Transcript The Challenge of Child Labour in Asia

The Challenge of Child Labour
in Asia
Special Focus on the Philippines
Child labour has become an
important social issue in the
international development
agenda
This is due to:
Greater awareness of the nature, extent
and consequences of early child work
 International adherence to the cause of
human rights, including child rights
 Powerful movements by consumers and
manufacturers linking trade issues with
international labour standards

Child work vs. child labour

Not all work done by children
is child labour. Running
errands or helping parents help
children develop. Such tasks
prepare children for adulthood
and is a way of acquiring
skills from one generation to
the next.
Exploitative child work is ...
Hazardous, dangerous, under socially
unjust conditions
 Harmful to the child’s health
 Impairs the physical, mental and
emotional development
 Infringes the child’s human rights
 Separates children from their families

Causes of child labour:
supply factors

Poverty is the main push factor. Other
factors are:
 Lack
of educational facilities or poor quality of
education
 Disrupted family patterns
 Entrenched social and cultural attitudes
 Demographic factors
Causes of child labour:
demand factors
Children are docile and compliant workers
and in most cases cost less;
 Children can be hired, dismissed and re-hired
easily.
 Misplaced perception of the necessity of
children in certain production tasks

Global estimate of child labour
A conservative
estimate of the
ILO concludes
that there are
about 250 million
working children
world-wide.
 Nearly half work
full-time.

Child labour by region
Asia
(61%)
Africa
America
Europe
Asia
Africa
(32%)
Asia has most of
the child workers
(61%) while Africa
has the highest
incidence at 40%
Child labour in Asia
Asia has shown dramatic economic
performance; yet, child labour remains a
serious problem;
 Also, extreme forms of child labour
(bonded child labour, child prostitution,
and the traffic of children) exist in the
region.

Profile of the working
children in Asia
More likely to work in rural than urban
areas;
 Majority found in small production units,
few are found in the modern sector;
 About equal number of working boys and
girls

Economic growth by itself is
not a cure-all ...
Disparities across regions and sectors (ruralurban migration, widening of the income
inequalities, increased demand in certain
economic sectors..)
 Intensity of child labour untilization;

Structural changes in child
labour seen in SEA
Urbanization of child labour
 Structural shift from primary to secondary
and tertiary sectors
 Proportion of wage child labour has
increased, unpaid family work has declined

The International Labour
Organization
 ILO
was formed in 1919 as part of the
League of Nations. The organization
precedes the United Nations by twenty
five years.
ILO’s Objectives
Promotion of social justice
 Improvement of living and working
conditions

ILO’s Core Mandates
International Standard Setting through
Conventions and Recommendations
 Technical Advisory Services through
multi-disciplinary teams
 Technical cooperation through assistance
programmes for its tripartite partners

The Structure
 ILO
works through a Tri-partite
Structure of government, workers’
and employers’ organizations.
The International Programme
on the Elimination of Child
Labour
Started in 1992 with 6 participating
countries, IPEC is now
operational in 31 countries. It
has become one of ILO’s largest
technical cooperation
programmes
IPEC: A global movement

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1992: Brazil, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Thailand,
Turkey
1994: Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines,
Tanzania
1996/97: Argentina, Benin, Bolivia, Cambodia,
Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican
Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru,
Madagascar, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Senegal and
Sri Lanka
The aims of IPEC
The progressive elimination of
child labour by:
creating a world-wide movement
 strengthening national capacities

IPEC’s
priority target groups

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Children working
under forced labour
conditions
Children in hazardous
working conditions
Very young children
Working girls
IPEC’s Principle
 Child
labour is a national
responsibility. It is therefore
first and foremost the
responsibility of national
governments and civil society.
IPEC in the Philippines
 ILO
and the Philippine government
signed a Memorandum of
Understanding in June 1994. This
agreement has been extended till Year
2001.
The Working Children of the
Philippines
 3.6
million Filipino children between
the ages of 5-17 work. This is 15.9%
of the child population, or put more
simply, one out of six children are
economically active.
Age profile



216,000 between the
ages of 5-9;
1.6 million between
the ages of 10-14;
1.8 million are
between the ages of
15-17
15 - 17
Years
10 -14
Years
5-9
Years
0
500000 1E+06 2E+06 2E+06
Socio-demographic profile


More rural than
urban:
11.5% of all urban
children; 20.7% of
all rural children
More boys than girls
11.7% of all girls
work; 20.8% of the
boys
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Urban
Rural
The regional profile
Regions 4, 6, 11
have the highest
numbers of
working children;
 Regions 2, 12 and
11 have the highest
incidence.

