Iowa Senator Tom Harkin testified Thursday before a Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee hearing on child labor. Harkin says thousands of young kids,mostly girls, are forced to work every day. Harkin says business people in the countries where the children work saythe children have to work to support their families. Many say the childrenwould be doing other things such as prostitution to raise money if theyweren’t working. Harkin says a program in Bangladesh has put those myths torest. The program pays the children for going to school.In three years, they’ve been able to get about 10-thousand of the kids outof the factories and into schools. Harkin says the program in Bangladeshproves things can change.Harkin says the United States needs to continue working with these countriesto put an end to child labor.
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