Philippines vows to beat child labour

Manila: The Philippines, which had reported 4.2 million child workers a decade ago, has now set up a website where the public can report child labour incidents in the country.

Rosalinda Baldoz, secretary in the department of labour and employment, said people can now use the newly launched Child Labour Knowledge Sharing System (CLKSS) website to report child labour activities or alleged perpetrators in order to support the anti-child labour campaign of the government.

“We have harnessed the power of the internet in our fight against child labour,” Xinhua quoted Baldoz as saying.

The website is the department’s anti-child labour data hub.

Anyone can register or log on to the website and gain access to the government’s programmes and services, as well as take part in anti-child labour forums or discussions.

The Philippines’ National Statistics Office will soon issue a report of the 2011 survey on children, including child labour, in the country.

According to its last survey done in 2001, there were 4.2 million working children in the country - 2.4 million of them were considered child labourers because of their exposure to hazardous conditions.