The Challenge of Child Labour in Asia

1. The Challenge of Child Labour in Asia Special Focus on the Philippines

2. Child labour has become an important social issue in the international development agenda

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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.

9. Child labour by region Asia has most of the child workers (61%) while Africa has the highest incidence at 40% Asia (61%) Africa (32%)

10. 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.

11. 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

12. Economic growth by itself is not a cure-all ... • Disparities across regions and sectors (rural-urban migration, widening of the income inequalities, increased demand in certain economic sectors..) • Intensity of child labour untilization;

13. 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

14. 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.

15. ILO’s Objectives • Promotion of social justice • Improvement of living and working conditions

16. 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

17. The Structure • ILO works through a Tri-partite Structure of government, workers’ and employers’ organizations.

18. 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

19. IPEC: A global movement • 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

20. The aims of IPEC The progressive elimination of child labour by: • creating a world-wide movement • strengthening national capacities

21. IPEC’s priority target groups • Children working under forced labour conditions • Children in hazardous working conditions • Very young children • Working girls

22. IPEC’s Principle • Child labour is a national responsibility. It is therefore first and foremost the responsibility of national governments and civil society.

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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

26. 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

27. The regional profile • Regions 4, 6, 11 have the highest numbers of working children; • Regions 2, 12 and 11 have the highest incidence.

28. Workplaces • 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

29. 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

30. 80% experience work related difficulties • exhaustion (63.3%) • stress (55%), physical burden (47%) • boredom (52%) • 8% have no day off • 17% consider their work as risky &dangerous.

31. Suffer injuries and illnesses from work • 24% or 869,199 working children have experienced at least one work-related injury or illness. These range from cuts and wounds, abrasions to illness requiring hospital care.

32. 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 drop-outs.

33. 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.

34. 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

35. 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

36. Areas of Action • Situation analysis • National policy • Int’l labour standards • Advocacy • Social mobilization • Direct services: preventive, protective, rehabilitative • Capability building

37. Situation Analysis • National surveys • Dedicated surveys • Special investigative techniques • Outreach services

38. International standards • 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

39. Law enforcement • National law and regulations • Operational guidelines regarding hazardous work • Action against deceptive recruitment and trafficking • Increased priority of labor inspection in informal work arrangements

40. Priority-setting • Formulation of the Indicative Framework for action giving greater emphasis on priority target groups of children

41. Advocacy • Challenging the myths • Lobbying • Strategic alliances and coalitions • National media campaigns

42. Social mobilization • Directed for and with the child • Family protection • Employer responsibility • Community Involvement • Inter-sectoral action

43. 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

44. 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.

45. Focus on education • Scholarships • Alternative learning (NFE) • Special classes and flexible schedules • Vocational training

46. Direct services to child workers • Access to education • Welfare and recreational services • Health monitoring • Psycho-social counseling, emotional support

47. Direct services to child workers ... • Legal assistance • Alternative income and livelihood • Organizing and empowerment initiatives

48. 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

49. Capacity Building • Specialized training (psycho-social counseling, paralegal education) • Networking and collaborative action • International solidarity

50. 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