Despite these legal provisions, employers’ who violate them face a low risk of being sanctioned. Upon Greece’s ratification of the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention in 2001, labor inspectors were tasked to take targeted action to protect children.286 The Greek government reported for the year 2004 that labor inspectors detected a total of 35 children in prohibited forms of employment. Thirty-three employers were fined and charges were brought against two.287 In 2005, five employers were charged for the illegal employment of children and 29 fined; two of the cases were in the construction sector. In 2006, charges were brought against two employers and 17 fines were issued, none of them in the construction sector. In 2007, a total of nine employers were charged for the illegal employment of children and 18 were fined, none of them in the construction sector.288 These figures appear low in comparison to the numbers of children believed to be working, based on the testimony of 14 persons interviewed by Human Rights Watch who performed or witnessed prohibited forms of child labor.289 Furthermore, no case of child labor was uncovered in the agricultural sector, where we recorded most testimonies of child labor.290 We asked the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection 286 Law 3144/2003, art. 4 (3-4); Law 1837/1989, art. 18; Law 2639/1998, Regulations of labor relations, establishment of a Labor Inspectorate and other provisions, Official Gazette A 205, art. 7. 287 Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Convention s and Recommendations, Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, 1999 (No.182), Direct request, CEACR 2007/78th Session, http://webfusion.ilo.org/public/db/standards/normes/appl/appldisplaycomment.cfm?hdroff=1&ctry=0260&year=2007&type=R&conv=C182&lang=EN (accessed July 17, 2008) 288 Letter from Dimitris Kontos, secretary general, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, to Human Rights Watch, August 11, 2008. 289 Greece acknowledged it had insufficient numbers of labor inspectors in 2004, when the European Committee of Social Rights, the body that judges conformity of law and practice with the European Social Charter, concluded that Greece lacks effective supervision of health and safety regulations. See European Committee of Social Rights, Conclusions XVIII-2 (GREECE), December 2007, http://www.coe.int/t/e/human_rights/esc/3_reporting_procedure/2_recent_conclusions/1_by_state/GreeceXVIII2_en.pdf (accessed July 18, 2008). Additionally, Greece was found to be in violation of Social Charter provisions in 2006 because it failed to effectively monitor health and safety regulations for mining workers, inter alia, due to a shortage of supervisory staff. European Committee of Social Rights, Decision on the merits, December 6, 2006, Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights (MFHR) v. Greece, Complaint No. 30/2005, http://hudoc.esc.coe.int/esc/search/default.asp?mode=esc&language=en&source=reage=en&source=re (accessed July 18, 2008). 290 The Legal Department of the Greek trade union G.S.E.E. informed us that labor inspectors do not inspect the agricultural sector due to a combination of obstacles, including the lack of sufficient labor inspectors, restrictions in labor legislation, and the application of a different social insurance scheme for the agricultural sector. Additionally, Greece has not ratified ILO Convention 184 concerning Safety and Health in Agriculture. Even though child labor is not subject to these restrictions in law, 85 Human Rights Watch December 2008