Workplaces
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63.2% in farms
17.5% in own homes
9.8% in their
employer’s or
another person’s
household
7.7% in the market
places and the streets
2.2% in mines and
quarries
Exposure to Hazards


2.2 million children or
60% are in hazardous
work situations,
consisting of physical
difficulties and
chemical exposures.
30% are in permanent
work
80% experience work related
difficulties

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exhaustion (63.3%)
stress (55%),
physical
burden
(47%)
boredom (52%)
8% have no day off
17% consider their
work as risky
&dangerous.
17
risky
no day off
8
boredom
52
physical b.
47
55
stress
exhaustion
63.3
0
10
20
30
40
%
50
60
70
Suffer injuries and illnesses
from work

24% or 869,199
working children
have experienced at
least one workrelated injury or
illness. These range
from cuts and
wounds, abrasions to
illness requiring
hospital care.
Studying?


70% of working children
combine school and work.
600,000 no longer attend school.
Those who continue school face
many difficulties:
– low grades (41.2%)
– absenteeism (25.3%), tardiness
(26%)

Many tend to be chronic dropouts.
Live and work away
from home
Of 409,849 children are living away
from home, 75% work.
 The working children away from home
are mostly girls, come from rural
households and work in urban sectors; a
large number work in households.

Philippine priority groups of children
Four (4) primary target groups of children:
 victims of trafficking
 children in mining/quarrying
 children in home-based work esp. under
sub-contracting
 children in prostitution
The secondary groups are:
Children in domestic service
 Children in the pyrotechnics industry
 Children in muro-ami/deep-sea fishing
 Children in vegetable and sugar production

Areas of Action
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Situation analysis
National policy
Int’l labour standards
Advocacy
Social mobilization
Direct services: preventive,
protective, rehabilitative
Capability building
Situation Analysis
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National surveys
Dedicated surveys
Special investigative
techniques
Outreach services
International standards
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UN Convention on
the rights of the child
ILO Convention 138
ILO conventions on
forced labour, night
work, etc.
Proposed convention
on intolerable forms
of work
Law enforcement
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National law and regulations
Operational guidelines
regarding hazardous work
Action against deceptive
recruitment and trafficking
Increased priority of labor
inspection in informal work
arrangements
Priority-setting

Formulation of the
Indicative Framework
for action giving
greater emphasis on
priority target groups
of children
Advocacy
Challenging the
myths
 Lobbying
 Strategic alliances
and coalitions
 National media
campaigns

Social mobilization
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Directed for and with
the child
Family protection
Employer
responsibility
Community
Involvement
Inter-sectoral action
A Diverse Range of
Partnerships

Government
– Departments of: Labor & Employment, Justice,
Social Welfare & Devt., Interior & Local
Government; Council for the Welfare of
Children, Phil. Information Agency

Employers
– Employers Confederation of the Phils.
– Bishop Businessmen’s Conference
Partnerships

Trade Unions
– Trade Union Congress of the Phils., Federation
of Free Workers, International Textile Garment
Leather

NGOs
– Visayan Forum, Stop Trafficking of Pilipinos,
Ateneo Human Rights Center, Childhope Asia,
Philippine Children’s Television, etc.
Focus on education
Scholarships
 Alternative learning
(NFE)
 Special classes and
flexible schedules
 Vocational training

Direct services to child workers
Access to education
 Welfare and recreational
services
 Health monitoring
 Psycho-social
counseling, emotional
support

Direct services to child workers
...
Legal assistance
 Alternative income
and livelihood
 Organizing and
empowerment
initiatives

Focus on employer action
Awareness raising and advocacy
 Representation in tripartite bodies
 Company codes of conduct on hiring and
procurement
 Corporate outreach programmes
 Sectoral initiatives

Capacity Building
Specialized training
(psycho-social
counseling, paralegal
education)
 Networking and
collaborative action
 International solidarity

Strategic priorities
for the future
Early stage: Laying the groundwork. The
“100 flowers bloom” approach using a
diverse innovative experiments.
 Second more mature stage:
comprehensive, self-sustaining
programmes
