I dream for a world which is free of child labour, a world in which every child goes to school. A world in which every child gets his rights. — Kailash Satyarthi, Social Reformer
The Philippines is home to at least 5.5 million child labourers, with at least 3 million working in hazardous and detrimental conditions, according to a report done by the Philippine Statistics Authority in 2011. By their definition, child labour refers to any sort of work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally harmful to children; work that takes the ‘child’ out of ‘childhood’. And yet as pressing as the situation is, it is often sidelined due to it’s ‘taboo’ nature, and the lack of regulations to prevent its occurrence. Now, during this time of pandemic, the issue has begun to fester once again; more dangerous than it has ever been. In this article, we take a look at the silent danger of child labour, its significant amplification due tothe Covid-19 pandemic, and what is being done in response.
To begin, we need to know not only what the problem is, but where it is coming from. For the issue of child labour, it is deeply rooted in the following aspects according to data from the Terre des hommes - a children’s rights organization - the country’s state of extreme poverty, the lack of productive jobs, internal and external migration, and the nation’s social culture that centralizes family above one’s self. This culmination of difficulties are felt the hardest by poor families who are incapable of providing themselves and their families with basic necessities. Considering the Philippine News Agency’s report showing the poverty rate to be at 18.7% (2021), and the number of Filipinos living below the poverty line at 21% (2018), it is not unreasonable for families to resort to child labour to help sustain their livelihood. This is further exemplified by how many of the safer, more ideal jobs for adolescents are often not accessible to those who grew up with poor backgrounds, forcing them to work in strenuous, oftentimes hazardous occupations, such as in farms, fields, mines, streets, and factories as recorded by the International Labour Organization. What’s more, the global economy also plays an integral role in the nature of the scheme. Trends in the global market dictate the profit of goods and services for those who offer them; in the case there are not enough workers of eligible age, some groups may be prompted to accept the employment of these child workers, in order to increase their manpower. For instance, the rising demand for gold has consequently encouraged many gold mining operations to allow the recruitment of young children, with over 19,000 children working across gold mines nationwide (Child Fund, 2018).
Yet even amongst all these catalysts, the biggest contender for advancing child labour and exploitation is arguably technology. In this digital age, the Philippines has consecutively topped the global reports of having the greatest online presence and social media usage in the world; exponentially growing as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Having bled the economy dry, and displacing over 100,000 workers (Department of Labour and Employment, 2021), the lockdown procedures have worsened the aforementioned problems that cause child labour; and, along with the heightened usage of technology, have enabled perhaps one of the worst forms of child labour the Philippines is facing -- online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC). The Department of Justice reported that the number of cases of OSEC has tripled since quarantine began in March 2020, with cases rising from 76,561 to 279,166 in Metro Manila alone. In fact, global studies from the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) have even tagged the Philippines as a “global epicenter of the live-stream sexual abuse trade”, with 80% of Filipino kids being at risk of online sexual abuse. Impoverished children have been made even more vulnerable to being victimized, as the difficulties brought about by the pandemic have forcibly compelled more and more families to turn to child exploitation as a last resort. A notable example of this would be Rappler’s featured case of Carmen Lirio, a mother of five who has been persecuted for sexually exploiting her 11 year old son and 8 year old daughter online. Ms. Lirio’s snack stand closed down due to lockdown regulations. Her husband worked as a village watchman -- barely able to provide for their family with a measly monthly salary of Php1600. As a result, she began selling explicit videos and images of her children on the internet, until she was soon caught and arrested by police months later.
In response to these grave issues, the government has since put some laws in place regarding children’s rights and protection from exploitation. RA 679 for example, tackles the prevention of children working illegally in hazardous occupations, while RA 9775, aslo known as the “Anti-Child Pornography Act”, aims to secure the fundamental rights children have to their development and wellbeing. Additionally, several organizations such as UNICEF, World Vision Development Foundation, Inc, the ILO, ChildFund, etc. have recognized the urgency of the situation, and continue to support these poor families by sponsoring the children’s educational needs, as well as financially providing for their families. These initiatives have slowly but surely aided in counteract the issue of child labour and child exploitation in the country. However, this is an ongoing mission, that is not without its flaws. The current laws are not nearly strict, specific, or reinforced enough to make any sort of a difference. Article 139 of the Philippine Labor Code sets the minimum working age at 15, while the legal age of consent in the country at 12 (the second lowest in the world), leading for many instances to go overlooked, simply because the law does not prohibit them from occurring. Even laws such as the previously noted republic acts do not fully address the full scope of child labour activites. RA 679 has loopholes -- allowing children under 14 to be eligible to work as long as they are certifiably literate. As for RA 9775, it fails to clearly define the distinction of OSEC as a separate crime from child pornography, and thus impose the necessary penalties. Furthermore, many of the discovered cases fail to have follow-up investigations, with only tens of the thousand perpetrators being convicted by the government annually (Rappler, 2020).
In the end, the future for these children will be dictated upon what society does unto them. As it currently stands, the enhanced community quarantine has put any upcoming efforts against this problem at a standstill. However, continuous actions to support exposed families will provide them genuine aid, and prevent child exploitation as an alternative source of finance. Education also plays a vital role in rectifying the circumstances, and must be made widely accessible, in order to provide the youth with opportunities that allow them to hone their skills, and maximize their full potential . Child labor, in all its forms, is more than just the byproduct of an economically strained nation -- it is the reaction of the people who exploit unprotected youthas a quick fix solution; a desperate remedy for people to survive in such a severely poverty-stricken country, made even worse with the global pandemic.
Sources:
Abad, M. (2020, July 7). FAST facts: Why online sexual exploitation of children happens in the Philippines. Rappler. Retrieved from: https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/things-to-know-online-sexual-exploitation-children-philippines
Child labour in the Philippines (ILO in the Philippines). (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.org/manila/areasofwork/child-labour/lang--en/index.htm
Gita-Carlos, R. A. (2019, October 17). PH poverty projected to be At 18.7% IN 2021: WB. Philippine News Agency. Retrieved from: https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1083509
KAELA MALIG, G. M. A. N. (2019, January 16). PHL ranks 16th out of 40 countries in responding to child sexual ABUSE, study says. GMA News Online. Retrieved from: https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/681678/phl-ranks-16th-out-of-40-countries-in-responding-to-child-sexual-abuse-study-says/story/
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Pasion, P. (2017, December 13). Philippines top global source of child pornography – unicef. Rappler. Retrieved from: https://www.rappler.com/nation/philippines-top-global-source-child-pornography-unicef
Plan international PHILIPPINES warns against Osec Amid 'new NORMAL', calls for freedom of girls from online violence. Plan International. (2021, March 4). Retrieved from: https://plan-international.org/press-release/2021-03-04-plan-international-philippines-warns-against-osec-amid-new-normal-calls
Pulta, B. (2021, January 3). DOJ vows crackdown vs. online sexual exploitation of children. Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1126199.
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