Cayetano wants stiffer penalties for child labor

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano called on the Aquino administration to implement stronger interventions in addressing child labor in the country, including stiffer penalties for private companies that employ minors in hazardous working conditions.

He will make the same call at the global commemoration of World Day Against Child Labor on June 12, 2012.

He said the Philippines is one of the signatories to the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention on the Elimination of Child Labor but there are not enough measures to address the problem as there are 4 million child workers, with 2.4 million of them in the worst forms of child labor according to 2001 figures from the National Statistics Office.

ILO estimates that 215 million children worldwide are involved in child labor, with half of them victims of slavery, sale and trafficking, prostitution, and pornography. Worst forms of child labor also include the recruitment of children for use in armed conflict and illicit activities such as drug trafficking.

“Children that are forced to work under hazardous conditions suffer long term scars not only physically but more psychological and moral damages,” said Cayetano.

He said the state has an obligation to send children to school and prevent them from being deprived of education and training that can help lift them out of cyclical poverty.

The ILO Minimum Age Convention requires states to specify a minimum age for admission to employment equivalent to not less than the age of finishing compulsory education, or in the Philippines not less than 15 years.

The senator pointed out that local government units particularly barangay leaders play a critical role in addressing child labor in their communities.

“Local leaders should increase awareness on the presence of manufacturing, mining, and other private companies in their communities that engage in illegal child labor practices and immediately ban their operations,” he said. –Karl John Reyes, InterAksyon.com