10.5 M kids in slave-like conditions as domestic servants

MANILA, Philippines - Over 10 million young children worldwide work as domestic workers, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said yesterday.

In a report entitled “Ending Child Labor in Domestic Work,” the ILO said 6.5 million of the estimated 10.5 million child domestic workers are aged between 5 to 14 years.

The ILO noted that most of the child domestic workers are in hazardous and sometimes slavery-like conditions.

They work in the homes of a third party or employer, carrying out tasks such as cleaning, ironing, cooking, gardening, collecting water, looking after other children and caring for the elderly.

Child domestic workers are vulnerable to physical, psychological and sexual violence and abusive working conditions.

“They are often isolated from their families, hidden from the public eye and become highly dependent on their employers and many might end up being commercially sexually exploited,” the ILO added.

ILO stressed that the situation of many child domestic workers constitutes a serious violation of child rights.

Constance Thomas, director of the ILO’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, called for a concerted and joint action at national and international levels to eliminate child labor in domestic work.

Thomas said it is estimated that an additional 5 million children, who are above the minimum legal age of work in their countries, are involved in paid or unpaid domestic work globally.

In the Philippines, a survey conducted by the National Statistics Office in 2011 and released in 2012 said that 2.99 million children in the Philippines were engaged in child labor.

Labor officials projected a significant reduction of Filipino children employed as domestic workers with the implementation of the new Kasambahay Law.

The new law prohibits employment of domestic helpers below 15 years old and mandates minimum monthly pay of 2,500 for those working in Metro Manila.