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KIDS CUT CANE IN EL SALVADOR.

Article Excerpt
Somewhere between 5,000 and 30,000 children in El Salvador, some as young as eight years old, are doing hazardous work on sugar plantations, according to Turning a Blind Eye: Hazardous Labor in El Salvador's Sugarcane Cultivation, a recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report.

"Child labor is rampant on El Salvador's sugarcane plantations," said Michael Bochenek of the organization's children's rights division. "Companies that buy or use Salvadoran sugar should realize that fact and take responsibility for doing something about it." An estimated 35% of the population of El Salvador works in sugar, according to a 1997 estimate.

One of the companies Bochenek had in mind was Coca-Cola, a major buyer from the country's largest sugar mill, Central Izalco. Sugar is El Salvador's second-largest export crop, behind coffee. It was produced on state-owned plantations until 1995, when a process of privatization began. Coca-Cola does not own any of these plantations; it is strictly a buyer. The company has rules prohibiting the direct purchase of sugar from suppliers who use child labor. But that prohibition only prevents Coke from dealing with a mill. Bochenek said the rule ought to extend to the plantation that supplies the mill.

"If Coca-Cola is serious about avoiding...