ILO to end child labor in the Phl by 2016

MANILA, Philippines – The International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) today announced their plan to embark on a five-year program to end child labor in the country by 2016.

Dubbed as International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC), the project hopes to eliminate the worst form of child labor.

“The effective elimination of child labor can only be achieved at the country level, since the problem is closely tied with poverty and educational access. Although there had been some progress since the mid-1980s, much work remains,” said ILO Philippines director Lawrence Jeff Johnson.

To start off, the ILO, together with the National Statistics Office (NSO) and DOLE will conduct a nationwide survey to find out the extent of child labor situation in the Philippines.

The survey will be conducted in key areas such as Masbate, Northern Samar, Quezon and Bukidnon, where there are high incident reports of child labor, ages 5 to 17 years old, mostly in the agriculture, mining and commercial industries.

According to ILO, there are currently 215 million child laborers globally, while in the Philippines, there are around 2.4 million child workers.

The Philippine figures, do not include the number of child laborers working in hazardous conditions, which IPEC is eying to address.

Apart from the study, DOLE will also continue its national, regional, municipal and barangay activities to strengthen intervention and rescue efforts, improve support services (health and protection program) and open up more livelihood and education opportunities via PPACL (Philippine Program Against Child Labor), I-Serve Sacadas Project (Integrated Services for Migratory Sugar Workers), SBM (Sagip Batang Mangagawa), KaSaMa Project (Kabuhayan para sa Magulang ng Batang Mangagawa), and Project Angel Tree. –Vernadette Joven (philstar.com)