capital on Sunday to mark the World Day Against Child Labour, waving
banners calling for an end to the widespread practice.
Hundreds march in Cambodia capital urging end of child labor - PHNOM PENH
The demonstration was organized by the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) and the Cambodian government, who have set a goal
of ending the worst forms of child labor in the country by 2016.
They also announced the launch of an ambitious program to rid Phnom
Penh's popular riverside area of child workers by this time next year.
Menacherry Paul Joseph, head of the ILO's anti-child labor programmed
in Cambodia, said it was "a shame" that young children could be seen
begging or selling books and souvenirs to tourists until late at
night.
"Cambodia is truly a kingdom of wonder. Let us make it a kingdom
without child labor," he said at the rally, where demonstrators waved
banners saying "Warning! Children in hazardous work — End child
labor."
According to the ILO, some 1.5 million Cambodians under the age of 18
are forced to work, more than 310,000 of them in hazardous jobs such
as spraying pesticides or working in brick factories.
Ten-year-old child worker Soth Ousphea, watching the rally, said his
mother could not afford to send him to school, and instead he earned
around 50 cents a day collecting plastic bottles and cans.
"I want to go to school," he told AFP.
Cambodia is one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries, with around a
third of its 14 million people living on less than a dollar per day.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/other/2011/06/13/306009/Hundreds-march.htm
June 13, 2011
