"What...if something went wrong? : hazardous child labor in small-scale gold mining in the Philippines / written by Juliane Kippenberg.

[New York, N.Y.] : Human Rights Watch, [2015]

HD6250.P62 K57 2015

9781623132774
1623132770

39 pages : color illustrations, color map ; 27 cm

(OCoLC)924208686

"In the small-scale gold mines of the Philippines, children risk their lives digging for gold. Some dive for hours, breathing through tubes, at risk of drowning. Some work underground in deep pits, where children have suffocated or been injured. Many process gold with mercury, a toxic metal that is particularly harmful to children. Based on 135 interviews, this 39-page report documents the hazards children face when working in small-scale gold mines in the Philippines, including the case of a 17-year-old boy who died in an underground mine in 2014. The report also demonstrates the government's failure to protect children and enforce mining laws and regulations. Human Rights Watch calls upon the Philippines government to monitor child labor; support the most vulnerable families; improve children's access to education and legal employment opportunities for those old enough; and establish a legal, child-labor-free small-scale gold mining sector. As part of these efforts, it should ratify the Minamata Convention on Mercury and introduce mercury-free gold processing methods. As part of their responsibility not to benefit from child labor, the Philippines Central Bank and international gold trading companies should establish robust safeguards to trace the gold back to its origin and ensure that children have not mined the gold they buy"--Page [4] of cover.

Cover title.
"This report was writtten by Juliane Kippenberg"--Acknowledgments.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 36-39).

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Hazardous child labor in small-scale gold mining in the Philippines