Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Philippines (Ratification: 2000)

Article 6 of the Convention and Part V of the report form. Programmes of action and application of the Convention in practice. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the statement in the report of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC report), for the World Trade Organization General Council on the Trade Policies of the Philippines of 20 and 22 March 2012, entitled “Internationally recognized core labour standards in Philippines”, that many children are exploited in the worst forms of child labour in the Philippines. In farms and plantations, children make use of pesticides and carry heavy loads. In mines, use of heavy machinery by children has been reported. Girls are usually victims of involuntary domestic servitude, in which case they are often barred from going to school and vulnerable to sexual exploitation. In this regard, the ITUC indicates that the Government is implementing the Philippine National Strategic Framework for Plan Development for Children 2000–25, the National Programme of Action Against Child Labour (NPACL), and phase II of the ILO–IPEC Philippine Time-bound Programme (PTBP) for the years 2009–13, which focuses on child labour in agriculture, mining, fishing, and domestic servitude.

In this regard, the Committee notes the Government’s information that, in the framework of the ABK 2 Initiative Project (a project implemented by World Vision from 2007–11 to combat child labour through education), 30,983 children were provided with assistance: 13,833 in sugarcane plantations; 1,498 in commercial agriculture; 1,917 in fishing; 4,991 in domestic work; 373 in pyrotechnics; 2,209 in mining and quarrying; 4,092 in scavenging; and 2,062 in commercial sexual exploitation. However, the Committee notes the Government’s information that, according to the preliminary results of the 2011 Survey on Children, conducted by the National Statistics Office, an estimated 58.4 per cent of the 5,492 million working children aged 5 to 17 years, that is 3,210 million children, were considered to be in child labour, among whom 2,993 million (54.5 per cent of working children) were identified as working in a hazardous environment, one third of them being girls. The largest number of children in hazardous work were found in farms (55.4 per cent), followed by children working in hazardous work in their own homes (12.2 per cent), in the streets (9 per cent), in the maritime sector (8.9 per cent), in the marketplace (5.1 per cent), in their employer’s house (4.9 per cent), in construction or quarries (1.5 per cent), and in factories (0.7 per cent). While taking note of the Government’s efforts in combating child labour and its worst forms, the Committee expresses its concern at the high number of children engaged in the worst forms of child labour in the Philippines. The Committee, therefore, urges the Government to strengthen its efforts in order to eradicate the worst forms of child labour, as a matter of urgency. In this regard, it requests the Government to continue providing information on the results achieved through the implementation of the various adopted measures, including the PTBP and the NPACL, particularly in terms of the number of children prevented from engaging in, or removed from, the worst forms of child labour.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Prevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. 1. Ensuring access to free basic education. The Committee previously noted that there was a serious concern about the increasing number of children who were not able to go to school, which was estimated at 4.2 million children. The Committee also noted that there was a high concentration of pupils dropping out in grade one and that the Government struggled to make the final step to universal primary education, reflecting the high levels of marginalization experienced by some social groups. Moreover, the Committee noted that the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its concluding observations of 22 October 2009 (CRC/C/PHL/CO/3-4, paragraph 65), expressed its concern that certain vulnerable groups of children, such as children living in poverty, children with disabilities, working children, children in armed conflict, indigenous children, children infected with, or affected by HIV/AIDS, and street children did not have access to equal education.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that it is making efforts to make basic education more inclusive through various policies. These include the adoption of Republic Act No. 10533 (Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013), which declares the State’s policy to establish, maintain and support a complete, adequate and integrated system of education, as well as several programmes, such as the ABOT ALAM (integrates programmes for out-of-school youth); programmes on indigenous peoples; Madrasah education (provided 1,067,700 Muslim pupils and students with education in 2012); school health and nutrition programmes; ABK 3 LEAP (combats exploitative child labour in sugar cane areas by increasing children’s access to education); and more. As a result, the Government indicates that the net enrolment rate at the elementary level improved significantly, from 95.96 per cent in 2010 to 97.37 per cent in 2011. Considering that education contributes to preventing children from engaging in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee urges the Government to pursue its efforts to ensure access to, and completion of, free basic education for all children, including children belonging to vulnerable groups. It once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to reduce school drop-out rates, particularly in early grades, so as to prevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour.

2. Children engaged in drug trafficking. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the ITUC’s allegation that the use of children in drug trafficking is widespread in the Philippines.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that, to prevent the engagement of minors in drug trafficking, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in close coordination with the Juvenile Justice Welfare Council, instituted drug demand reduction activities, and created the PDEA Desk and regional units for the welfare of children and women involved in illegal drug activities. The Government also indicates that several programmes are being implemented by the Dangerous Drugs Board in order to raise awareness and prevent the youth from becoming victims of drug use and trafficking including, for example, the Trainer’s Training on Drug Abuse Education (DARE), which trains law enforcement officers to teach lessons to children to prevent them from being used as drug couriers. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of children who were prevented from becoming engaged in drug trafficking through the implementation of the abovementioned measures and programmes.

Article 7(2). Clause (b). Removing children from the worst forms of child labour and providing for their rehabilitation and social integration. Child victims of trafficking. The Committee notes the information contained in the Report of 19 April 2013 of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, according to which section 23 of the Anti Trafficking in Persons Act (ATIP Act) sets out the mandatory services to be provided by concerned Government agencies to victims of trafficking to ensure their recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration into society (A/HRC/23/48/Add.3, paragraph 53). The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the main agency responsible for providing these services and operates 42 residential care units and temporary shelters, including 11 for trafficking victims in different regions. In addition, several shelters for the care and rehabilitation of victims of exploitation, including trafficking, are in place. The Special Rapporteur visited, for example, Marillac Hills in Manila, a childcare facility providing care and rehabilitation to abused girls, including child victims of trafficking. From 2009 to November 2012, this facility sheltered 255 trafficking victims; most were then reintegrated back into their families. In Cebu, the Special Rapporteur visited the Regional Haven and Her Space, a processing centre for initial assessment and processing of rescued women and girls trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. This centre, which received 267 child victims from 2007 to October 2012, provides victims with food, clothing, personal care items, temporary shelter, psychological support sessions, orientation on DSWD rehabilitation programmes and services, and more; 249 of these victims were referred to DSWD shelters and 17 reintegrated within their families.

However, the Special Rapporteur observed that care and support provided to victims in the DSWD-run shelters were highly inadequate, due to the low number of employees compared to the number of victims accommodated, and to the lack of funding. Moreover, the majority of local social welfare officers and shelter employees remained inadequately trained, especially regarding assistance to children and victims trafficked for forced labour. Furthermore, the majority of victims are reintegrated into their families and communities, where the services to support their recovery are limited due to local communities’ inadequate capacity to undertake the required monitoring and aftercare programmes necessary for a smooth reintegration. Noting the high prevalence of child victims of trafficking in the Philippines, the Committee urges the Government to strengthen its efforts to protect children under 18 years of age from this worst form of child labour and to provide them with the appropriate services for their rehabilitation and social integration. It requests the Government to provide information on the results obtained in this regard.