Thailand Country Study Towards a Best Practice Guide on Sustainable Action Against Child Labour
By Natalie Bennett
Printed by Amarin, Bangkok, ISBN 974-8369-59-5
Appendix III: Case Studies
(Where case studies of individual children are provided, pseudonyms have been used to protect their privacy.)
Case A: The Klong San Unit for Receiving Complaints About Child Labour and Prostitution
The research team visited this unit as an example of one of 19 set-up within Bangkok and the surrounding region, each covering two districts (the standard administrative unit). In existence for three years, its staff consists of seven labour inspectors who are obviously committed and keen on their work, although bearing heavy responsibilities. They were selected by means of a competitive examination and have university degrees from a variety of areas, including law, political science and economics. They received five days initial training in inspection work and have since received further on-the-job training.
The bulk of their work consists of conducting routine inspections of factories and workplaces, during which they are responsible for examining compliance with all labour laws, not only those relating to child labour. During these sessions they speak with legal child workers and attempt to encourage them to enrol and continue further education, providing information on non-formal education and scholarship opportunities. Child workers are also taken on occasional recreational day-trips.
The inspectors also conduct training session on legal provisions on child labour, holding regular sessions for about 60 employers for one day. They also respond to reports of labour infractions from the general public, which are encouraged by means of a publicity campaign using stickers, posters, pamphlets and similar means, and complaints from workers, although they said these had never been known to come from children, who were usually keen to work.
Speaking about some recent cases they had handled, the inspectors referred to the case of a factory manufacturing silver jewelry, which had twice been found to be using illegal child labour. The factory was located after the unit received complaints and found children from the southern province of Nakhon Sri Thamarat aged under 13 working with their relatives without pay. The employer defended their employment, saying otherwise they would be at home doing nothing, and that the children were receiving vocational training, but she was finally ordered to pay a 20,000 baht fine and the children were paid the appropriate minimum wage for their period of work.
A few months later, the same employer was again found to be employing children, two aged 12 and five 13-14 without permission, in addition to two 16-17 year olds, and to not be providing payment for their overtime work. Some were Karen children (a hill tribe group) and could not speak Thai, while others were again from Nakhon Sri Thammarat. The inspectors said the children were quite happy with their conditions and cried when told they would have to return home, where they said there was nothing to eat. As a second offender, the employer was taken to court and ordered to perform community service and to pay fines of about 200,000 baht, in addition to paying the children full wages and overtime payments. The same operators were still running a jewelry manufacturing business, the inspectors said, but had moved to another district and changed the name of their company. Khlong San informed that district of the move and expected the company would be closely monitored.
The inspectors said this story received coverage in a major Thai-language daily newspaper, which had obtained information from the police. The inspectors said generally they did not make it a policy to encourage press coverage of cases of labour abuses they uncovered, as in some cases the employees might not want their personal problems revealed, or it might even be actively harmful to their futures.
The inspectors dealt with 15 cases in which legal proceedings were instituted last year. They fell into two main groups, several others also being silver jewelry manufacturers with ties to Nakhon Sri Thamarat and others being small to mid-sized garment factories.
While this was obviously a very effective unit, its members identified a number of problems they encountered in their work. They pointed out in the area for which they were responsible there are 9,172 registered factories with 112,023 employees, with an additional 6,669 identified small enterprises with over 30,000 employees. For seven officials to cover this many enterprises presents obvious problems, and these figures do not include household enterprises and micro-enterprises which are most likely to infringe labour laws.
The Unit has no computers and inspectors indicated responsibilities for completing paperwork, filing reports etcetera were a heavy burden, with no supporting clerical or administrative staff. They said they had no time to keep detailed records, and it appeared there was little or no method of transmitting their experiences to other units or to a central information unit. Their experience of child labour problems with children from Nakhon Sri Thamarat came as a surprise to the research team, as this appears to have not previously been documented, with a general supposition there are no significant child labour problems originating from southern Thailand.
