ABK Initiative holds Visayas Congress

Child laborers and anti-child labor advocates recently held its first Congress in the Visayas Region. It is the country's second hotspot with the most number of child laborers.

A set of 14 recommendations came out of the 3-day meeting including calls for government for more programs and services to children, access to education, work for their parents and stricter enforcement of laws on child labor and children's rights.

Here is the complete story from Inq7.net on the congress organized by the ABK Initiative.

Six minors freed from sex den

Six minors from Negros Occidental were rescued from a nightclub in Antique in the continuing fight against child labor and sexual exploitation.

Bacolod city council member Jocelle Batapa Sigue, whom I met at the 1st National Media Summit on Child Labor in Manila last April, was part of the team which undertook the rescue operations.

Here is the complete story.

Passi, Iloilo gets ILO support on child labor

For having the most number of child laborers in Iloilo, the component city of Passi is placed in the priority list of recipients of the International Labour Organization-International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO-IPEC).

Here's the complete story from The News Today online edition.

Cult holds kidnapped children

The Manila Times featured this Philippine News Agency story "Hundreds of children held by cult."

A 14 year old boy who escaped told authorities hundreds of children were being held at a cave in Lutayan town in Sultan Kudarat.

Baguio to check on child labor

Davao should copy this proposed Ordinance in Baguio that will require the listing of all domestic helpers (Kasambahay) to check on child labor.

Alabama govs fight over child labor

The incumbent and former Governors of Alabama are engaged in a debate on child labor inspectors for the State.

One increased it, the other reduced it.

The on-line edition of The Decatur News Daily reports.

Child work vs. Child labor

I have posted in my main blog the list of differences between Child work and Child labor which I learned from the 1st National Media Summit on Child Labor held last month.

I may have even caused trouble in my web hosting service for this booboo.

Related topic - No more tools in my tiny hands

Spain donates to fight child labor in LatAm

Spain will donate 6.6 million Euros ($8.3 million) to fight child labor in Latin America, where significant declines in cases were noted in recent years.

Manila Times editorial

Justice for the Filipino child, Manila Times editorial, May 20

Night commuters

The scavengers of Davao have their counterparts in Africa. In Davao, young kids from as far as Marilog District leave the outskirts of the city in late afternoon to raid the garbage bins of the city at night. They then hitchride on early morning buses to the hinterlands with their rubbish finds.

The same circumstance - but more brutal - prevails in northern Uganda's young children who would rather work at night to find refuge in urban centers than be left in their villages to become child soldiers.

American actor Don Cheadle stars in a new documentary "Journey Into Sunset" about these brave children known as "night commuters" which the outside world has failed to notice.

"I work in rubbish"

New documentary depicts hard life of Lebanon's working children. Invisible Children is the latest work of film director Carol Mansour.

One of the subjects of the film, an 11-12 year old girl, said "I work in rubbish."

News from Africa

The Middle East Times reports that Morroco is preparing a law that would ban child labor.

China's Xinhua newsonline reports that the ILO will set up a monitoring system on child labor in Africa's most populous country - Nigeria.

Unreliable stats

The recent ILO report on the decline on child labor worldwide is encouraging. But Thomas Fuller writing in the International Herald Tribune doubts "as to how meaninful and reliable these statistics are."

In The Workplace: The end of child labor? Depends on where you look, he called on groups "to devote more resources to fix the problem" than doing the numbers.

Combatting child labor in Portuguese-speaking world

Brazil's formula to combat child labor is being shared throughout the Portuguese-speaking world. A conference was held Thursday in Lisbon, Portugal.

Scavengers in Davao

Ann Silvosa, head of our City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), briefed members of the City Council yesterday on the solid waste management program of the city.

There was one particular issue she raised that alarmed a number of us. She said the city is becoming a "scavengers' paradise."

She said she recently visited at least two areas one at the old Cosmopolitan Parlor area and the other at the back of NCCC Bodega at Lizada, where she found colonies of garbage scavengers.

She was shocked to discover the scavengers were mostly children while their parents just sit at the urban poor colony playing cards, gossiping and drinking.

Child labor curbed with awareness, reform

Washington Times correspondent John Zarocostas interviewed Guy Thijs, director of the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) in Geneva recently. Here's the story.

Inquirer commentary

Dealing with child labor, by Jigger S. Latoza at page A15, May 8, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Brazil's formula

Economic growth with equitable income distribution;
Quality education; and
Safety nets for children

These are the formula of Brazil in eliminating child labor.

Texas couple jailed for child labor

Here is a story of a Texas couple who smuggled a Mexican girl to the US and forced her to do domestic work and take care of the defendent's small children.

The couple were sentenced to long jail terms.

Click here for the complete story.

ILO reports decline in child labor

A recent report by the International Labor Organization (ILO) revealed that child labor worldwide has declined 11 percent over the last 4 years.

Unfortunately, there are still 218 million children at work today.

Click here for the Voice of America report.

Human trafficking victims include children

Virtually no country immune from scourge of human trafficking – UN report

Info booths at SM

World Vision info and fund-raising booths at SM-North (up to today, May 3) and at SM Mega Mall (up to July 20)