Tacloban: World Day against Child Labour

Street children in Cebu. / Wikipedia Photo

MANILA — Thousands of children and their families affected by Haiyan (Yolanda) along with government agencies, non-government organizations, international and humanitarian partners will march against child labour in Tacloban on 12 June (3-6pm) at the Balyuan Center near the DILG Office, Tacloban.

(DETAILED ROUTE: From Balyuan Center to -> Real St.-> Avenida Veteranos -> Rizal Avenue ->Justice Romualdez St.-and culminate at the City Engineer’s Covered Court for the Programme)

The joint assessment of the Child Protection and Education Cluster (March-April 2014) in affected municipalities of Region VI and VII after Haiyan (Yolanda) revealed that 54 per cent of barangays reported that children are involved in child labour or in harsh and dangerous labour and 75 per cent of barangays reported that children who are working are not able to go to school. The joint assessment took place in 112 barangays and 125 schools and key informants included community leaders and head teachers.

In the Philippines, the 2011 Survey on Children by the National Statistics Office, conducted with the support of the International Labour Organization, revealed that there were 3 million child labourers (5-17 years old).

This year’s World Day against Child Labour (12 June) will focus on the global theme: “Extend social protection: combat child labour!” Poverty and shocks play a key role in driving children to work. Poor households are more likely to have to resort to child labour to meet basic needs and deal with uncertainty. Exposure to shocks, resulting in loss of family income, can have a similar effect on household decisions. For example, economic shocks, such an adult member of the family losing his/her job, health-related shocks like a serious illness or an employment injury, and agriculture-related shocks, such as drought, flood and crop failure, can dramatically reduce household incomes and cause children to drop out of school and go to work to contribute to the family income.

Social protection aims at providing support to poor families, and assistance to help them to weather various shocks. Social protection instruments which are most helpful in combatting child labour include:

Cash and in-kind transfer programmes that enhance income security for families and facilitate access to education and health care, conditional or not, help prevent child labour, and promote enrolling children into schools, taking children for health check-ups.

Public employment programmes, which provide jobs for adults to build and improve roads, schools, health centres and the like, helping to ensure that it is adults who are at work and not children.

Social health protection, which ensures access to health care and financial protection in case of sickness, and can stop households sending children to work when a member of the household falls ill.

Maternity benefits, that protect pregnant women and recent mothers and allow caring for new-born children, have a key impact on improving the health of mothers and children and avoid that older children have to work to replace the mothers’ lost income.

Social protection for people with disabilities and those who suffer from employment-related injuries or diseases, prevent households from resorting to child labour.

Income security in old age, providing pensions to older people helps protect younger generations by contributing to the economic security of the household as a whole.

Unemployment protection, which provides adults with at least partial income replacement, reduces the need to rely on the income of working children when facing job loss.

World Day against Child Labour (12 June) promotes awareness and action to tackle child labour globally. Support for the World Day grows every year. Join us and add your voice to the worldwide movement against child labour.

You can also add your voice against child labour by donating a Tweet, Facebook or Tumblr post for free athttps://www.thunderclap.it/projects/11571-red-card-to-child-labour (Choose: Support with – Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr). At the global level, the International Labour Organization – the United Nations specialized agency for the world of work, will launch the 2014 edition of its Red Card to Child Labour Campaign as billions of people prepare for the opening of the 2014 FIFA Football World Cup in Brazil.

A new song, written by Grammy-nominated musician Mike Einziger and internationally acclaimed violinist, Ann Marie Simpson, will be released. It features several award-wining artists committed to the cause including Travis Barker, drummer from Blink-182; Minh Dang, activist and survivor of human trafficking; Dominic Lewis, composer; LIZ, R&B pop-artist; Pharrell Williams, Grammy award-winning singer/producer; and Hans Zimmer, Oscar award-winning film composer. Everyone who joins the Thunderclap Red Card to Child Labour campaign will be able to download the song.

The campaign’s launch will also feature an aerial art event in Rio de Janeiro with over 1,000 people coming together to form a giant human pinwheel (the symbol of the fight to end child labour), against the backdrop of the Sugar Loaf mountain. And in New York, the giant screens on Times Square will display the campaign’s messages throughout the day, inviting passers-by to join the fight against child labour.

International Labour Organization Press Release dated June 12, 2014