

~Jenson-Elliott, Cynthia. "Sweet treats for some." Faces: People, Places, and Cultures Apr. 2006: 30+. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 1 Mar. 2012.

~"Environmental Justice." New York Times 18 July 2002: A20. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 2 Mar. 2012.

http://stopchildslavery.com/

THE END

Child Labor in Ecuador