428,000 children work in 3 Mexican states

In Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas there are 428,000 working children aged between five and 17, mainly in agricultural activities, although some of them sell goods on the street, a study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) for Mexico and Cuba revealed.

During the 11th Interministerial Commission for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labor, Thomas Wissing, ILO director for Mexico and Cuba, said that 165,000 children and teenagers work in Chiapas, i.e. 11% of the child population; 139,000 in Guerrero, representing 14% of the total number of children, and 124,000 (11.7%) in Oaxaca.

He added that some children work 25 or 30 hours a week, some of them as domestic workers. 

In Chiapas children extract and polish amber, which involves many health risks, including pulmonary fibrosis, while in Guerrero children work in illicit crops and in Oaxaca they work as bricklayers. 

Also, Central American children have been seen working in coffee or sugar cane plantations in Chiapas.