DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

In 1998, the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that 14 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 14 in the Dominican Republic were working.⁵⁰¹ Preliminary results from a national child labor survey conducted in the Dominican Republic in 2000 indicated that 18 percent (443,000) of children between the ages of 5 and 17 worked.⁵⁰²

Children work in the informal economy, in agriculture, such as on sugar plantations, in small businesses, and in clandestine factories, where working conditions are often poor, unsanitary, and dangerous.⁵⁰³ In the sugarcane sector, many parents bring their children to work, where they may perform a variety of tasks, including the application of fertilizers. Many of these workers are Dominican-born Haitians.⁵⁰⁴ Children born in Haiti are also found working on sugarcane farms in the Dominican Republic, particularly in the Barahona province.⁵⁰⁵ Labor inspectors often do not record when Haitian children are found working, since they are not considered part of the Dominican workforce.⁵⁰⁶

Homeless children are particularly vulnerable to being exploited. Some adults, known as palomas , place the children into gangs or put them to work begging and selling goods on the street, in some cases in return for shelter.⁵⁰⁷

In some instances, poor Dominican and Haitian parents arrange for wealthier Dominican families to adopt their children, in exchange for money or goods. These children may be expected to work in households or businesses. In some cases, this type of work may be a kind of bonded labor. Some children, especially girls, may be trafficked for the purpose of prostitution.⁵⁰⁸

An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 children in the Dominican Republic are involved in prostitution.⁵⁰⁹ Needy adolescents may be enticed into performing sexual acts by the promise of money, food, or clothing, and then be held against their will by individuals who sell their sexual favors to others. Some of these minors are reportedly lured from their homes, while others are already living on the streets, due to their families’ inability to provide for them.⁵¹⁰ According to a study sponsored by UNICEF and the National Planning Office, 75 percent of minors involved in prostitution work in brothels, discos, restaurants, and hotels.⁵¹¹ The tourism industry, according to some accounts, has facilitated the sexual exploitation of children. Reportedly, tours are marketed overseas emphasizing the availability of boys and girls as sex partners. Children are affected by this problem in urban areas, as well as in tourist locations throughout the country.⁵¹²

Trafficking of women and children is a problem in the Dominican Republic. The Directorate of Migration has estimated that there are approximately 400 rings operating within the country who profit by facilitating the trafficking of persons for the purposes of prostitution to countries such as Spain, the Netherlands, and Argentina.⁵¹³

In 1996, the primary net attendance rate was 71.4 percent,⁵¹⁴ and the primary net enrollment rate was 86.9 percent.⁵¹⁵ In 1999, 80 percent of children reached grade five.⁵¹⁶ This statistic does not include children who do not possess a birth certificate, or approximately 24 percent of all children in the Dominican Republic. Children without a birth certificate often cannot register in the school system, although some children are permitted to enroll in school on an informal basis as approved by each individual school.⁵¹⁷

The 1996 Demography and Health survey revealed that of children ages 7 to 14, only 46.3 percent attended school without being involved in economic activity. The remaining 53.7 percent of children either did not attend school or combined school with work.⁵¹⁸

The absence of educational opportunities in the implementation area of the project is one of the factors responsible for the entry of children into the labor market. Other factors include families’ lack of financial means to buy uniforms and books; the lack of facilities; the absenteeism of teachers; and the lack of birth certificates required for school enrollment.⁵¹⁹ According to reports, the training of teachers in the country is poor, and the performance of teachers is not monitored.⁵²⁰

The Labor Code prohibits the employment of children under 14 years of age and places restrictions on the employment of children between the ages of 14 and 16.⁵²¹ Children in this age group may only work with medical certification and not to an excess of six hours per day. Children under 14 may only work with parental consent, or the consent of their tutor.⁵²² Children have the right to be paid at a rate equal to that of adult workers, and they are restricted from performing night work, overtime, ambulatory work, or work in dangerous places.⁵²³ Children between the ages of 14 and 16 are allowed to work in apprenticeship and artistic programs.⁵²⁴ Article 254 of the Labor Code requires employers of minors to make special provisions for workers that may be able to continue their schooling and attend professional training schools.⁵²⁵ The law also prohibits forced or bonded labor by children.⁵²⁶

