Efforts sought to curb child labor

THE PHILIPPINES must exert more effort to reduce child workers, according to a report released by the United States government, even as it noted that “the worst forms of child labor” remain in the country.

“The worst forms of child labor continue to exist, especially in agriculture and domestic service. Significant legislative gaps remain, including compulsory education and protection for domestic workers,” the 2010 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, prepared and released by the US Department of Labor yesterday, said.

The US Labor Department claimed that some 2.74 million children in the Philippines are involved in child labor, equivalent to 15.3% of children aged 5-14 in the country. The remaining percentage attend school, while 11.3% of those aged 7-14 combine work and school.

This has placed the Philippines, according to the report, third in the number of products made by child workers, next to India and Bagladesh.

The report noted that child labor is still prevalent in the agricultural sector, with children involved in the production of sugarcane, coconuts, corn, rice, rubber, tobacco, bananas and other crops.

The report also found out that children are prevalently hired as domestic helpers, where they “work long hours, and their isolation in homes makes them susceptible to sexual harassment, verbal and physical abuse,” and are often denied access to education.

Also, children are employed in compressor mining for minerals and deep-sea fishing, home-based manufacturing industries, pornography, and sex and drug trafficking. Many of them live by begging on streets.

The government, primarily the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) and the National Child Labor Committee, has a number of programs which crack down on child labor, such as the Labor Enforcement and Action Program.

However, the report states that these fail to address child labor in the agriculture sector and has led only to the identification of 35 child laborers through workplace inspections, 50 child laborers during assessment of informal gold mines, and the filing of only 20 cases for child labor violations.

“The small number of child labor violations uncovered during the period relative to the scope and prevalence of child labor points to gaps in the labor inspection process,” the report read.

The DoLE has reserved its comments pending a review of the report.

The report also cited the government’s conditional cash transfer program and other programs to eradicate child labor, but urged the government to provide specifics on efforts to reduce child labor.

“Given the scope and magnitude of child labor in the Philippines, the limited reach of these programs is not sufficient to combat child labor, especially in agriculture and domestic service sectors,” the report read.

To lessen the extent of child labor, the US Labor Department urged the government to raise the age of compulsory schooling to 15 from the current 11. The report also pushed for the enactment of a law that will provide protection to domestic workers to ensure that they are properly paid and are enrolled in the social security system.

Further, the department pushed for full implementation of education policies to ensure that children have access to nearby schools, and to implement policies embodied in the Philippine National Strategic Framework for Plan Development for Children 2000-2025.

The report, which has been regularly issued since 2000 by the US Department of Labor, contains information on the worst forms of child labor and efforts to eliminate it.

The 2010 report contains data on 125 independent countries and 19 territories, gathered from January 2010 to December 2010. — NRM, Businessworld