The inspectors indicated they did not feel there was strong community support for their child labour work, with a general feeling that if children needed or wanted to work to help their parents, the law should not prevent this. If children stayed at home without working or studying, there were community and family fears they would become delinquent, and possibly involved in drug use or other crimes from boredom. There was also resistance to the fact that by law children are entitled to the same minimum wage as adults, the inspectors said, with children being perceived as less productive and reliable than adult workers.
The inspectors indicated they had not received any complaints about child prostitution, and appeared likely to have some problems in dealing with such complaints, should they be received.
Elements of Best Practice
* The Klong San unit illustrates the advantages of officials operating as a small and close-knit team, with a minimum of hierarchical divisions, and covering a relatively small geographical area.
* The careful and competitive selection of quality, well-trained staff who have chosen to work in this particular area has obviously been effective in this case.
Case B: Ban Khanoon School
Ban Khanoon School is located in the poorest province in Thailand, Sri Sa Ket, in one of the poorest areas of that province. For a majority of its pupils Thai is a second language, with Khmer being spoken at home. It recently extended into offering lower secondary education, with the senior pupils now in Grade Eight.
According to principal Sitiporn Ornkrang, this has produced a very high retention rate of pupils, who would not previously have been able or prepared to travel to the nearby provincial capital of Surin for secondary education. So far, fewer than five percent of pupils had dropped out of the secondary years and he hoped as many as 50 percent of the pupils would continue to 10th grade, which would require travelling two kilometres to Surin. Khun Sitiporn said parents and pupils were enthusiastic about the further education, particularly to Grade Nine, as they were well aware of the higher salaries they might then be able to obtain.
IPEC funding assisted the expansion of the school, which was dictated by government policy, as past of a much broader project which included piloting education materials on child labour in five provinces. There was however no additional government funding provided for the expansion into secondary classes, and so the school found itself lacking in classrooms, teachers and training equipment. The problem of classrooms had been overcome with village support in building new facilities, and teachers simply had to work harder, taking more classes and using curriculum guides to instruct in classes such as science and maths for which they had no training. The school has however received some government funding to provide computer training, with teacher scheduled to be instructed in computers before the equipment is obtained. There must be some concerns, however, about the school's ability to handle this technological leap.
Some of the IPEC money has been used to develop a skill training curriculum, covering areas such as tailoring and auto-mechanics, as a result of local initiative. Further direction, encouragement and funding from higher levels in the Ministry of Education would obviously be helpful in boosting this worthwhile direction. The school has also begun providing sex education in Grades Five and Six with particular concern of protecting the girls from enticement into the commercial sex industry or sexual abuse.
Also using IPEC funding, the school also trialled a programme to educate children about their rights and entitlements as workers. Khun Sitiporn said he thought at least 50 percent of his pupils would still migrate to Bangkok to work, but they would be at less risk of being exploited than would have been the case without the special school programme. He said, however, it was difficult to sustain the employment rights training programme, as it relied on teachers finding space in busy schedules to offer the information. It was sometimes provided during morning school assemblies, but this relied on the initiative of individual teachers who shared responsibility for running these.
The children would migrate because there were few employment opportunities locally, with only agricultural day labour available. This could not be relied upon for a regular income, Khun Sitiporn said Additionally, children saw migrants returning from the city with material goods, including clothing, cash and even gold, and so were attracted to the city.
Elements of Best Practice
* This project operated in an environment of enthusiastic local support, including a preparedness both from teachers and community leaders and members to contribute to its efforts. Beginning work in such areas is an obvious way of maximising resources and effectiveness. The project highlights, however, the need to also have higher-level support and ongoing funding to ensure sustainability.
Case C: Volunteer Child Labour Monitors
In 1996, the MOLSW instituted a project to appoint child labour volunteers in 22,000 of the 33,000 villages nationwide. The village volunteers were to have responsibility for preventing child labour by interviewing potential child migrant workers, encouraging them to continue their education or otherwise pointing them to government services such as assistance in finding employment or non-formal education, to ensure they were protected or could protect themselves. They also were to have responsibility for passing on information they might receive about exploitative conditions being endured by child workers from their village in other areas, and for keeping statistics to determine if children in each village continued their education, migrated, worked locally or chose other life courses.