In 1997, the Government of the Dominican Republic placed a new restriction on agricultural laborers entering the country, prohibiting them from bringing their spouses or children. This action affected mainly migrant workers from Haiti. Employers are required to repatriate employees and families who violate this law or face prosecution themselves.⁵²⁷

Several laws in the Dominican Republic prohibit trafficking in persons. An alien smuggling law, issued in August 1998, increased the penalties for those found guilty of various types of trafficking in persons. Civil and criminal laws dealing with domestic violence and the Minor’s Code protect against the traffic in persons, whether children or adults. Laws also prohibit individuals from acting as intermediaries in prostitution transactions, and the government has used this law to prosecute third parties who derive profit from prostitution.⁵²⁸

Child prostitution is defined as a crime in the Law Against Family Violence and in the Minor’s Code.⁵²⁹ Child pornography is also a criminal offense under the Minor’s Code.⁵³⁰ According to reports from community organizations, however, in many cases children who are the victims of sexual exploitation are the ones seized by police, while the perpetrator of the crimes go untouched, allegedly due to a lack of evidence.⁵³¹

The executive branch of the government established an Oversight Organization for the Protection of Children to coordinate the approaches of various agencies involved in combating the trafficking of children, including the Attorney General’s office, the Public Health Ministry, and the Migration office. The Department of Family and Children focuses on identifying children who are victims of abuse of any kind and prosecutes offenders under the heightened penalties contained in the domestic violence law.⁵³² A primary concern of the Oversight Organization has been to prevent the use of the child adoption process by those who intend exploit children through prostitution or child pornography. The Department of Family and Children has also been concerned with kidnappings, especially of infants. Some kidnapped children have allegedly been sold to foreigners. Government officials have made foreign adoptions much more difficult, with the hopes of deterring would-be traffickers.⁵³³

Currently, the Government of the Dominican Republic has approximately 232 labor inspectors charged with enforcement of the minimum wage, child labor laws, and health and safety legislation. The Ministry of Labor has taken employers in violation of the law to court.⁵³⁴

The Dominican Republic ratified ILO Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age for Employment on June 15, 1999, and ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor on November 15, 2000.⁵³⁵

4. Addressing Child Labor and Promoting Schooling

The Dominican Republic became a member of the International Labor Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) in 1997.⁵³⁶ The Government of the Dominican Republic committed to set aside RD$3 million (US$187,481) in 2001 to execute programs to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.⁵³⁷ The first lady of the Dominican Republic formed a task force to eliminate the worst forms of child labor throughout the country.⁵³⁸

In 1999, IPEC and UNICEF conducted a joint training of 160 labor inspectors.⁵³⁹ The Ministry of Labor, with the support of UNICEF, also held seven workshops on the legal aspects of child labor for its inspectors.⁵⁴⁰ In collaboration with labor inspectors, UNICEF plans to conduct a small survey in selected agricultural areas to assess the extent of child labor.⁵⁴¹

In 1999, the Ministry of Labor took steps to increase public awareness of child labor laws, including through dissemination of brochures at regional meetings with employers, and the airing of a video entitled “El Menor en el Trabajo.”⁵⁴²

In December 1998, a successful, 2-year pilot project was launched for the elimination and prevention of child labor in the municipality of Constanza. Developed as an ILO-IPEC action program and funded by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), collaboration was fostered among the Ministry of Labor, a local nongovernmental organization (NGO), farm workers, growers, and schools that yielded encouraging results. The project exceeded expectations with the removal of over 460 children from high-risk agricultural work activities.⁵⁴³

The Dominican Republic is participating in an ILO-IPEC regional project funded by the USDOL to combat child labor in the coffee sector. This project targets 6,000 children, adolescents, and their families.⁵⁴⁴ The Dominican Republic is also participating in a project called, Prevention and Elimination of Child Labor in Tomato Production. This project aims to remove at least 900 children from work and prevent an additional 6,500 children from entering work. In addition, at least 300 families of the removed children will be provided with alternative income support. The Dominican Republic anticipates to be participating in a regional project to eliminate commercial sexual exploitation of children.⁵⁴⁵ Preparatory work has begun in support of a comprehensive, national Time-Bound Program to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in the Dominican Republic.⁵⁴⁶

