ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This report is based on research by Michael Bochenek and Zama Coursen-Neff, counsel to the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, and Marla Gonzlez, an attorney with World Vision El Salvador, during a three-week field investigation in the Departments of Ahuachapn, Cabaas, Cuscatln, La Libertad, Sonsonate, San Miguel, San Salvador, Santa Ana, and Usutln in February 2003.Staff of the following area development projects accompanied them and guided them in their research:Los Manantiales (Sonsonate), La Bendicin (San Miguel), Sendero de Esperanza y Tacuba (Ahuachapn), Sinai (Usulutn), El Paraso (Cabaas), and Salem (La Libertad).Katherine Zeisel provided additional research assistance.

Michael Bochenek wrote the report, which was edited by Lois Whitman, executive director of the Children's Rights Division; Carol Pier, labor rights and trade researcher for the Business and Human Rights Program; Wilder Tayler, legal and policy director of Human Rights Watch; Elizabeth Wang; and Iain Levine, program director of Human Rights Watch.Zama Coursen-Neff; Arvind Ganesan, director of the Business and Human Rights Program; Marla Gonzlez; Joanne Mariner, deputy director of the Americas Division; and Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, also reviewed and commented on the manuscript.Mina Kumar designed the map.Fitzroy Hepkins, Andrea Holley, Veronica Matushaj, and Dana Sommers produced the report.Juan Luis Guilln translated the report from English into Spanish.

Human Rights Watch is indebted to the nongovernmental organizations and individuals who assisted us in the course of our field research, among them Yolanda Barrientos, Fundacin Olof Palme; Roberto Burgos, Instituto de Derechos Humanos, Universidad Centroamericana; Comisin de Derechos Humanos; Jorge Escoto, coordinator, Programa Accin para la Niez, Fundacin Olof Palme; Fe y Alegra; Delmy Iglesias, director, Fundacin Olof Palme; Carlos Tito Lpez, Fundacin Olof Palme; Victorio Snchez, CARE El Salvador; Alfredo Vargas, Enclace; and Georgina Villalta, coordinator, Red para la Infancia.We would also like to express our appreciation to Manuel Armando Ortega and Flix Velsquez of the Comit de Reconstruccin y Desarrollo Econmico-Social de Comunidades de Suchitoto;Zoila de Innocenti, Instituto Salvadoreo para el Desarrollo de la Mujer; Ministry of Education; Ministry of Labor;Procuradora para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos; Italo Cardona and Benjamin Smith of the International Labour Organization's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour; and UNICEF.Finally, we would like to thank the children, parents, and teachers we interviewed.All names of children have been changed to protect their privacy.

Human Rights Watch gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the General Service Foundation for the research and writing of this report.

Previous Human Rights Watch reports on child labor

Agriculture

Tainted Harvest:Child Labor and Obstacles to Organizing on Ecuador's Banana Plantations, 2002

http://hrw.org/reports/2002/ecuador/

Underage and Unprotected:Child Labor in Egypt's Cotton Fields, 2001

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/egypt/

Fingers to the Bone:United States' Failure to Protect Child Farmworkers, 2000

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/frmwrkr/

Bonded Child Labor

Small Change:Bonded Child Labor in India's Silk Industry, 2003

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/india/

The Small Hands of Slavery:Bonded Child Labor in India, 1996

http://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/India3.htm

Contemporary Forms of Slavery in Pakistan, 1995

http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/Pakistan.htm

Domestic Work

No Rest:Abuses Against Child Domestic Workers in El Salvador, 2004

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/elsalvador0104/

From the Household to the Factory:Sex Discrimination in the Guatemala Labor Force, 2002

http://hrw.org/reports/2002/guat/

Lasting Wounds:Consequences of Genocide and War on Rwanda's Children, 2003

http://hrw.org/reports/2003/rwanda0403/

Forced or Compulsory Recruitment of Children for Use in Armed Conflict

How to Fight, How to Kill:Child Soldiers in Liberia, 2004

http://hrw.org/reports/2004/liberia0204/

"You'll Learn Not to Cry":Child Combatants in Colombia, 2003

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/colombia0903/

Abducted and Abused:Renewed Conflict in Northern Uganda, 2003

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/uganda0703/

Forgotten Fighters:Child Soldiers in Angola, 2003

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/angola0403/

Stolen Children:Abduction and Recruitment in Northern Uganda, 2003

http://hrw.org/reports/2003/uganda0303/

"My Gun Was as Tall as Me":Child Soldiers in Burma, 2002

http://hrw.org/reports/2002/burma/

Reluctant Recruits:Children and Adults Forcibly Recruited for Military Service in North Kivu, 2001

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/drc3/

War Without Quarter:Colombia and International Humanitarian Law, 1998

http://www.hrw.org/reports98/colombia/

The Scars of Death:Children Abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, 1997

http://www.hrw.org/reports97/uganda/

Burma:Children's Rights and the Rule of Law, 1997

http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/burma2/

Children of Sudan:Slaves, Street Children, and Child Soldiers, 1995

http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/Sudan.htm

Easy Prey:Child Soldiers in Liberia, 1994

http://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/liberia2/

The Lost Boys:Child Soldiers and Unaccompanied Boys in Southern Sudan, 1994

"In the Name of God":Repression Continues in Northern Sudan, 1994

http://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/sudan/

Trafficking in Children

Borderline Slavery:Child Trafficking in Togo, 2003

http://hrw.org/reports/2003/togo0403/