Through the ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), a five-year project in six provinces in different parts of the country has begun to:
- Improve partnerships among committed agencies and departments in many sectors to enforce existing laws and policies
- Keep up to date with the changing dimensions of the child labour problem through continued research
- Withdraw targeted children from exploitative work situations and provide them with education and/or skills training opportunities
- Continue spreading awareness among provincial and national decision makers, officials, staff and the general population on the negative impacts of child labour
- Develop good practices for replicating throughout the country and elsewhere.
This project will also complement the continuing fight against human trafficking by strengthening the workplace child labour monitoring system and data collection.
The six provinces of the project are: Chiang Rai, Pattani, Samut Sakhon, Songkhla, Tak and Udon Thani. The target children are largely from Myanmar but also include those from Lao PDR and Cambodia, hill tribe children from the north, very poor children in the northeast and Muslim children in the south.
Achievements to Build on in Thailand
The improvements in children’s lives over the past decade are a result of many positive measures taken by the Government, including extending compulsory education to age 15 and strict limits on work from ages 15 to 17. Other achievements, such as the following, have created a sound basis for more needed action:
National and provincial Child Protection Committees, established under the National Child Protection Act (2003). Collaboration across government departments and between government and non-government bodies has met with some successes at the provincial level.
National Plan of Action against the worst forms of child labour targets the withdrawal, protection and rehabilitation of children in exploitative and hazardous work conditions and protection for those at risk, through multidisciplinary teams for child protection.
Provision of Basic Education for All, which includes children of non-registered migrants and stateless children, a significant policy passed by the cabinet in 2005, but needs to be fully implemented.
The government policy on child labour, which responds to crucial child-protection provisions of ILO Conventions that Thailand has ratified. Implementation remains a challenge and requires political will to see it through, as well as clarity on what is expected.
Ministry of Labour child-labour monitoring teams have been set up locally, but the number of inspectors is insufficient, particularly in areas where there are large numbers of migrant children.
Cross-border agreements with neighbouring countries and regional networks that have been developed to confront the problem of trafficking of women and children are good for collaboration but require better law enforcement.
The Worst Forms of Child Labour
Child labour in its worst forms is work that is dangerous. It can cause both psychological and physical damage. It stunts young people’s mental, physical, emotional and educational development, and it reinforces poverty and illiteracy.
The worst forms of child labour include trafficking into exploitative situations, debt bondage and other forms of forced labour, forced recruitment into armed conflicts and illicit activities.
Many children in Thailand are forced into working long hours at sweat labour. A large number work in the textile, seafood and agro-industrial processing industries. Many are also found in begging and in abusive household work. Children work selling alcohol at entertainment clubs. They are also used in drug trafficking, prostitution and the production of pornography
Such forms of child labour violate both international conventions and national legislation: They are against the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, against ILO Convention No. 138 on the Minimum Age for Employment and ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child labour, all of which Thailand has ratified.
The ILO in Thailand
As a United Nations specialized agency, the ILO promotes social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights. Its overarching goal is to achieve decent work for all so everyone can work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. The ILO provides a wide range of technical assistance to its member states and supports the design and implementation of Decent Work Country Programmes around the world.
In Thailand, combating child labour is one area of its emphasis. Other areas include expanding access to social services and protection, reducing discrimination, strengthening institutional capacity to implement ILO core labour standards. ILO support entails financial and technical assistance for research, advocacy for policy and legislation and strengthening the capabilities of government, workers’ and employers’ organizations and other civil society groups.
ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) first set up projects in Thailand in 1992. Its latest research (2006) looked into child labour in fishing, agriculture, domestic work, bar/restaurants and begging in the six provinces that the 2006–2010 project covers.
ILO-IPEC has been a partner in anti-trafficking efforts, such as through the Mekong Subregional Project to Combat Trafficking in Children and Women with activities in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Viet Nam and the Yunnan province of China. This project has produced a variety of good practices that can be replicated to further protect children from exploitation.
For further information, please contact:
Ms Suvajee Good
ILO/IPEC Thailand Programme
International Labour Organization
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
10th Floor, United Nations Secretariat Building
Rajdamnern Nok Avenue
Bangkok 10200, THAILAND
Tel: +662-288-1767
Fax: +662-288-1019
Email