While many children are now enjoying summer holidays from school, others are toiling away in sweatshops. Amid the Great Recession, more parents may be pulling their children out of school and putting them to work to supplement family income.

Windshield wiper: Andres, 12, cleans the windshield of a car as his brother Juan, 13, looks on in Cali, one of Colombia's largest cities, on June 11. Estimates of the number of child laborers in the South American country range from 780,000 to 1.6 million. Children do everything from sell chewing gum in the streets to construction, mining, agricultural work, and manufacturing. Child labor has been mentioned in discussions about free trade agreements with Canada and the United States, with opponents concerned about labor rights violations in Colombia.
LUIS ROBAYO/AFP/Getty Images
Preeti Aroon is an assistant editor at FP.
(0)
HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE