EDITORIAL - Liberation for child workers

On the same day that we celebrated our proclamation of independence, the world called for another form of liberation. Yesterday, for the first time, the Philippines and other member countries of the International Labor Organization marked World Day Against Child Labor — an event that henceforth will be marked annually.

The special day was marked as the results of a comprehensive study on child labor were released. The study found that 246 million children worldwide — one in every six children aged 5 to 17 — toil at jobs that put them at serious risk or for which they are too young. Of that number, 179 million are engaged in the worst forms of child labor — jobs that are hazardous to their physical, mental and moral well-being. Up to 8.4 million children are trapped in "unconditional" forms of child labor involving slavery, debt bondage, conscription for armed conflict, prostitution and pornography.

Child labor is a global phenomenon, according to the study. In the industrialized countries, an estimated 2.5 million children are in the labor force. The biggest concentration of child laborers, however, can be found in the Asia-Pacific region, with 127 million children no older than 14 working.

In this country, the Second Philippine Survey on Children conducted last year showed that over four million children aged 5 to 17 were working in various sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, retail, fishing and forestry. Approximately 2.4 million of those children worked in environments that exposed them to physical, biological, chemical, parasitic and viral hazards, the survey showed. About 40 percent of the children did not finish grade school while 32 percent reached high school. Three percent never went to school while a minuscule 0.8 percent went to college.

Obviously, one of the biggest causes of child labor is poverty. In many countries, there are parents who sell their children for sex to augment the family income. And in many cases, adolescents themselves seek work to help their families. The plight of child laborers should galvanize all sectors to work harder at liberating millions of people from the clutches of poverty. World Day Against Child Labor should prod the international community to do more for the millions who are robbed of their childhood by forces beyond their control.