Challenging Child

Labor

What is the Philippine

Experience?

The United Nations Commission on

Human Rights reports that if this
exploitative Practice is a fact of life
in the affluent society, it is even
more shameful and
Disgraceful in poor and developing
countries. There are about four
million child Laborers in the
Philippines aged between 5 to 17
years.

More than 2.5 million are

Classified as unpaid workers in
their own family-operated
businesses. While some
900,000 child laborers work in
private establishments, more than
350,000 are household
Helps and 270,000 are selfemployed.

Sixty percent of our child

laborers are unprotected from
hazardous environment that
put their health and life at
risk, which include long
exposure to deadly chemicals
as well as physical dangers.

Somewhat frightening is
the moral depravation to
which many of these
children are exposed. Child
labor is a bold illustration
of prioritization of material
realities over the human
person or profit
maximization at all cost.

Angered by this dismal practice,

symbolic protest known as the
Global March Against Child Labor
was launched by the Office of the
President on Janury 16, 1998, at
the Quezon Memorial Circle in
Quezon City.

The mass action, attented by

foreign dignitaries and childrenrepresentatives from all over asia,
was meant to champion the cause
of 250 million children worldwide
and 3.7 million nationwide who
are forced to work for survival. In
2002, the International Labor
Organization declared June 12 as
Anti-Child Labor Day
(McCann,2005)

Old Enough to Work?

The age at which it is deemed
acceptable for children to undertake
certain tasks varies from country to
country. In 1991, age limits included
the following:

12 years old: Egypt seasonal work;

Benin
light agriculture; Senegal seasonal
work
13 years old: Denmark shop
assistant; Tunisia and
Switzerland light non-industrial
14 years old: Cyprus construction,
India explosives; Sri Lanka street
trades
15 years old: Thailand bars; Italy
machinery in

What constitutes child

labor?

Child labor, the employment

of children below 15 years
old, is both illegal and
unethical..

On June 17, 1992, RA 7610,

also known as the Special
Protection of Children Against
Child Abuse, Exploitation and
Discrimination Act was
approved by the president of
the Philippines.

On May 12, 1994, RA 7658

was issued by the
Department of Labor and
Employment which provides
that, among others, it is
illegal to employ children
under 15 years of age.

What are the dire

reasons why
children work?

Poverty
Traditional distorted
beliefs
Convenience on the part of
the employer

What are the evil

consequences of
child labor?

Physical Deterioration
Mental wasting
Low aspiration
Moral decay