5 Challenging Child Labor

CHALLENGING CHILD
LABOR
CHILD LABOR
• Refers to illegal employment of children

below 18 years old.
• Under the law, child labor is defined as any
work or economic activity performed by a
child that subjects him or her to any form
of exploitation, or is harmful to his or her
health and safety, or physical, mental, or
psycho-social development.
• Most underage children are forced to labor
to support their poor families due to
poverty.
• Because of child labor, children suffer
from malnutrition.
• Instead of idling their time in a classroom,
these children were rather roam around
the streets and risking their lives just to
earn enough money for their families.
• The United Nations Commission on Human
Rights reports that if this exploitative is a
fact of life in the affluent society, it is
even more shameful and disgraceful in poor
and developing countries.
2001 data
• 4 million child laborers in the Philippines

 2.5 million – unpaid workers
 900,000 – private workers
 350,000 – household helps
 270,000 – self-employed
2011 data
• There are 5.59 million child laborers toiling in
the Philippines and almost all of them are
working in hazardous conditions, according to a
survey financed by the International Labor
Organization (ILO).
• The 2011 Survey on Children conducted by the
National Statistics Office (NSO) showed that
out of the 29.019 million Filipino children aged
5-17 years old, about 18.9 percent or 5.59
million, were already working.
• This is higher than the 4 million Filipino working
children registered in a 2001 survey conducted
by the ILO and the US Department of Labor.
• In the Philippines, according to the Philippine
Statistics Authority (PSA), about 95 per cent of
child laborers are in hazardous work. 69 per cent
of these are aged 15-17 years old, beyond the
minimum allowable age for work but still exposed
to hazardous working conditions. Children work in
farms and plantations, in dangerous mines, on
streets, in factories, and in private homes as child
domestic workers. Agriculture remains to be the
sector where most child laborers can be found at
58 per cent.
 6% of our child laborers are unprotected
from hazardous environment that put their
health and life and risk, which include long
exposure to deadly chemicals as well as
physical dangers.
 Child labor is a bold illustration of
prioritization of material realities over the
human person or profit maximization at all
cost.
GLOBAL MARCH AGAINST CHILD LABOR
 was launched by the Office of the

President on January 16, 1998 at Quezon
Memorial Circle in Quezon City.
 Symbolic protest against Child Labor
practice.
 International Labor Organization declared
June 12 as Anti-Child Labor Day
• The Philippines has adopted the Philippine Program
Against Child Labor (PPACL) as the official
national program on the elimination of child labor.
This is a convergence of the efforts of
government, the private sector, employers’ groups,
trade unions, NGOs and international development
institutions towards the prevention, protection
and removal from hazardous and exploitative work
of child labor victims and, as may be appropriate,
healing and reintegrating them.
• The ILO has been supporting the Philippines in the
implementation of the PPACL through its
International Programme on the Elimination of
Child Labour (IPEC). Presently, ILO is managing a
Project funded by the US Department of Labor
called
Country Level Engagement and Assistance to Redu
ce Child Labor (CLEAR)
. It aims to enhance the capacity of the Philippines
to reduce child labor by supporting its actions in
addressing the recommendations contained in the
"Finding on the Worst Forms of Child Labor
Report" of the USDOL.
What constitute Child Labor?
• RA 7610 (June 17, 1992)
 Special Protection of Children against Child
Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act
 Approved by the President of the Philippines,
Corazon C. Aquino
• RA 7658 (May 12, 1994)

 was issued by the DOLE which provides that,
among others, it is illegal to employ children
under 15 years of age.
What are the dire reasons why
children work?
1. Poverty
2. Traditional distorted beliefs
3. Convenience on the part of the employer
What are the evil consequences
of Child Labor?
• Children who work may suffer in 4 areas:

Physical, Mental, Emotional and Moral.
1. Physical Deterioration
2. Mental Wasting
3. Low Aspiration
4. Moral Decay
Are parents legally liable?
• Under RA 7610
 Signed by Pres. Corazon C. Aquino on June
17, 1992
 The law attaches criminal liability to any
parents who, by his/her actuation, deprived
his/her parental love, care, protection and
education.
Are parents morally liable?
• Child Labor is a socio-ethical issue for the

global community, including business. The
primary responsibility for eliminating child
labor should be shouldered by national
governments and international bodies such
as the International Labor Organization or
ILO and the United Nations or UN.
What are the multiple approaches
to the problem of child labor?
1. Labeling
 Seeks to ensure that a single product or
product type is free from child labor.
 Products now carry a label indicating to
consumers that the product was
manufactured under their fair and
equitable conditions and without the use of
child labor.
 Critics suggest that labeling is generally
too simplistic an approach by which to
combat such problem, for it is extremely
hard to guarantee that a product has been
manufactured without the use of child
labor.
 However, such labels can bring benefits
when they are supported by rigorously
applied audit process.
2. Codes of Conduct and Supplier Guidelines
 can be useful when introduced by companies
with a detailed understanding of the
complexities of child labor.
 In the absence of external monitoring and
verification, codes of conduct may be seen
as, and proved to be, little more than
rhetoric and may even prove
counterproductive if introduced without
sufficient thought.
How do businesses learn from
the experiences of others?
• Focus of Customers
 Reputation preservation with customers
Do some businesses focus on
suppliers and the community?
• A company that focuses on the needs of its
suppliers and local community stakeholders
might well have a different response to the
same problem.
• Rather than seeking to eliminate all work
undertaken by children, it might choose
instead to change the nature of the work,
in line with ILO recommendations and
ideally in consultation with a local
community-based organization.
• Or provide employment to their parents, if
such case is not unlikely. This option needs
a lot of sustained planning and preparation.
• Elimination or change in the role of
children
 The benefit to both the company and the
child will be greatest if the changes are
introduced in a controlled fashion, possibly
over a period of time. Whatever the
response is, good communication with all
affected stakeholders is absolutely
essential.
End of lecture…
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CHALLENGING CHILD

• Refers to illegal employment of children

• 4 million child laborers in the Philippines

 was launched by the Office of the

• RA 7658 (May 12, 1994)

• Children who work may suffer in 4 areas:

• Child Labor is a socio-ethical issue for the

Thank you for listening and

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