In Sri Sa Ket province, the research team spoke to one such village volunteer in Village Number Nine in Amphoe Pon Yang. He said there were about 40 children who finished Grade Six that year and only three did not continue to further education, due to the poverty of their parents. These children instead migrated to Bangkok to work with their parents.
Further discussion with the volunteer and with provincial MOLSW officials revealed, however, that after the initial year, the volunteer project had effectively broken down. Volunteers received a small honorarium of 400 baht in the first year, but no further funds (although attempts are being made within the Ministry in Bangkok to institute a system of annual payments to volunteers to promote continuation of the programme). Volunteers point out that to carry out their duties could require making phone calls or posting material to provincial labour offices, or even travelling to the provincial capital, and without outside funding they could not generally afford to do this.
Volunteers received no regular forms or data collection material, and at the village level it is obvious that few would be comfortable or able to simply produce a written report without clear directions. There is no clear mechanism for volunteers to report to their provincial labour office, and the volunteer from Village Seven indicated he did not know anyone there, making it extremely unlikely he would approach the office.
Volunteers had also received no suitable information they might have passed on to village children and their families. The Village Seven volunteer indicated one child had ceased studying because of a problem with his household registration documents, which provincial officials said should and could have been easily sorted out.
In the Centre for the Protection of Women and Child Labour, officials suggested that the volunteer programme, while worthwhile, could not, at least outside the smallest provinces, be maintained without another layer of structures between the volunteers and the provincial level. This would logically be at the amphoe level, reducing the cost of communications for volunteers and, very importantly, allowing them to speak with a level of official, in a more informal environment, with which they are likely to feel more comfortable.
The research team spoke to several children and young people in Village Seven who had decided to continue their education.
Nom is an 18-year-old who after completing Grade Six went to Bangkok and worked for two years, helping her parents who worked in a jewelry factory. She was not paid, but acted as messenger and assistant to them. She also worked in a garment factory, then decided to do a Department of Labour training course in sewing, but found that after completing the 45-day course her skills were not adequate to obtain work. She is now studying in Ninth Grade, and hopes to continue her education to study commerce at a tertiary level, hopefully at university, although she indicated this might depend very much on family finances. During school holidays she returns to the jewelry factory and works for 3,000 baht per month. Nom said she thought she would ask for a government loan to assist in the cost of her studies next year.
Soo is a 19-year-old now studying in Grade Twelve. Her parents are farmers and also migrate regularly to Bangkok during the dry season to work in the construction industry. She originally left school after Grade Six and completed the Department of Labour 45-day sewing course, but found with that training she was unable to earn any money. She then spent a year helping her mother on their farm before, with the assistance of a government scholarship, continuing her studies. It appears her parents are not very enthusiastic about her continuing to study, but Soo is obviously very determined, and said she wanted to go to university and study chemistry, so she could become a science teacher.
Nom said her experience of working in Bangkok had been valuable as she had learned both vocational skills and about different lifestyles and city life. Soo, however, said that having been to Bangkok she would be happy never to return, as she did not like the frantic lifestyle and the way people had to "fight for survival" and be concerned about being cheated.
Elements of Best Practice
* The concept of village volunteers allows government efforts to address child labour issues to reach right into the grassroots level, in a way that would otherwise be almost impossible.
* Operating effectively, village volunteers who communicated regularly with provincial or amphoe level officials would provide a very effective network for gathering both qualitative and quantitative information, being better placed than any outsider to know of the real circumstances and intentions of village children.
Case D: Huay Krai School
Huay Krai School is located in a town in northern Thailand, close to the Burmese border, in an area from which large numbers of girls have entered the commercial sex industry in recent years. It offers classes from grades one to nine, having recently expanded into secondary courses. It is an area with a large number of hill tribe families, but teachers said only about 1 percent of pupils were unable to obtain Thai identity cards, which severely restricts their job opportunities. Schooling is free, but pupils must pay for uniforms, books and lunches, with the school finding funding for only the very poorest. Few pupils go onto to further schooling, with many getting jobs at the nearby Doi Tung Royal-supported handicraft project which produces largely traditional handicrafts.
