MANILA, Philippines?The International Labor Organization (ILO) will send a team to the Philippines to investigate the killing of trade union leaders, ILO director Linda Wirth said Monday.

The mission will be sent "soon," said Wirth, the ILO director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, without giving a date or saying how many killings would be investigated.

Addressing a forum on child labor, Wirth said that the ILO would also send a team to the Philippines to examine the extent of child labor in the country, and its compliance with UN conventions against the practice.

Government figures last year showed that there were about two million workers aged 17 and younger.