February 2001

To the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions:

We are deeply concerned about exploitative child labor, and particularly, the hundreds of thousands of children who work as hired farm laborers in the United States.

These children often begin working by age twelve or thirteen. They routinely work twelve-hour days, sometimes for as little as $2 an hour. They risk serious illness, including cancer and brain damage, from exposure to pesticides, and suffer fatalities at five times the rate of children working in other jobs. Long hours and exhausting work cause many to drop out of school; only 55% ever graduate from high school.

We're appalled that current child labor laws allow child farmworkers to work at younger ages, for longer hours, and under more hazardous conditions than kids working in other jobs. We urge you to give your full support to the Children's Act for Responsible Employment (CARE Act), which toughens penalties for child labor violations and amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to protect all working children equally.

Please help protect the health and future of all America's children.

Name Address

Please return signed copies to our office no later than May 5, 2001.
Human Rights Watch staff in Washington D.C. will personally present the petitions at a May 10 Capitol Hill Forum on child labor. Mail completed petitions to:

Children's Rights Division
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10118-3299