Largely through the initiative of one young female teacher, the school has instituted a vocational training programme. For girls, this is concentrated in the areas of sewing and weaving, with the intention of also maintaining traditional craft skills from the area. It has received about 300,000 baht in support from IPEC as a very small part of a larger capacity-building project in the far north. This has gone towards establishing a vocational training room with 13 treadle sewing machines and purchase of ten looms, housed in a building paid for with the teacher's own funds, and for the initial purchase of materials and establishment of a revolving fund for future purchases.
Courses in sewing and weaving are available to older primary and secondary students in the one hour per day allocated to optional courses. Once pupils have reached a minimal skill level, they may also work in their free time, either after school or on weekends, to produce items for sale. The school purchases these on completion (paying for example 10 baht for each woven mat completed) and then sells them, either to visitors through the vocational training room or at fairs, conferences and other regional gatherings, allowing the purchase of further materials.
There are obvious limitations in this project in that the skill level reached by students is not generally very high, or likely to produce a significant income level. It attempts to link with the Doi Tung project, but the lead teacher herself noted, sadly, the case of a girl, finishing ninth grade, for whom the teacher had arranged a job at Doi Tung for a salary of 2,000 baht per month. However, the girl chose instead to take work as a singer in a karaoke lounge (an occupation with a significant risk of leading to entry into the commercial sex industry) at 4,000 baht per month, with the girl telling the teacher that as she had already purchased a motorbike, she needed the money to meet the repayments.
At another nearby, similar school at Huay Saaw, the problem of the commerciality of skills has been addressed by trying to provide training in computer skills, but there problems have been encountered in obtaining enough machines of adequate modernity to teach students useful skills (for example the school now has no computers capable of running the popular Windows programmes), and in providing maintenance and skills necessary for teachers to train students. Three students typically have to work on one computer and teachers admit the skills obtained are not adequate for employment, without further training. Huay Saaw school has encountered similar problems in attempting to introduce a welding programme.
Elements of Best Practice
* The Huay Krai project at least draws on local skills (with teachers being local traditional craftswomen).
* While the skills may be of only limited commercial use, they may be important in building confidence and self-belief, both through valuing traditional cultural skills and allowing girls to make at least a limited income while still attending school.
Case E: Daughters' Education Programme (DEP)
DEP is an NGO established in 1989 in northern Thailand to aid girls at risk of entering the commercial sex industry. It now has its own centre in Mae Sai, near the border with Burma. Attracting considerable funding from a wide range of international sources, it has since become involved in a very wide range of projects including seven vocational training centres in Chiang Rai province, AIDS education, assisting beggars and street children, research and information projects, most recently focusing on the international child trafficking concerns of this area, close to Myanmar, Lao PDR and China.
In common with many other NGOs, one of the main problems facing DEP is its extreme reliance on one person, the organisation's founder, and on the assistance of volunteers and quasi-volunteers (very low-paid workers), both foreign and Thai, the former often only spending relatively short periods of time with the organisation, the latter often bearing very significant burdens of work and responsibility at high risk of producing "burnout". But this case study will focus two aspects of its work which have been highly successful.
One is the live-in programme for girls, primarily from the Akka hill tribe group, judged as being at high risk of entering the commercial sex industry. Most enter the programme after completing sixth grade, living-in typically for three years. Previously they lived in the DEP compound, in simple bamboo houses similar to their homes, built by the girls themselves and their families, but they have now moved to similar structures in an old school compound with very limited facilities. There are currently 82 girls in the programme, its seventh and largest group. Some girls continue their formal schooling, while other attend vocational training courses according to their abilities and interests. They also undergo training in self-confidence and assertiveness, and some also enter the DEP leadership training programme.
It is difficult to assess the success of this programme as no formal evaluation has been carried out, but anecdotal evidence suggests it is successful in preventing the girls entering the commercial sex industry. In conjunction with the leadership programme it is obviously successful in empowering and developing the abilities of its most capable members, as judged by five members of the initial group who are now primarily responsible for running the entire programme at Mae Sai, including management of maintenance, administration, data collection and health.
