El Salvador Scarred by Child Labor

Bochenek said foremen on the country's many small sugar cooperatives, which supply raw cane to mills, "turn a blind eye" to child labor. He and other investigators interviewed more than 30 children, who routinely suffer deep gashes.

Bochenek said El Salvador's sugar industry was chosen for scrutiny because its problems are "representative of the region." Sugar is also an important crop in most countries in Central America and the Caribbean. Bochenek said that the average cane worker's salary in El Salvador is about $75 a month, which "isn't enough to pay even basic food needs."

Parents interviewed in El Chaparral said that they would continue sending their youngest children to the fields, which helps families reach daily quotas. Children are paid only when they reach 10 years old, parents said. They are paid the equivalent of $4 for a nine-hour day; younger children often split a single daily wage, according to the interviews.

"I like it because I get to be with my father," said Miguel Angel Orellano, 9, who said his father gives him about $1 a day for helping him cut cane. Miguel Angel is one of eight children in his family who work in the fields. His sister, Rosa Maria, 19, stood nearby; she had thick scars and red and white rashes on her hands and arms. She said she got the rashes from spreading fertilizer the previous week. She said she's been planting cane since she was 12.

Walter Palacios, director of social welfare at the Salvadoran Labor Ministry, said the government was working to eradicate the problem. He said that child labor also persists in the fishing, trash, prostitution and fireworks industries.

"It's not just an economic problem; there are cultural factors," he said. "It's very important that there be a joint plan between all parties, to improve the situation of these children."

"Of course," he said, help from big companies such as Coca-Cola "would improve the situation."

The Human Rights Watch report does not accuse Coca-Cola of breaking laws, but it urges the company to "recognize its responsibility."

Carol M. Martel, Coca-Cola's director of public affairs in Atlanta, said in a letter to Human Rights Watch that the company does not condone child labor and has a strict policy against its direct suppliers using child labor. She said there was no evidence that child labor was used in either the Salvadoran refinery the company uses or the mill that provides sugar to that refinery. She also said the company has no direct contracts with the field cooperatives that supply raw cane to the mill.

Bochenek said Coca-Cola's position was inadequate. "Coca-Cola has a responsibility to look not only at its direct suppliers, but to ensure that human rights aren't abused farther back in the supply chain, particularly when we are talking about a primary ingredient like sugar," he said.

In a statement to The Washington Post, Coca-Cola said its ability "to assist in addressing these fundamental issues of tradition and norms that surround rural poverty is limited." It said it would continue its long tradition of supporting education initiatives "in the communities where we do business."