NCJ Number
195178
Date Published
April 2002
Length
149 pages
Annotation
In May 2001, Human Rights Watch conducted a 3-week fact-finding mission in Quito and the Guayas and El Oro Provinces in Ecuador to investigate child labor and obstacles to freedom of association in the banana sector; this is the report from this mission.
Abstract
During the investigation, Human Rights Watch spoke with 70 current and former banana workers, adults, and children. Also interviewed were 45 children who had worked or were working on banana plantations in Ecuador. Forty-one of them began in the banana sector between the ages of 8 and 13, most starting at ages 10 or 11. They described work days of 12 hours on average and hazardous conditions that violated their human rights, including dangerous tasks that were detrimental to their physical and psychological well-being. The children reported being exposed to pesticides, using sharp tools, hauling heavy loads of bananas from the fields to the packing plants, lacking potable water and restroom facilities, and experiencing sexual harassment. Fewer than 40 percent of these children were still in school at age 14. If applied, Ecuadorian laws that govern child labor could go a long way toward protecting the human rights of these children. If implemented, the laws could also prevent children from engaging in employment likely to interfere with their right to education. The Ministry of Labor and Human Resources, along with the juvenile courts -- from which employers must obtain authorization prior to hiring any child under 14 -- have failed to fulfill their legally mandated responsibility to enforce domestic laws that govern child labor; and the other government entities responsible for addressing children's issues do not include child banana workers in the scope of their activities. The result is an almost complete breakdown of the government bureaucracy that is responsible for enforcing child labor laws and preventing the worst forms of child labor in Ecuador's banana sector. In contrast to child labor legislation, Ecuadorian law intended to protect workers' right to freedom of association and to form and join trade unions, even if enforced, is inadequate and fails to deter employers from retaliating against workers for organizing. This report offers recommendations that address corporate responsibility (banana exporting corporations) and government obligations. Human Rights Watch urges banana-exporting corporations to demand and monitor respect for labor rights on their supplier facilities. It also calls on Ecuador to protect the right to freedom of association and to eliminate harmful child labor through the enforcement and strengthening of its labor laws. 387 notes and appended detailed methodology, Human Rights Watch letters to corporations and response letters from corporations