While providing a live-in, intensive programme such as this is obviously expensive, it would appear to be the most appropriate project for extremely high-risk groups, and DEP's close links with the Akka communities from which the girls come is obviously important, and something probably only an NGO could develop.
The second DEP programme to be highlighted here is a small but innovative one. With funding initially from IPEC as part of a broader media programme, then from UNICEF through its funding of DEP's leadership training programme, a musical puppet show was adapted from a prize-winning script and performed by the girls from the leadership training programme. Called Phak Boong (the name of a Thai vegetable which according to folk-lore is much loved by turtles), it tells the tale of two turtles who decide when drought strikes their home to go off to look for a legendary inexhaustible and wonderful field of the vegetable. They encounter a variety of dangers along the way, including a vicious crocodile, and after meeting a much scarred-turtle who has literally lost his shell attempting to reach the El Dorado, eventually decide to return home. Designed for young primary-school pupils, it is obviously meant as an allegory to discourage the concept that the city and its bright lights and reported attractions are the place to find riches and happiness.
It was performed in 1996 in November and December in 15 schools in six amphoes in Chiang Rai. A short workshop was conducted before and after with the audience to draw out the lessons of the performance. Unfortunately, however, it would appear that after spending about 50,000 baht on training, equipment and tour expenses, funding has been exhausted. Illustrating a very common problem, an interesting and potentially very valuable idea has been developed, but only on a small scale and for a limited time period, and there appears now to be a high risk it will not continue.
Elements of Best Practice
Live-In Programme
* The programme meets an essential need in taking girls at high-risk out of a dangerous environment into a safe one during a period of high vulnerability.
* The close involvement of communities in the live-in facility to which they are entrusting their daughters, which both ensure the girls are allowed to attend and assists in making them feel "at home" in a culturally-appropriate context.
* The programme's focus on building self-esteem and leadership skills, while less tangible than vocational training or educational certificates, may be more important in equipping the girls to face the dangers, pressures and temptations they are likely to encounter in the future. This may also produce young, relatively well-educated leaders for communities sorely in need of such a resource, ultimately helping many more individuals than those directly associated with the programme.
Phak Boong Play
* This small programme is one of the few to attempt to innovatively address underlying attitudes which promote child migration and thus often child labour.
* Rather than preaching or offering dry lessons, it wraps its message in a lively and entertaining package, likely to have some impact on young children and their attitudes, but for significant impact it is obvious this would need to be an ongoing programme, perhaps involving annual or bi-annual visits to a regular circuit of schools.
Case F: Rural Sri Sa Ket Women's Association for Occupational Promotion and Development (RUSWOP)
Located in the poorest province in Thailand, in one of the poorest districts (Amphoe Ku Kan), which it is increasing obvious is being seriously affected by HIV/Aids, RUSWOP is a unique blend of NGO and private enterprise. The organisation was begun by Khun Somjan Intaroo, a former labour union activist, who after 17 years of working in Bangkok at a well-known tailoring shop, decided to return to her home province at the age of 37 years and began her own small business as a seamstress. As her skills were known to be of a very high level, soon local girls and women began to ask her to train them. The standard fee for a year's training was 6,000 baht, but as Ms Somjan was not interested in doing this as a profit-making enterprise, she only charged 3,000 baht.
Starting from this small, private beginning, Ms Somjan over the past 15 years has developed RUSWOP as a unique training enterprise. Gathering donations from private Thai sources, from her former union, from Ubon Ratchatani Skill Development Unit, through the local Member of Parliament's discretionary fund, from the MOLSW, and from the Community Development Department, she has constructed a training building and dormitories and offers free training to students in need. Her initial class was of 54 students, but she now has about 200 live-in trainees per year, and also offers classes for the Ubon Ratchatani Skill Development Unit in 10 villages for groups of up to 30 girls and women. She also attracted funding from IPEC to offer in-school and after-school training in Ku Khan and nearby Ban Po.
There are no age restrictions on training, but many trainees who live in and enjoy free training, accommodation and meals (they bring only rice from home) are aged under 15. As they gain in skills they can earn money from the garments they produce during training. Some trainees, often after only a few months, develop sufficient skills to become trainers, and continue working with Khun Somjan. The standard length of the basic live-in course is 45 days.
