| Total
Child Labour |
NATIONAL STATISTICS
* For the year 2000, the ILO projects that
there will be 122,000 economically active children, 20,000 girls
and 102,000 boys between the ages of 10-14, representing 13.22%
of this age group.
(ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
* 97,661 children between
10-14 years, and 325,503 between 15-19 years are economically active. (ILO,
Yearbook of Labour Statistics, 1999)
* According to
the World Bank, 13% of children between the ages of 7-14 do not
attend class because they work outside the home or stay home doing
house chores. Approximately 11% work and go to school at the same
time, which means that for one-fourth of the population of minors
it is impossible to continue the education they need to become more
skilled.
(Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Country Report:
Dominican Republic, 1999)
* The ILO estimated in
August 1997 that 169,000 children between the ages of 7-14 held jobs. (US
Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998)
* In 1995, there
were 137,000 economically active children between the ages of 10-14,
representing 16.06% of this age group. Of these, 20,000 were girls
and 117,000 were boys. (ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
*
According to the National Population Census of 1993, the economically active
population between 10-14 years numbered 89,966, which represents 10.73%
of this age group. Out of these, 33.5% were involved in agriculture, community,
social and personal services, and 21.6% in the commercial sector, hotels
and restaurants. (ILO-IPEC, El trabajo infantil
en America Latina - CD-ROM, August 1999)
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Tens of thousands of
children begin working before the age of 14. Child labour takes place primarily
in the informal economy, agriculture, small businesses, clandestine factories,
and prostitution. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* The county's nine
Export Processing Zones are significant employers of underage workers,
particularly young girls. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
-
|
| Child
Slavery |
GENERAL NOTES AND
OBSERVATIONS
* The Lawyers' Committee
for Human Rights stated in 1991 that the Dominican government actively
encourages forced labour by children on sugar plantations.
(EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
|
| Child
Trafficking |
ADULT STATISTICS
* The Dominican
Republic is a significant source country. It is reported that there
are 50,000 women from the Dominican Republic overseas in the sex
industry. This is the fourth highest number in the world, after
Thailand, Brazil and the Philippines. (ECPAT,
CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
* An international
trafficking network was broken up in Spain and 15 people arrested for allegedly
trafficking dozens of women from the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Columbia,
Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria to Spain, forcing them into prostitution.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing "Spanish Prostitution Ring Busted", AP, 18 April 1998)
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
*
The Dominican Republic is primarily a source country for trafficked
women and, less frequently, for minor girls. (US
Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)
* The main concentrations of prostituted Dominican women working
abroad are in Austria, Spain, Germany, Greece, Haiti, Italy, the
Netherlands, and Panama. (ECPAT,
CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
* According to COIN, a NGO, women typically between the ages of
18 and 25, and girls as young as age 15, are trafficked for purposes
of sexual exploitation and domestic servitude to Europe (Italy,
Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Greece, and Belgium), the Lesser
Antilles (Caracas, Saint Martin, Aruba, and Antigua), and, in some
cases, to Argentina and Israel. (US
Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001 citing
Center for Integral Orientation and Investigation)
*
The Directorate of Migration estimates that there are approximately 400
rings of alien smugglers and purveyors of false documents operating within
the country. These individuals profit by facilitating the trafficking of
women to Spain, Netherlands, and Argentina under false pretenses, for purposes
of prostitution. The government also is concerned that some individuals
coming to the country ostensibly to adopt children, may actually intend
to use the children in the production of pornography or in the sex trade.
(US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* The main concentrations
of prostituted Dominican women working abroad are in Austria, Curacao, Germany,
Greece, Haiti, Italy, the Netherlands, Panama, Puerto Rico, Spain, Switzerland,
Venezuela and the West Indies. (CATW
Fact Book, citing "Trafficking in Women from the Dominican Republic for
Sexual Exploitation", IOM, June 1996)
* The second largest
migrant group of women in prostitution in Germany is from Latin America,
mostly from the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil.
Dominican women are confined to apartments, while those from Ecuador work
in the street, or in bars and cabarets. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Licia Brussa, "Transnational AIDS Prevention Among Migrant
Prostitutes in Europe", TAMPEP, 1996)
* Girls are often
trafficked by being lured into marriages under false pretenses, and are
the sold into prostitution by the 'husband'. (ECPAT
International)
|
| Child
Prostitution and
Pornography |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
* It is estimated, for
example, that there are over 25,000 minors involved in prostitution in the
Dominican Republic. (ECPAT
International, A Step Forward, 1999)
* There are approximately
30,000 child prostitutes. (ILO-IPEC,
Mainstreaming Gender in IPEC Activities, 1999)
*
25,455 children were engaged in prostitution. The main age group was between
12-17 years, of which 64% were girls and 36% were boys.
(International Save the Children Alliance,
Children's Rights: Reality or Rhetoric?, 1999, citing a UNICEF survey carried
out in 1992)
ADULT
STATISTICS
*
There are 50,000 women from the Dominican Republic overseas in the sex
industry - the fourth highest number in the world, after Thailand, Brazil
and the Philippines. (ECPAT
International)
GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
*
The country has a large sex industry that serves both local clientele
and foreign visitors. The authors of the 1991 study by UNICEF and
ONAPLAN called this phenomenon ""neo-prostitution'"
because it occurs on moving from place to place basis, primarily
in the 12 to 17 age range. (ECPAT,
CSEC Database, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp)
*
The Directorate of Migration estimates that there are approximately 400
rings of alien smugglers and purveyors of false documents operating within
the country. These individuals profit by facilitating the trafficking of
women to Spain, Netherlands, and Argentina under false pretenses, for purposes
of prostitution. The government also is concerned that some individuals
coming to the country ostensibly to adopt children, may actually intend
to use the children in the production of pornography or in the sex trade.
(US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Sexual exploitation
of children in the tourism industry is common. Tours are marketed overseas
with the understanding that boys and girls can be found as sex partners.
(US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* The Dominican Republic
has a well-documented child sex trade with a thriving sex tourism sector.
(June Kane, Sold for Sex, Aren Ashgate Publising Limited Gower House, 1998)
* Girls are often
trafficked by being lured into marriages under false pretenses and are
the sold into prostitution by the 'husband'. (ECPAT
International)
|
| Children
in Crime |
GENERAL JUVENILE
CRIME STATISTICS
* 1,479 crimes
involving children were reported.
(International
Save the Children Alliance, Children's Rights: Reality or Rhetoric?,
1999)
|
| Child
Soldiers |
RECRUITMENT
LAWS AND REGULATIONS
* There are
no indications of under-18s in government armed forces. National
legislation provides for the special protection of children at times
of war. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001)
* The minimum age
for conscription is 18 years. (Guy Goodwin-Gill and Ilene Cohn, Child Soldiers, The Role of Children in Armed Conflicts, A Study on Behalf of the Henry Dunant Institute, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1994)
|
| Domestic
Child Servants |
- |
Other
Hazardous
Child Labour |
GENERAL NOTES AND
OBSERVATIONS
* Child workers are
found in the fire-works industry and in sugar plantations.
(EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
|
|
