Worst Forms of Child Labour Data

Asia and the Pacific
Total Child Labour REGIONAL STATISTICS

*Of the estimated 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 who are economically active, in absolute terms, it is Asia (excluding Japan) that has the most (approximately 61%) child workers and one-fifth of 1% in Oceania, excluding Australia and New Zealand. The economic activity participation rate of children, in Asia is about one in five children or 21% and one in ten (10%) in Oceania. (ILO - IPEC, Kebebew Aghagrie, Statistics on Working Children and Hazardous Child Labour in Brief, Geneva: 1997 revised April 1998)
Child Slavery -
Child Trafficking

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Child Prostitution

REGIONAL STATISTICS

* UNICEF estimates that there are at least a million child prostitutes in Asia alone with the greatest numbers in India, Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines. (CATW, fact book, 2001)
Children in Crime

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Child Soldiers REGIONAL STATISTICS

* There has been widespread and considerable child participation in armed conflicts across Asia and the Pacific, with tens of thousands of children recruited, sometimes forcibly, into governmental armed forces, paramilitary groups or militia and non-governmental armed groups. The worst affected countries have been Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka and, in the recent past, Cambodia. (CSUCS, Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001)
Domestic Child Servants

REGIONAL STATISTICS

* In Asia the numbers range from Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, alone, an estimated 700,000 domestic workers are under age (Innocenti Digest 5, Child Domestic Work, UNICEF, May 1999 citing Blagbrough, J., Child Domestic Work in Indonesia, a preliminary situation analysis, Anti-Slavery International, supported by ILO/IPEC, London, 1995.) to Nepal where, some 62,000 urban domestics are under age 14. (Innocenti Digest 5, Child Domestic Work, UNICEF, May 1999 citing, Pradhan, G., Urban child domestic labour in Nepal, Child Workers in Nepal, Kathmandu, 1995.)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* There are, strong regional differences as regards gender and domestic child labour employment, in Bangladesh, for instance, 17% of child domestics surveyed were found to be boys. (Innocenti Digest 5, Child Domestic Work, UNICEF, May 1999 citingLhalungpa, S. and R. Noble, e-mail to UNICEF ICDC, 4 February 1999, citing findings of the forthcoming UNICEF Bangladesh Country Office study entitled 'Prevailing opinions and attitudes to child domestics in urban middle class families'.)

* In Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines, child domestic workers spend on average 15 hours or more working each day, seven days a week, and are generally on-call day and night. (Innocenti Digest 5, Child Domestic Work, UNICEF, May 1999 citing Camacho, A. Z. V., C. Flores-Oebanda, V. Montano, R. R. Pacis and R. Robidillo, 'The Phenomenon of Child Domestic Work: Issues, Responses and Research Findings', paper presented by Visayan Forum at the ILO/IPEC-supported Asian Regional Consultation on Child Domestic Workers, Manila, 19-23 November 1997.)

* Typical tasks include cooking, washing and ironing of clothes for the family, cleaning, shopping, and looking after the employers' children - including escorting them to and from school and carrying their bags. (Innocenti Digest 5, Child Domestic Work, UNICEF, May 1999)
Other Hazardous Child Labour -

 

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