during school hours or between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. Children ages 14-
17 may work between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. but only in hotels, restaurants,
food stores, general merchandise stores, and gas stations. Children ages 14-17 may
work outside school hours under the following conditions: on a school day, for not
more than three hours; in a school week, for not more than 24 hours; on a
nonschool day, for not more than eight hours; and in a nonschool week, for not
more than 40 hours. The government did not have a list of jobs that were
considered dangerous, although it intervened when children were working in
dangerous environments, such as selling peanuts at a dangerous intersection. The
government did not have a list of light work activities permitted for children ages
12 and older.
The government generally enforced the law. The penalties for violating child labor
laws on forced labor were generally commensurate with those for analogous
crimes.
Incidents of child labor occurred in the informal sector. Children worked on
family farms and as street vendors. The Ministry of Labour lacked sufficient
inspectors to follow up on reports of child labor.
d. Discrimination with Respect to Employment and Occupation
The law prohibits discrimination in employment based on race, skin color, national
origin, creed, sex, marital status, political opinion, age, HIV status, and disability,
but not based on language, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, or social
status. The government did not effectively enforce the law, and penalties were not
commensurate with laws related to civil rights. Women’s pay lagged behind men’s
pay in the private sector. Persons with disabilities faced discrimination in hiring
and access to the workspace. While the law allows victims to sue for damages,
most lacked the financial resources to counter wealthy defendants in court. The
law provides for an independent judiciary, and the government generally respected
judicial independence and impartiality. There was a significant backlog of cases,
with delays reportedly lasting years. The government suspended jury trials due to
the COVID-19 pandemic, hindering its efforts to address the backlog.