Report Says More Than 10 Percent of Children Are ‘Laborers’
More than 10 percent of children in the country aged between 5 and 17 work as laborers, with more than 5 percent engaged in “hazardous labor,” a situation that must be addressed by the government, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said in a report released Thursday. The Child Labor Survey 2012, which was conducted by the ILO along with the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) in April 2012, found that 1 out of every 10 children in the country is forced to work in a way that violates Cambodian laws or international conventions ratified by the government. Out of a total population of about 4 million children aged five to 17 in Cambodia, 429,380 are defined by the ILO as being “child laborers,” a group that includes children between five and 12 employed for at least one hour a week, children between 12 and 14 who work for more than 12 hours a week, children between 15 and 17 employed for more than 48 hours a week and all children who work in conditions that are hazardous to their health. … The survey, which was conducted by 75 researchers and involved a sample of 9,600 households across all 23 provinces and Phnom Penh, found that almost half of the country’s child laborers worked for more than 48 hours a week, while only 5.1 percent worked between one and seven hours a week. About half of the child laborers were unpaid, while the other half were wage-earning employees. About 3 percent were self-employed. On average, child wage-earners made between 100,000 riel, or about $25, and 500,000 riel, or about $125, a month, depending on how many hours they worked. …
Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/report-says-more-than-10-percent-of-children-are-laborers-48198/
