by Usa Pichai
Saturday, 13 June 2009 12:47
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Chaiwut Bannawat, Thailand’s Deputy Education Minister on Friday said the government will introduce a new policy of providing equal educational opportunities to all children in the Kingdom including over 100,000 stateless and migrant children.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of “The World Day Against Child Labour” in Mae Sot district of Tak Province, near the Thai-Burmese border, the Deputy Minister said, while the Kingdom has strived to provide possible educational opportunities to all children, there remains a large number of children who have failed to receive education.
“In Tak province, there are 20,000 children who lack educational opportunities. Some 14,000 children are in the school system in 120 public schools and 9,816 children are in education centres, which follow the international education agreement of UNESCO. In the future we will be providing higher education, which ought to be provided in respect of their human rights,” the Deputy Minister was quoted as saying by a Thai news website Manager.
More than 1,500 children along with their teachers participated in the ceremony being held on the border provinces with Burma -- Chiang Rai, Ranong, Tak and Samut Sakorn, where numerous migrant and stateless children from Burma live.
Marking the ‘The World Day Against Child Labour’, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Friday, released a statement saying the World Day this year marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the landmark ILO Convention No. 182, which addresses the need for action to tackle the worst forms of child labour.
While celebrating the progresses made during the past 10 years, the World Day will highlight the continuing challenges, with a focus on exploitation of girls in child labour, the statement said.
The ILO said that an estimated 100 million girls around the globe are involved in child labour. Many of these girls undertake similar types of work as boys, but often also endure additional hardships and face extra risks. Moreover, girls are all too often exposed to some of the worst forms of child labour, often in hidden work situations.
The ILO called for policy responses to address the causes of child labour, paying particular attention to the situation of girls, urgent action to tackle the worst forms of child labour and greater attention to education and skills training needs of adolescent girls - a key action point in tackling child labour and providing a pathway for girls to get ‘Decent Work’ as adults.
Meanwhile, Tattiya Likitwong, a project coordinator of the Child Development Foundation said that the child labour situation in Thailand has not improved because children from Burma, Laos and Cambodia are found working in several businesses, particularly in big cities.
“Many of the children are found working in fishery industries, selling flowers on the roads or begging. In addition, employers have registered more than 200,000 migrant children between the ages of 15 to 18 working in their business while many more have not been registered,” she said.
According to ‘The Mirror Foundation’, there are many reports of children disappearing from their homes. Some are forced to work as beggars or sell flowers, tissue or small products in restaurants. Smaller children are sold in Malaysia or Vietnam claiming that they are being adopted but are forced to work.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
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