PHILIPPINES: Bill on Domestic Child Workers
August 12, 2002 ·
Visayan Forum Foundation (VF) an organisation that works with child domestic workers is close to a breakthrough on a landmark bill. This bill could make the difference to hundreds of thousands of exploited child and adult domestic workers throughout the Philippines. Child domestic workers in particular toil far from home at the expense of their education and welfare. Many of these children have been trafficked and suffer regular abuse at the hands of their employers. The passage of Senate Bill 751 and House Bill 608, commonly known as the “Magna Carta for Domestic Workers”, is at a critical stage. Final discussions in the Philippines Senate and House of Representatives on this bill are taking place. Just two years ago passage of the same bill was thwarted as a result of Presidential impeachment proceedings.
