PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Some 1.5 million Cambodians under the age of 14 are being forced to work, often in hazardous conditions, a prominent rights group said Thursday at the start of a campaign to combat child labour.
"The reality of poverty is that it is indiscriminate and affects not only adults but also children," the group Licadho said in a statement.
"This sadly forces many young children to engage in domestic and manual labour to support their families, with a large proportion working under severe conditions."
Nearly 90 percent of child labourers in Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries, work as unpaid help for their families, according to the World Bank.
About 250,000 of them work in seven of the 16 sectors nationally recognised as hazardous, which include begging, waste scavenging, factory work or mining, the bank says.
Both the World Bank and rights groups have urged tougher legislation that would curb such practices.
Following years of civil unrest and government mismanagement, Cambodia remains mired in poverty, with 35 percent of its 14 million people living on less than 50 US cents per day.
Education often becomes the first victim in the daily struggle to survive, with a majority of child labourers being forced out of school at an early age.
"These children do not have an opportunity to receive an education and most of them face exploitation and physical and verbal abuse, every day," Licadho said.
The group this month launched a two-year awareness-raising campaign that hopes to expose employers and government officials to the dangers faced by child labourers.
"Governmental authorities, civil society and the private sector must work together to rescue child labourers and provide them with physical and mental rehabilitation services," the group said.
"The reality of poverty is that it is indiscriminate and affects not only adults but also children," the group Licadho said in a statement.
"This sadly forces many young children to engage in domestic and manual labour to support their families, with a large proportion working under severe conditions."
Nearly 90 percent of child labourers in Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries, work as unpaid help for their families, according to the World Bank.
About 250,000 of them work in seven of the 16 sectors nationally recognised as hazardous, which include begging, waste scavenging, factory work or mining, the bank says.
Both the World Bank and rights groups have urged tougher legislation that would curb such practices.
Following years of civil unrest and government mismanagement, Cambodia remains mired in poverty, with 35 percent of its 14 million people living on less than 50 US cents per day.
Education often becomes the first victim in the daily struggle to survive, with a majority of child labourers being forced out of school at an early age.
"These children do not have an opportunity to receive an education and most of them face exploitation and physical and verbal abuse, every day," Licadho said.
The group this month launched a two-year awareness-raising campaign that hopes to expose employers and government officials to the dangers faced by child labourers.
"Governmental authorities, civil society and the private sector must work together to rescue child labourers and provide them with physical and mental rehabilitation services," the group said.
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