Although there have been significant donations from a variety of sources, the chief reason for the success of the project is that it is in large part self-sustaining, with advanced students and trainers producing garments such as factory uniforms and fashion garments for clients who rely on Khun Somjan's experience and skills to produce a quality product. Trainees are also known for their skill and thus have a high chance of obtaining reasonably-paid employment on graduation. Some choose to migrate to Bangkok to work in factories, but others are homeworkers, obtaining sub-contracted work through Khun Somjan.
Because the skills of her graduates are well known, Khun Somjan is often asked to find or select employees to factories. For example, she has sent 158 workers to one factory near Bangkok, having first checked the conditions to ensure they are appropriate and safe.
Researchers spoke with several students at RUSWOP. Among them was Noo, a 13-year-old girl who finished sixth grade last year. She said she did not want to continue her studies as she was not good at schoolwork, but enjoyed doing the training, and hoped to continue working at RUSWOP as a trainer when she finished her course. Her family were farmers, but not, Khun Somjan said, poor, as her father had brought her to the training course on a motorcycle. She said after about two months, she had already made six shirts, earning 180 baht.
Nop is a 14-year-old farmers' daughter now working as a trainer. She had been to Bangkok to work in a factory, but said she found the regulations, such as not being allowed to talk or move around during working hours, unbearable, and so returned to Ku Khan. She was remarkably confident for her age, and said she loved her training work and had no problems working with older students, but would also like to advance her own dressmaking skills to include more advanced designs, although the samples she produced for researchers certainly appeared highly professional.
Elements of Best Practice
* The highly-commercial, market-orientated nature of the skills taught, so graduates are well-equipped and in high demand.
* Utilisation of high-skilled trainees as trainers, allowing a special group of skills, i.e. those possessed by the founder, to be disseminated to a large number of individuals.
* Trainees are able to earn some income while they are training, which is more important in boosting their self-esteem and confidence, and ensuring their continuation of training, than in actual monetary terms.
Case G: Se-Ma Pattana Chewit Secondary Schools
The Ministry of Education's Se-Ma Pattana Chewit (New Life) Programme. is concentrated in northern Thailand and focuses on preventing girls entering the commercial sex industry . In addition to a scholarship programme (aiding 4,000 girls) , it operates in three boarding schools offering Grade 7 to 9 education for 300 girls per year considered at particularly high risk of entering the commercial sex industry, in Lampang, Chiang Rai and Payao. In addition to room and board, these girls are provided with a monthly stipend for incidental expenses, and thus are financially no burden for their parents.
The schools during the three-year programme aim to offer not only the traditional academic curriculum, but also vocational training. After several years of operation, however, it was recognised that the school were failing to effectively meet the needs of these girls, particularly in the area of vocational training, and IPEC was requested to provide funding for equipment in conjunction with a broader project to aid theSe-Ma Pattana project. Initial examination by IPEC indicated, however, that simple provision of equipment would not solve the problems, so a consultant was employed, with IPEC funding and support, to fully review the schools' activities with a particular focus on ensuring the girls were equipped with skills marketable in their home region.
With the brief of operating generally within the existing budget and resources, a restructuring plan was thus developed to attempt to ensure these schools were able to meet their pupils' needs. This relied on two interacting elements: introduction of a counselling and guidance system and reorganisation of the curriculum to provide two streams, vocational and academic.
For the first element, a system was recommended such that each new pupil on entering the school was assessed to examine their attitudes; any psychological problems; and abilities, skills and education level. This was followed up by counselling and support as required. Each school has introduced a "My Future Room," containing activities related to occupations and education and training opportunities, other information to encourage pupils to think about opportunities for their future and counsellors. They are encouraged to regularly use the room, to link their abilities and interests to suitable opportunities.
