Dole steps up campaign vs child labor

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is strengthening its monitoring of business establishments to prevent and stop child labor by 2025.

Adeline de Castro, DOLE planning service director, said they were closely coordinating with government agencies and local government units, down to the barangay level.

The coordination is being carried out to strictly monitor and implement general labor standards, especially laws banning child labor.

“We are serious in the commitment to end child labor by the year 2025. We aim for 1 million children to be free from child labor, especially those in the agriculture and mining sector,” she said.

Inspection teams ensure the compliance of establishments with labor standards, occupational safety and health standards, and if the company employs workers below the mandated working age.

De Castro said they would work with barangays, municipalities, and provincial governments in encouraging informal management sectors to enlist with the DOLE so that the agency may conduct inspections.

“This may lessen and soon eradicate child labor practices and exploitation in the rural areas,” she said.

She cited informal sectors in the agriculture and mining industry, which do not have legitimate and proper registration papers. This makes it difficult for DOLE inspection teams to reach such sectors.

Giovanni Soledad of the International Labor Organization noted that children younger than 15 years old were forced to work under hazardous conditions after calamities, such as Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan), to provide income and food for their families.

He added that some of the male children were also forced to drop out of school to do agricultural work.