• Labor Department abandons child farmworkers
    Commentary
    May 7, 2012
    In a few weeks, children as young as 12 will start leaving schools in south Texas to work in the summer harvest, taking on the difficult and sometimes even dangerous work of picking fruits and vegetables. Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of kids this year will cut the roots off onions, hoe cotton, climb tall ladders to pick oranges and apples, and drive tractors. If the past is a guide, some will be injured, some will be maimed, and some will die.
  • Uruguay: First to Ratify Domestic Workers Convention
    Press release
    May 1, 2012
    Uruguay’s move to be the first country to ratify the international Domestic Workers Convention brings long overdue protections closer to reality for millions of women and girls worldwide, Human Rights Watch said today. The treaty, which extends core labor rights to an estimated 50 to 100 million domestic workers, will come into legal force when it is ratified by two countries.
  • US: Labor Department Abandons Child Farmworkers
    Press release
    Apr 27, 2012
    The US Labor Department's withdrawal of proposed rules to shield hired child farmworkers from the most dangerous tasks condemns children to be killed and maimed, Human Rights Watch said today. The proposed regulations would have updated for the first time in decades the list of tasks too dangerous for employed children under age 16. The regulations would not have applied to children working on family farms. The Labor Department withdrew the proposal on April 26, 2012.
  • US: Implement Farm Safety Rules for Children
    Press release
    Mar 27, 2012
    Legislation introduced in the US Congress in March 2012 to block proposed safety rules for child farmworkers will endanger children who work on farms. The Child Labor Coalition (CLC) called on the US Department of Labor (DOL) to implement immediately its proposed updates to safety rules listing dangerous agricultural tasks that are off limits to hired child farmworkers.
  • New Unicef guidelines on children will fall flat without backing from business
    Commentary
    Mar 12, 2012
  • Letter to the Ministry of Mines
    Letter
    Feb 3, 2012
  • US: Proposed Rules Would Save Child Farmworker Lives
    Press release
    Feb 2, 2012
    The rules are intended to make paid farm work safer for the hundreds of thousands of children in the United States who labor in agriculture. They would not apply to children working on their parents’ farms.
  • Gold’s image tarnished by child labour in mines
    Commentary
    Dec 22, 2011
    There has been a lot of debate about corporate social responsibility. But most gold traders I interviewed showed no concern about the use of child labour.
  • Mali: Artisanal Mines Produce Gold With Child Labor
    Press release
    Dec 6, 2011
    At least 20,000 children work in Malian artisanal gold mines under extremely harsh and dangerous conditions, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Malian government and international donors should take action to end child labor in artisanal mines, Human Rights Watch said. Artisanal miners rely on low-tech methods and often organize informally.
  • Letter to Deputy Administrator Nancy Leppink on Proposed Changes to Agricultural Child Labor Regulations
    Letter
    Dec 1, 2011