Funding Recipient: International Cocoa Initiative

Total Funding: $4.5 million

Purpose: Implement a project to empower cocoa-growing communities in Côte d'Ivoire to reduce child labor

Location: Côte d'Ivoire

Funding Recipient: Winrock International

Total Funding: $4.5 million

Purpose: Implement a project to empower cocoa-growing communities and help youth further their education or develop marketable skills.

Location: Ghana

WASHINGTON — When the government of Paraguay established its Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security in 2014, it demonstrated a commitment to tackling important challenges, including combating child labor and strengthening enforcement of its labor laws. To help achieve this goal, it reached out to the U.S. Department of Labor to help build the capacity of its new ministry.

Funding Recipient: International Labour Organization

Total Funding: $9.8 million

Purpose: Implement a project to support global and national efforts aimed at combating forced labor under the 2014 ILO Protocol and Recommendation on Forced Labor.

Location: Global

Participants: U.S. Department of Labor's Deputy Secretary Christopher P. Lu; G7 ministers of Employment, Labor, Social Affairs, International Cooperation and Development

Funding Recipient: Catholic Relief Services

Total Funding: $13 million

Purpose: Implement a project to help at-risk youth in El Salvador and Honduras develop market-relevant skills and secure good employment.

Location: El Salvador and Honduras

WASHINGTON — For more than a decade, the U.S. government has been championing efforts to reduce child labor in West African cocoa production, providing vulnerable children in cocoa-growing areas with better access to education and vocational training, and their families with support so they can better provide for themselves and meet their basic needs without relying on child labor.

WASHINGTON — Ricardo stands on his tiptoes, straining to reach into a tangle of branches to retrieve a cluster of coffee berries. He makes his way along the row of trees, each laden with hundreds of the tiny fruit, dropping them carefully in his basket. He repeats this process for hours. His unprotected hands and arms are covered with scratches, his bare feet and legs bitten by bugs, his skin scorched by the hot sun. At 10 years old, this is the world he knows; he has never seen the inside of a classroom.

WASHINGTON — In April 1995, on a dusty, rural road in his native Pakistan, 13-year-old Iqbal Masih was riding his bicycle when an unknown gunman shot and killed him. Three years earlier, he had escaped after five years of slavery as a carpet weaver to become an outspoken advocate against child exploitation.

WASHINGTON — For children facing work-filled days — lifting heavy rocks, cutting sugar cane, or weaving carpets — the promise of even a basic education may seem remote. Add the threat of retaliation or violence, under the watchful eye of an employer, and the glimmer of that promise fades even further.

For communities to thrive, children need opportunities to learn and grow. Their families need opportunities to earn a decent living. And everyone needs the freedom of choice to learn and venture as far as their hard work will take them.

WASHINGTON — Safety and health at work is a basic human right, and a necessity for inclusive economic development. The International Labour Organization reports more than 2.3 million people die every year from occupational and work-related injuries and diseases. The human toll of these injuries and diseases is immeasurable. Economic consequences are also substantial, with an estimated annual loss of 4 percent to global gross domestic product.

WASHINGTON — The text of the following statement was released by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry; High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini; U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez; EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility Marianne Thyssen; U.S. Trade Representative Michael B. G. Froman; EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström; U.S. Agency for International Development Acting Administrator Alfonso E.

WASHINGTON — In the next decade, six million youth will enter the Central American labor force. They will need job opportunities and the skills to succeed in them. All too often, high poverty and violence rates in El Salvador and Honduras prevent young people from learning the marketable, job-driven skills that can help them forge clear paths to decent jobs and greater economic opportunities. Without access to quality education and good jobs, these youth are vulnerable to exploitation.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs today announced the award of a $7 million cooperative agreement to World Vision to implement a project to combat exploitative child labor and improve labor rights and working conditions in Honduras. World Vision is "dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice."

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The U.S. Department of Labor released a report today that raises serious concerns regarding the effective enforcement of labor laws in Honduras under the labor chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs today announced the award of an $8 million cooperative agreement to the International Labor Organization to implement a technical cooperation project to prevent and reduce child labor in Vietnam. This project will be undertaken in coordination with the Government of Vietnam.

WASHINGTON — With an estimated 215 million children engaged in child labor and nearly 21 million victims of forced labor worldwide, it's critical that investments in projects to improve their lives employ the most effective and efficient interventions. Strong project monitoring and rigorous evaluations are necessary to determine which of many possible approaches will most effectively secure and protect the rights of these children and adults. The U.S.

WASHINGTON — Mexico's Federal Labor Law Reform of 2012 protects workers from various forms of discrimination: female workers fired or never hired for being pregnant; LGBT workers retaliated against for their sexual orientation; and men and women sexually harassed in the workplace.

These and other forms of employment discrimination can cripple economies, denying working men and women economic security and equal opportunity. Freedom from workplace discrimination is also a fundamental human right and a matter of basic human dignity.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs today announced the award of a $10 million cooperative agreement with World Vision to implement a project to address exploitative labor among youth in Ethiopia.