The National Survey on Child Labor in the Dominican Republic, developed by the ILO- IPEC Statistical Information Monitoring Program on Child Labor (SIMPOC) and funded by the USDOL, was conducted in late 2000.⁵⁴⁷

The 1994 Minor’s Code requires eight years of formal education.⁵⁴⁸ The Government of the Dominican Republic is currently developing a 10-year education plan, to be implemented from 2002-2011. This plan is expected to focus on improving the quality of education, the formation of teachers, an improvement of didactic materials, and improving the evaluation system.⁵⁴⁹

In 1995, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the World Bank funded a US$100 million Basic Education Improvement Program to improve monitoring and evaluation of the education sector and improve student assessment methodologies and teacher training. The program also sought to improve physical infrastructure by maintaining schools and educational materials, and providing access to private education for low-income students. Other components of this program included improving services and lowering associated costs of education and improving the facilities and technology available to all students.⁵⁵⁰

The government has launched a Poverty Eradication Plan that includes specific provisions in support of education for children. In addition to providing a monthly grant of US$18 per family to the country’s poorest families, this plan provides the children who are enrolled in school with uniforms, books and a school breakfast.⁵⁵¹ In 1997, public spending on education as a percentage of GNP was approximately 2.3 percent.⁵⁵²

The following bar chart presents selected government expenditures expressed as a percentage of GNP. The chart considers government expenditures on education, the military, health care, and debt service. Where figures are available, the portion of government spending on education that is specifically dedicated to primary education is also shown.⁵⁵³

While it is difficult to draw conclusions or discern clear correlations between areas of government expenditure as a percentage of GNP and the incidence of child labor in a country, this chart and the related tables presented in Appendix B (Tables 14 through 19) offer the reader a basis for considering the relative emphasis placed on each spending area by the governments in each of the 33 countries profiled in the report.

⁵⁰¹ World Bank, World Development Indicators 2000 [CD-ROM], Washington, D.C., 2000 [hereinafter World Development Indicators 2000 ].

⁵⁰² International Labor Organization, International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC), Preparatory, project document, Activities for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Dominican Republic (Geneva: ILO-IPEC, September 2001), 1 [hereinafter Activities for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor ].

⁵⁰³ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 1999), Section 6d (www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1999_hrp_report/domrepub.html) [hereinafter Country Reports 1999 — Dominican Republic ]. See also Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2000 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 2000), Section 6d.

Interview with Jacobo Ramos, Zona Franca, FENATRAZONA (San Pedro de Macorís), by U.S. Department of Labor official , August 28, 2000.

⁵⁰⁴ Interview with Gabriel Antonio de Río, Confederación Autónoma Sindical Clasista (CASC), by U.S. Department of Labor official, August 29, 2000.

⁵⁰⁵ Interview with Agustin Vargas-Saillant, Domingo Jimenez, and Rufino Alvarez, Unitary Confederation of Workers (CTU and Futrazona), Dominican Republic, by U.S. Department of Labor official, August 29, 2000.

⁵⁰⁶ Interview with María Elena Asaud, UNICEF, by U.S. Department of Labor official, August 29, 2000.

⁵⁰⁷ Country Reports 1999—Dominican Republic at Section 5.

⁵⁰⁸ Country Reports 1999—Dominican Republic at 6c.

⁵⁰⁹ World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation, August 1996, and Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities 1999, as cited in “Worst Forms of Child Labor Data: Dominican Republic,” The Global March Against Child Labor (www.globalmarch.org/worstformofchild labour/dominican-republic.html). Another source cites a figure of 25,000 boys, girls, and adolescents working in the country’s commercial sex sector. See Mercedes González, “La explotación sexual y laboral de niños,” El Siglo, August 20, 2000 [hereinafter “La explotación sexual y laboral de niños”].

⁵¹⁰ Country Reports 1999—Dominican Republic at 5.

⁵¹¹ The government is also concerned that some individuals traveling to the Dominican Republic to adopt children may actually intend to use the children in the production of pornography or in the sex trade. See “La explotación sexual y laboral de niños.”

⁵¹² Ibid. See also Country Reports 1999 – Dominican Republic at 5.

⁵¹³ Country Reports 1999—Dominican Republic at 5, 6f .

