The Dominican Judicial Branch held the Symposium "Child Labor and its Worst Forms: Advances and Institutional Challenges for its Eradication". with the aim of sensitizing the different actors involved in the legal, political and social work, in order to address this problem and provide tools for its elimination.
The activity was carried out through the Inclusive Justice Department of the Judiciary and in coordination with the National School of the Judiciary, as part of the commemoration of June 12, World Day against Child Labor.
The symposium included two panels, the first one: Progress and challenges to eradicate child labor in the Dominican Republic. and the second: Good practices on child labor and its worst forms.The participants were: Kenya Romero, coordinating judge of the Instruction Courts of the National District and María Luisa Ramírez Santana, prosecutor of Santo Domingo East; Mayrenis Corniel García, vice minister of Labor; Natalia Asmar, senior manager of the International Justice Mission (IJM) in the Dominican Republic and Johnny Bidó, manager of Advocacy and External Relations of World Vision, who also participated in the symposium. World Vision in the country.
Mr. Johnny Bidó, Manager of Advocacy and External Relations for World Vision Dominican Republic, who participated in the panel "Good practices on child labor and its worst forms" reported that 132 minors were rescued from child labor between 2000 to 2018. She also expressed that during the Covid-19 pandemic, 36% of adolescents between 12 to 15 years old were working and had dropped out of school.
Judge Romero cited among the worst forms of child labor the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, recruitment for illicit activities or activities that endanger their health. She also stated that minors have the right to live in an environment free of violence.
Among Among the challenges to eradicate this practice, he cited educational efforts to ensure that child labor and its worst forms are not made invisible, to strengthen existing policies with the concrete actions of the protection system, and to strengthen the scope of action of local authorities to make prevention more effective.
The María Luisa explained that in most cases the minor does not understand the mistreatment and exploitation he/she is receiving, and advocated for a more preventive work to avoid reaching the prosecution stage, in which the child or adolescent is already broken. Likewise, the magistrate urged to report cases of child abuse in its worst forms, arguing that the more information one has, the smaller the impunity gap.
Meanwhile, Mayrenis Corniel García, Vice Minister of Labor, reviewed the labor regulations and international conventions that prohibit child labor, and defined this practice as any activity that a child or adolescent performs that prevents him/her from attending school and fully enjoying his/her rights.
Among the progress made in the elimination of child labor are: the report submitted by the United States government in which it states that the country has shown improvements in this area, the certification of companies free of child labor, the training of 22 technicians in this area, and the Ministry of Labor has sensitized 172 people to the problem. people minors of They were referred to educational, recreational and cultural activities, among other initiatives.
Natalia Asmar said that the most important thing is the awareness campaigns to make people aware of child labor in its worst forms and to make them understand that it is a crime.
Rosa Iris Linares, Director of Inclusive Justice of the PJ, was in charge of the welcoming remarks at the symposium. She informed that from the role they play, they are called to generate spaces for socialization and coordination, within the framework of compliance with the rights of children and adolescents, aimed at avoiding risk factors and increasing protection policies and guarantees of rights of this segment of the population.
