Child Scavengers: A Case Study The conditions of working children are causing increasing concern in many countries. Children under the age of 15 are found working in all areas of the labour market. Many work as unpaid family labour, but a growing number are also found working as casual labourers outside the protection of their families. As a result, they are subject to exploitative practices, and worse still forced to work under conditions dangerous to their normal development. Among the working children requiring special and urgent attention are those engaged in scavenging in Tondo province. The garbage dumpsite is located near Rion town and it is known as the Balut plains. This site constitutes not just a dumping ground but also a working and living environment for a large community of people who scavenge to survive and to overcome their extreme poverty. Those people make their living by collecting and sorting out materials which are then reused or recycled. Around 500 boys and girls under the age of 15 either work alone or with their families on the garbage trucks or the garbage heaps. Eighty percent of them are known to suffer from malnutrition. The children either have no training or schooling of any sort, or they have dropped out of school and face a future without hope. The scavengers work in unhealthy conditions and do not use protective devices. They suffer multiple occupational and environmental-related hazards ranging from cuts and burns to poisoning from lead, chemicals, and other substances in the garbage. There is also a high rate of accidents caused by the heavy equipment used on the dumpsite. These hazards are accentuated by the extremely poor living conditions on the dump. The scavengers are constantly exposed to fumes from burning garbage and they lack safe water and sewage disposal facilities. Health services are non-existent- the nearest hospital is 20 kilometers away. Despite the hazards, and the various forms of extortions to which they are subjected by middlemen, the children and their families continue to scavenge because the work is accessible and produces a relatively high income. On a policy level, child labor by scavenging is often overlooked because it lies within the informal sector where there is no defined employer-employee relationship, hence little leverage for regulation, protection, or enforcement. Questions 1. Describe the sector(s) depicted in the case study. 2. Identify the issues and problems in the case study, and discuss how these affect the life and well-being of the affected population.
Child Scavengers: A Case Study
The conditions of working children are causing increasing concern in many countries.
Children under the age of 15 are found working in all areas of the labour market. Many
work as unpaid family labour, but a growing number are also found working as casual
labourers outside the protection of their families. As a result, they are subject to
exploitative practices, and worse still forced to work under conditions dangerous to their
normal development.
Among the working children requiring special and urgent attention are those engaged in
scavenging in Tondo province. The garbage dumpsite is located near Rion town and it is
known as the Balut plains. This site constitutes not just a dumping ground but also a
working and living environment for a large community of people who scavenge to survive
and to overcome their extreme poverty.
Those people make their living by collecting and sorting out materials which are then
reused or recycled. Around 500 boys and girls under the age of 15 either work alone or
with their families on the garbage trucks or the garbage heaps. Eighty percent of them
are known to suffer from malnutrition. The children either have no training or schooling of
any sort, or they have dropped out of school and face a future without hope.
The scavengers work in unhealthy conditions and do not use protective devices. They
suffer multiple occupational and environmental-related hazards ranging from cuts and
burns to poisoning from lead, chemicals, and other substances in the garbage. There is
also a high rate of accidents caused by the heavy equipment used on the dumpsite. These
hazards are accentuated by the extremely poor living conditions on the dump. The
scavengers are constantly exposed to fumes from burning garbage and they lack safe
water and sewage disposal facilities. Health services are non-existent- the nearest
hospital is 20 kilometers away.
Despite the hazards, and the various forms of extortions to which they are subjected by
middlemen, the children and their families continue to scavenge because the work is
accessible and produces a relatively high income.
On a policy level, child labor by scavenging is often overlooked because it lies within the
informal sector where there is no defined employer-employee relationship, hence little
leverage for regulation, protection, or enforcement.
Questions
1. Describe the sector(s) depicted in the case study.
2. Identify the issues and problems in the case study, and discuss how these affect
the life and well-being of the affected population.
3.
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