Panama News

PANAMA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- About 60,000 child laborers are working in the streets of Panama, director of the Program Casa Esperanza (Hope Home) Rosana Mendez said on Wednesday. Half of these children are in rural areas, she said a day before the commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Child Labor on June 12. Mendez said that six out of every 10 children quit their studies due to poverty. According to Mendez, a great percentage of the peasant children living in rural areas had to quit school to work in large agro-industrial centers. "We have serious problems in the agriculture exporting areas that emerged in recent years, where thousands of children are involved every day", Mendez added. The Casa Esperanza Program will form a human chain Thursday with the participation of organizations committed to the eradication of this scourge affecting Panamanians.

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