MANAGUA (EFE) – PresidentEnrique Bolaños has pledged Nicaragua toan international campaign to eradicatechild labor in the mining sector by the year2015, even though the government admitsit doesn’t know how many children arecurrently working in mines in the country.The announcement came during an actat the Casa Presidencial to commemoratethe International Day Against ChildLabor, June 17.According to government statistics, aremore than 253,000 Nicaraguan youth workin various sectors of the economy. The governmentdoesn’t have any specific statisticsfor the number of children working inmines.Bolaños said that his government,with the help of the International LaborOrganization (ILO), has launched 19 programsthroughout the country to bringdirect attention to 20,000 child workersand their families.“The programs have attended 10,000families and more than 2,000 childrenhave received technical training,” thePresident said. “In 76% of these cases, theprograms have been successful.”The ILO is working in CentralAmerica to get governments to sign on tothe campaign to eradicate child labor inmines and quarries.
