• Convening the Task Force Domestic Workers in Asia
  • The Philippine Global March Against Child Labor

    • We thank you for your relentless and dedicated efforts to help pass the Magna Carta for Household Helpers. However, it still faces difficulties in the Senate and a looming deadline before the elections come May 2004. To help spread the spirit of the magna carta, click the poster and sticker icons below to have your own print ready copies at home.

    CAN WE END THE WORST FORMS

    United Call

    We, the delegates of the Children's Consultation on Child Trafficking made up of children victims of trafficking and labor, members and leaders of the Child Laborers and Advocates for Social Participatuon (CLASP) and advocates of children's rights, which was held from the 29th and 30th of September 2001 at Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite, make this call:

    We BELIEVE that children have the fundamental right to live, be protected, to participate and to develop ourselves. It is our right to be protected against all forms of abuse especially for economic gain. We all belong in school or at play and in the care of our families. We should not be at work in such an early age especially in hazardous environments and most of all not to be victimized by child trafficking. All of these are the responsibility of all our elders, all children and of society.

    Most of us are SUFFERING or AT THE RISK OF SUFFERING hazardous environments like relocation away from our home through the use of threats, coercion, deception and abuse which may lead to hazardous work like prostitution. We children are usually the victims of illegal recruitment through recruiters who most of the time are our relatives, friends or acquiantances who take advantage of our weaknesses.

    We are calling to all our elders, especially the delegates of the ILO Asian Meeting on Child Trafficking to eliminate the ever-spreading plague of child trafficking. We are calling on:

    1. GOVERNMENTS to heed our plea of help to provide us with our fundamental needs and protection. Through heeding our call, governments will be better informed of the real situation of children, therefore, responding more sensitively and positively through legislation and implementation including the immediate arrest, prosecution and punishment of those abusing children's weaknesses. It is also our call that governments do with all its power to inform the people of its nations the threat of child trafficking so that it will be equipped to battle it.
    2. EMLOYERS to take responsibility to ensure that there are no children victims of child trafficking employed at their disposal. We call on them to formulate and implement policy and programs to prevent and protect children from abuse and hazardous work. It is their duty to see to it that there no victims of child trafficking in their business, and if there are, to report it to the proper authorities for speedy action.
    3. TRADE UNIONS to include in their objectives and ideals the rights of children and the issue of child trafficking. We call on them to actively pursue advocate and fight for childrens rights.
    4. NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS (NGOs) to continue to fight for children's rights and protection and safety specially now that the menace of child trafficking is rapidly revealing its malevolent claws. We urge them to expand and innovate their programs and services to better suite the ever changing times and needs of children, their families and communities.

    We STAND by this call and we PLEDGE the following actions to do our part in this battle against child trafficking:

    1. For OURSELVES, we will be strong and firm and always cautious and alert in our fight against child trafficking through organized activities.
    2. To our FELLOW CHILDREN, we will try our best to warn you against child trafficking, for you to save yourselves against any threat. We at the the same time call upon you to be alert and cautious against deception and to join the ranks of organized action against child trafficking.
    3. To OUR PARENTS AND FAMILY, we call upon you to be alert and cautious against the snares of child trafficking. We call upon you not to let your children work far away from home. You need to be united to eliminate all forms of dangers that may prey upon your children.
    4. To our COMMUNITY AND THE REST OF SOCIETY, we call upon you to observe and protect the rights of children. Observance of these rights will be our foundation in our fight against child trafficking. We call upon you to take up the fight with us and organize and participate in actions to legislate and implement policy and programs for the benefit of children.