Laos: Report Recommends Tightening Laws on Child Labor – Prensa Latina
22 de enero de 2013, 10:03Vientiane, Jan 22 (Prensa Latina) An official report about child labor in Laos recommended strengthening the legal policies to benefit around 170,000 minors that are still exposed to those conditions.
Research that began in 2010 revealed that seven out of every 10 of those children worked more than 49 hours a week, exceeding the 46 hours stipulated, to help their very poor families.[See more]
The report criticized their lack of opportunities to study and develop together with others of the same age.
It also said it is even worse that 130,000 of those children are involved in risky kinds of work and stressed that starting from that point, policies should be corrected to liberate that large number of minors.
During the analysis of the gathered data, Deputy General Director of the labor protection department of the union federation Samanesay Khanthanouxay highlighted the presence of children in areas contaminated by chemicals, gaming establishments and in drug dealing.
Laotian legislation establishes the age of 18 as the onset of adulthood, but allows 14-year-old children to work in agriculture, something that traditionally happens in this country, where 90 percent of the population lives through raising crops, gathering forest resources and fishing.
This Indo-Chinese country is signatory of eight conventions on this issue, including five essential documents with the International Labor Organization in reference to the minimum working age and the worst forms of child labor.
