"Tougher measures vs child labor amid pandemic pressed", 21 June 2020

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian...enjoined the National Council Against Child Labor to intensify the crackdown on child labor amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Gatchalian made the call after the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) warned that the COVID-19 pandemic could reverse the global decline in child labor.

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According to the United States Department of Labor's 2018 findings on the worst forms of child labor, 3.2 million children in the Philippines aged five to 17 are engaged in child labor, including approximately 3 million involved in hazardous work.

The same report from the US labor department showed that children in the Philippines are engaged in dangerous tasks in both agriculture and mining.

It also found that the worst forms of child labor affecting children in the Philippines include the recruitment of children in armed conflict and commercial sexual exploitation.

Gatchalian warned that with 7.3 million unemployed Filipinos amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some children would end up dropping out of school and look for a job to help their families survive as in the case in some countries.

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