US to give $5.5M to address child labor problem in RP

The United States will provide $5.5 million or P220 million to combat the worst forms of child labor in the Philippines. In a statement, the US Embassy in Manila said the amount would go to World Vision, Christian Children�s Fund and the Education Research and Development Assistance Foundation to address the education needs of children engaged in or at risk of being victims of abusive child labor practices in the Philippines. �The initiative seeks to remove 18,000 children and prevent another 12,000 children from hazardous work in sugarcane plantations, child domestic work, commercial sexual exploitation, mining and quarrying, garbage scavenging and pyrotechnics,� the embassy said. Child labor refers to the illegal employment of children below 18 years old in hazardous occupations.

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