Chihuahua's State Human Rights Commission (Comision Estatal de Derechos Humanos, CEDH) has announced it will begin investigating the illegal use of indigenous children by beggars at international crossings. The Commission is concerned that indigenous children three years old and younger are being used on the streets as a means to solicit sympathy and thus more cash from commuters. The investigation will include whether the situation may be being covered up by authorities, since rumors have been circulating that the local police are extorting indigenous vendors at the crossings.
The issue was one of many raised at the first Bi-National Meeting on the Mistreatment of Children that was held in El Paso in late September. Over three hundred participants attended the meeting on protecting children from abuse.
In related news, Maria Enedelia Araiza Macias, the Attorney General for the Defense of Children and Families stated in a series of articles published in Diario de Juarez that while it is against the law, many young children are forced to work in order to help support their families through hard times. The minimum age for child labor in Mexico is 14 years with the consent of parents and the Labor Secretariat (Secretaria del Trabajo y Prevision Social). Children younger than 14 are not supposed to be working and to employ them is a violation of Article 5 of the Child Protection Code which prohibits the exploitation of children. But she stated that the institutions in charge of protecting the rights of children don't have the resources to take care of the many children forced to work.
Sources: El Norte, Diario de Juarez