Investigation on child exploitation demanded in Mexico City subway

The Legislative Assembly of Mexico City called the Attorney General of the metropolis, Rodolfo Rios Garza, and the head of Public Security, Hiram Almeida, to look at possible cases of child exploitation in subway stations.

The vice-president of the Human Rights Commission of the Assembly, Rebeca Peralta, also called the director of the Collective Transport System (STC), Jorge Gaviño, to implement a strategy to inhibit this crime.

She points out that minors are used as sellers in the stations because the authorities can't take any actions against infants.

According to Peralta, from the left-wing Democratic Revolution Party, video recording has shown that children receive merchandise to be sold inside the stations or in their immediate areas.

"Girls and boys are sent by adults, as cannon fodder, to sell sweets, to beg, clean shoes and sing on the subway cars," they said.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), there are approximately 215 million boys and girls who are victims of child labor exploitation, and in Mexico, according to the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Data, until 2013 some 2.5 million children, five to 17-years-old, were performing some sort of work-related activity.

Peralta pointed out that according to the Observatory Against Trafficking in Mexico City, the networks of children exploitation in the subway are an existing problem that must be dealt with as soon as possible.