Key issues on child protection

Parents and guardians should ensure the safety of children online as many of them spend more time on digital platforms due to limited mobility because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Internet helps the youth continue learning, it eases boredom by allowing interaction with friends, classmates, and teachers on social media. The Internet is also used for research but they can be exposed to inappropriate content.
The Committee for the Special Protection of Children (CSPC) chaired by the Department of Justice has rallied its member-agencies to unite behind a collective vision of “ No child should be a victim of violence, abuse, neglect, or exploitation.”
The Department of Social Welfare and Development, co-chair of the CSPC, Department of Labor and Employment, Commission on Human Rights, departments of Tourism, Interior and Local Government, Health, Education, Bureau of Immigration, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, Council for the Welfare of Children, University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital Child protection Unit, National Prosecution Service, End Child Pornography and Child prostitution and Trafficking for Sexual Purposes, National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and other relevant authorities are working to end the oppression of children.
The Comprehensive Program on Child Protection 2019-2022 presented the key issues on child protection follows: Child pornography refers to any representation, whether visual, audio, or written combination thereof, by electronic, mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic or any other means, of child engaged or involved in real or simulated explicit sexual activities.
According to the report of the Inter-Agency Committee Against Trafficking (IACAT), in 2017, DSWD served a total of 175 victims of child pornography, and in 2018, there were 230 victims served, an alarming 31 percent increase fron the previous year.
The DOJ’s Office of Cybercrime also recorded a 264.63 percent increase in the number of reported online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) during the three-month quarantine.
The Labor Code has a provision on working children.
Child Labor is an area that requires special protection of children because of its potential to deprive children of their childhood, the development of their potential and their dignity, and is harmful to their physical and mental development.
A Philippine Statistics Authority survey indicates that more than half or 58.4 percent of the 209 million children engaged in child labor are in the agriculture industry, which includes crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities, forestry and logging, and fishing and aquaculture. About 34.6 percent are in the services sector and the remaining seven percent of children in child labor are in mining and quarrying, manufacturing and construction. According to the survey, children work to help in their household-operated farm or business and to earn to supplement the income of their family because of poverty.
Child trafficking is about taking children out of their protective environment and preying on their vulnerability for the purpose of exploitation and is categorized in three general types namely prostitution and sexual exploitation; child labor and OSEC. The IACAT situationer reported that 80 percent of child trafficking cases involve prostitution and sexual exploitation, 10 percent are OSEC cases, and 10 percent involve child labor trafficking including forced labor and the use of children in armed conflict.
The IACAT also reported that the vast majority of child trafficking cases are for commercial or traditional sex trafficking wherein the victims are lured in through promises of work as household workers, models, and/or entertainers in the city only to be trapped in a night club or bar to provide sexual services to customers in exchange of money or fee.
Sex tourism is defined in Republic Act 10364 as a program organized by travel and tourism-related establishments and individuals which consists of tourism packages or activities and using and offering escort and sexual services as enticement for tourists.
Child prostitution as described in RA 7610 as a situation where children, whether male or female, are made to indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct “for money, profit, or any other consideration or due to the coercion or influence of any adult, syndicate or group”.
There is significant evidence that violence, exploitation, and abuse can affect the child’s physical and mental health in the short and longer term, impairing their ability to learn and socialize and impacting their transition to adulthood with adverse consequences later in life.