Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports

Dominican Republic

Baked Goods
Baked Goods
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Coffee
Coffee
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Rice
Rice
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Sugarcane
Sugarcane
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Forced Labor Icon
Tomatoes
Tomatoes
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Dominican Republic
2021 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor:

Moderate Advancement

In 2021, the Dominican Republic made moderate advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The Directorate of Policies for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor hired 23 child labor specialists to work in the offices of the Local Labor Representations in the interior of the country. The Dominican Municipal League, the Dominican Federation of Municipalities, and the Ministry of Labor also undertook a new inter-institutional cooperation agreement to develop awareness and training programs for municipal government personnel to integrate local governments in efforts to address child labor throughout the country. In addition, the government prepared a labor inspection manual to provide guidance to labor inspectors on the actions they should take while carrying out labor inspections. However, children in the Dominican Republic are subjected to the worst forms of child labor, including in commercial sexual exploitation, sometimes as a result of human trafficking. Children also perform dangerous tasks in agriculture. Other gaps remain, including limited human and financial resources for the enforcement of child labor laws, including a lack of a sufficient number of labor inspectors and criminal investigators, and adequate facilities, transportation, and fuel. Labor inspectors also lack the authority to assess penalties for labor law violations, including those related to child labor.

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