Ministry removes 68 kids from landfill
Sixty-eight children that worked in the Rafey landfill dump and in the market area known as Hospedaje Yaque in the La Joya section of Santiago were rescued and delivered to their parents who were ordered to register their children in school.
According to the Diario Libre reporters, these minors, rescued by the Ministry of Labor, worked in the market in risky situations and looked for saleable items in the Rafey landfill to sell to the scrap metal dealers. The age of the minors went from 8 years old up to 14 years of age.
The authorities handed out citations against purchasers of used merchandise and market produce vendors that used the minors.
Referring to this issue, the Minister of Labor Francisco Dominguez Brito said that he would look for a way to guarantee the permanence of the children in school. He warned that the measures would be more drastic and the number of inspections would increase all over the country until they eliminated child labor completely.
For his part, the president of the Association of Landfill Divers at Rafey, Felipe Rosario, recalled that last year three minors were killed when they were run over by garbage trucks.
Sixty-eight children that worked in the Rafey landfill dump and in the market area known as Hospedaje Yaque in the La Joya section of Santiago were rescued and delivered to their parents who were ordered to register their children in school.
According to the Diario Libre reporters, these minors, rescued by the Ministry of Labor, worked in the market in risky situations and looked for saleable items in the Rafey landfill to sell to the scrap metal dealers. The age of the minors went from 8 years old up to 14 years of age.
The authorities handed out citations against purchasers of used merchandise and market produce vendors that used the minors.
Referring to this issue, the Minister of Labor Francisco Dominguez Brito said that he would look for a way to guarantee the permanence of the children in school. He warned that the measures would be more drastic and the number of inspections would increase all over the country until they eliminated child labor completely.
For his part, the president of the Association of Landfill Divers at Rafey, Felipe Rosario, recalled that last year three minors were killed when they were run over by garbage trucks.