⁵¹⁴ USAID, GED 2000: Global Education Database [CD-ROM], Washington, D.C., 2000.

⁵¹⁵ World Development Indicators 2000 .

⁵¹⁶ Activities for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor.

⁵¹⁷ Ibid.

⁵¹⁸ Ibid.

⁵¹⁹ Ibid.

⁵²⁰ U.S. Embassy-Santo Domingo, unclassified telegram no. 001782, April 25, 2001 [hereinafter unclassified telegram 001782].

⁵²¹ Código de Trabajo de la República Dominicana 1999 [hereinafter Código de Trabajo], Articulos 245-254.

⁵²² Ibid. Articulos 17, 247, 248. Permission is required from both the child’s mother and father; if this is not possible, authorization can be gained from the child’s tutor. If there is no tutor, authorization can be granted by a judge from the child’s area of residence. This permission only applies to work in public events, radio television, or in acting.

⁵²³ Ibid. Articulos 244, 246, 249, 251.

⁵²⁴ Country Reports 1999—Dominican Republic at Section 6d.

⁵²⁵ Código de Trabajo at Article 254.

⁵²⁶ Country Reports 1999—Dominican Republic at Section 6d.

⁵²⁷ U.S. Embassy-Santo Domingo, unclassified telegram no. 002499, June 26, 2000 [hereinafter unclassified telegram 002499].

⁵²⁸ Under the Minor’s Code, “adolescent” is defined as a child between the ages of 13 and 18, and the age of sexual consent is defined as 18. See Country Reports 1999 – Dominican Republic at 6f.

⁵²⁹ U.S. Embassy-Santo Domingo, unclassified telegram no. 003141, August 8, 2000 [hereinafter unclassified telegram 003141].

⁵³⁰ Ibid.

⁵³¹ “La explotación sexual y laboral de niños.”

⁵³² Country Reports 1999—Dominican Republic at 6f.

⁵³³ Ibid.

⁵³⁴ Unclassified telegram 002499.

⁵³⁵ For a list of which countries profiled in Chapter 3 have ratified ILO Conventions No. 138 and No. 182, see Appendix C.

⁵³⁶ “La explotación sexual y laboral de niños.”

⁵³⁷ Mercedes González, “Gobierno aportara recursos para eliminar trabajo infantil,” El Siglo, November 11, 2000.

⁵³⁸ E-mail from Cesar Peña, ILO national program manager, to U.S. Department of Labor official, October 20, 2000.

⁵³⁹ Interview with María Elena Asaud, UNICEF, by U.S. Department of Labor official, August 29, 2000 [hereinafter Asaud interview].

⁵⁴⁰ Unclassified telegram 002499.

⁵⁴¹ Asaud interview.

⁵⁴² Unclassified telegram 002499.

⁵⁴³ IPEC, Combating Child Labour in High-Risk Agriculture Activities in Constanza, progress report (Geneva: ILO- IPEC, March 2001) [hereinafter Combating Child Labour in High-Risk Agriculture Activities ], 7.

⁵⁴⁴ IPEC, Prevention and Progressive Elimination of Child Labor in the Coffee Industry in the Dominican Republic , Project Document, (Geneva: ILO-IPEC, November 1999).

⁵⁴⁵ ILO-IPEC, Contribution ot the Prevention and Elimination of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children , Draft Project Document, (Geneva: ILO-IPEC, December 2001), 5.

⁵⁴⁶ Activities for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor .

⁵⁴⁷ IPEC, SIMPOC, progress report (Geneva: ILO-IPEC, March 2001). Data processing is ongoing. Results from the survey should be available in 2002.

⁵⁴⁸ Country Reports 1999—Dominican Republic at 6d.

⁵⁴⁹ Unclassified telegram 001782.

⁵⁵⁰ Inter-American Development Bank, Basic Education Improvement Program (www.iadb.org/exr/PRENSA/ 1995/cp23695e.htm), September 28, 2001.

⁵⁵¹ Combating Child Labour in High-Risk Agriculture Activities.

⁵⁵² World Development Indicators 2000.

⁵⁵³ See Chapter 1, Section C, 5, for a fuller discussion of the information presented in the box. See also Appendix B for further discussion, and Tables 14 through 19 for figures on government expenditure over a range of years.