Agenzia Fides

Quito (Agenzia Fides) - The phenomenon of child labor continues to spread through the streets of Quito despite the will to eradicate it in the country. In the capital of Ecuador one see youngsellers of all kinds of merchandise, forced more or less by their parents to work in miserable conditions. There are also many unemployed mothers with large families who are forced to send their to work with them. According to data collected by Fides Agency, the Ministry for Economic and Social Inclusion (MIES) indicates that in Ecuador 290 thousand children work voluntarily and involuntarily, some in the streets and others in factories or in the fields. There is no precise data on the actual number of children working and are exploited, but, according to the National Statistics Institute (INEC), in December 2011 out of 3,675,803 Ecuadorian children and adolescents between 5 and 17 years of age, 213,146 were working . (AP) (Agenzia Fides 17/12/2012)