Testimony of Margaret Wurth
Senior Researcher, Human Rights Watch
Before the House Committee on Education and Labor
Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
Chair Adams, Ranking Member Keller, and members of the committee,
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today about the urgent need for Congress and President Biden’s administration to strengthen US labor law and regulations to protect children from hazardous work in agriculture.
I am a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organization working in more than 100 countries worldwide. Since 2000, Human Rights Watch has reported on the dangerous conditions children face while working in US agriculture.
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US laws and policies governing child labor in agriculture are far too weak. They are also glaringly out of step with international human rights standards. Agriculture is the most dangerous industry in the US for child workers. A 2018 Government Accountability Office study found that more than half of work-related child fatalities occurred among children working in agriculture, even though they represent just three percent of child workers.[1] Yet longstanding loopholes in US labor law and regulations allow children to work in agriculture from younger ages and for longer hours than in any other sector.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), children as young as 12 can work unlimited hours on farms of any size with parental permission, as long as they do not miss school.[2] There is no...
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