PHNOM PENH A growing number of children in Cambodia aged between 14 and 17 work for a living, many involved in construction, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday.
"The ratio of working children aged (14 to 17) has increased to 42 percent," Hun Sen said at the launch of the Cambodian human development report 2000. No comparative figure was given in the report, issued jointly by the Cambodian government and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). "Moreover, many children are involved in the bad forms of child labor such as employment as construction workers and household maids", Hun Sen said.
He said however that some forms of child labor, where children helped out in household activities, were useful as they amounted to transfer of knowledge and skills from parents to children.
According to the report, half of girls aged 14 to 17 worked, compared with 36 percent of boys. "The higher rate of economic activity among girls aged 14 to 17 years means that these girls are much less likely than boys, to attend secondary school," it said. The report said children were working long hours, with more than one-third of child workers aged 10 to 13 working 37 hours per week and two-thirds of workers aged 14 to 17 working more than 40 hours per week.
"Children, like adults, have basic human rights, one of which is to enjoy their childhood without having to worry about earning a living," UNDP resident representative Dominique McAdams said at the launch.
(Reuter)