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Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Group seeks support to combat child labor
AROUND four million or 16.2 percent of the country’s 25 million children aged five to 17 are working. Of the number, 1.08 million were reported to be engaged in physical work.
According to the 2001 Philippine Survey on Children, 940,000 of working children already had work-related injuries; 830,000 said they found their work risky or dangerous; and 750,000 said they had work-related illness.
Today, child laborers can be found in almost every Philippine household, with three out of 10 families having children aged five to 17 years old engaging in work.
With child labor as one of the most pressing problems confronting the Philippine government, a flagship project for combating child labor through education was launched.
Summit
The ABK Initiative is being implemented by World Vision, Christian Children’s Fund, Educational Research and Development Assistance Foundation and Plan Philippines Inc.
The group, known collectively as the National Coalition for Children’s Participation, will be sponsoring the first-ever nationwide Media Summit on Child Labor on Wednesday at the Century Park Hotel in Manila.
Dubbed “the Media factor in addressing Child Labor through Education,” the event aims to raise public awareness on the issue of child labor and prod media practitioners to pursue related stories and consequently, help address the issue.
The ABK Initiative recognizes the power of media to influence society in rescuing children engaged in the worst forms of labor. Funding for the project is provided by the United States Department of Labor.
The Department of Labor and Employment had acknowledged that at least five million children now work in commercial and industrial sectors in the Philippines, matching estimated figures from United Nations Children’s Fund and the International Labor Organization.
Today, one in every six children in the world aged five to 17, are working. (PR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 18, 2006 issue)
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