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Manila (Agenzia Fides) - Thousands of Filipino children, some as young as 9, work illegally in mines financed mainly by local businessmen. Children are exploited in precarious pits 25 meters deep or submerged under water along the coast or rivers. In a recent note, the Human Rights Watch, sent to Agenzia Fides, urges the Philippine government to take immediate action to prohibit child labor in the mines.
The document, published along with a video before the Month of the Child celebrated in the Philippines, denounces the inhuman conditions of minors used for gold mining. In the course of a study, carried out between 2014 and 2015 in the provinces of North Camerines and Masbate, 135 people were interviewed, including 65 young miners from 9 to 17 years of age who have several health problems. The metals they handle can have an impact on their central nervous system and cause brain damage as well as death. In March 2015 the government banned the use of mercury in mining, but has not done much for the implementation of the law. The Philippines is the twentieth largest producer of gold in the world. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 30/09/2015)
