Dominican Republic still uses child labor, U.S. report

Santo Domingo.- The United States included Dominican Republic in its 2011 report on countries that use child manpower in manufacturing including forced labor, together with Ecuador, El Salvador and Paraguay.

U.S. Labor secretary Hilda Solis disclosed the list in Washington on Monday, the AP reports, which also reveals on the worse forms of child labor, including specific descriptions on 140 countries and for the first time, a section on the most dangerous work involving minors.

The study also notes that Brazil is the Latin American country with most products made with child labor (13), including two involving forced labor. Mexico and Argentina are cited with 11 each, Bolivia with nine (including five with forced work) and Colombia with eight, including one product with forced labor.

Rounding out the alleged culprits are Nicaragua (7); Peru (6-including 3 articles with forced labor), and Guatemala, six.

The annual report mentions neither penalties nor aims to cite the countries where an estimated 215 million children work in factories and mines.