Under the reorganised curriculum, girls, on the basis of the initial and further assessments directed towards the curriculum stream most suited to their abilities and interests. While all pupils study basic subjects such as Thai, mathematics, science and English, those who are not academically-inclined are given opportunities to follow an occupation track, with study areas based on a survey of the province indicating areas in which there are good job opportunities, so for example in Lampang it was found there were opportunities in ceramic painting, a traditional craft of the area. This training attempts to utilise locally-available materials and skills.
For pupils following an academic path, the schools have been included in a broader scheme offering, for example, higher mathematics courses, through satellite transmission which enable teachers in central places to provide classes to far-flung areas. Teachers at the school provide tutoring in these subject.
This restructuring plan was developed in close consultation with the staff, involving several detailed sessions at each school. This appears to have been broadly effective in enlisting staff support for the plans, in which they feel themselves stakeholders. The general attitude among Ministry of Education officials has been broadly less supportive, as any innovative change tends to be regarded as a threat to existing structures, but at the school level the restructuring has broadly been achieved.
Elements of Best Practice
* A practical recognition of the need to operate broadly within existing resources and turn these to better advantage, rather than simply to request more funding and equipment.
* A focus on final outcomes, i.e. training or educating the girls to provide them with skills for appropriate employment, rather than on simply passing students or keeping them in a safe environment until the age of 15.
* The close involvement of staff in the development of the restructuring plan, so they feel it is "their" plan, rather than something being imposed upon them from above or outside.
* The recognition that the needs and interests of the girls must be taken into account and fostered through careful encouragement, rather than their choices being directed by outside "experts" such as teachers or counsellors.
Case H: Training on Research on Child Abuse and Neglect
The Centre for the Protection of Children's Rights is a Thai NGO which, as its title suggests, works broadly within the framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the past it has focused on rescue operations for girls forced into the commercial sex industry, but has recently switched focus to address other intolerable forms of child labour, such as children abused in small-factory environments, on rescue of victims of sexual abuse within families, and to work strongly in the area of advocacy.
Having identified a lack of research expertise in Thailand in the areas of child development and the effects of abusive circumstances on children, it recently conducted a small training project for Thai academics and postgraduate students on research methodology for investigating issues of, and treatment of victims of, child abuse, which was funded by UNICEF. The multidisciplinary session included paediatricians, psychologists, medical academics, research officials from the MOLSW and post-graduate students. Thai experts and two foreign experts, one with a primary interest in statistical issues and the other in treatment of abused children, conducted a one-week session with 25 participants. These were selected by the CPCR, with individual in-person, invitations being delivered to each, including a detailed explanation of the programme and its objectives. There was a conscious attempt to mix those primarily concerned with research, and those working in the area of treatment, so each group could learn from the other and hopefully develop long-term links.
Deverloping from the qualitative aspects of the training course, with funding from ECPAT, a follow-up programme is researching the treatment and rehabilitation of child victims of sexual abuse, including those abused within the commercial sex industry, with a view towards determining the effectiveness of current approaches and services, and ways in which they might be improved. Attempts are also being made towards developing a programme to utilise the training in quantitative methods provided, to find funding and staff to conduct a survey to establish the level of child sex abuse in Thailand, although this has yet to be finalised, due in large part to the very sensitive nature of the topic.
Elements of best practice
* Careful selection of training participants and personal invitations to encourage senior officials, who face huge demands on their time and may feel they are past needing training, to ensure the course reaches the participants mostly able and likely to utilise it.
* A multidisciplinary approach, encouraging a more broad-ranging approach to complex issues and promoting development of personal links which may encourage future cooperation.
* The involvement of very high-quality foreign lecturers, which adds to the prestige of such training and promotes the value of attending.
* The linking of the course to ongoing projects, to ensure skills are utilised quickly (and thus not forgotten or dismissed as irrelevant).
Case I: Thai Trade Unions Against Child Labour
This IPEC-funded training programme is being conducted by Chulalongkorn University's Labour and Management Development Centre. The two-stage programme involves a one-week session with 50 participants nominated by two trade union confederations, with the training focusing on general child labour information and awareness raising. The second round consists of more intensive training for 15 selected participants from the first session, to equip them to act as trainers in child labour issues in their own working environments. Each session uses trainers from NGOs and government officials who work at the "hands-on" level dealing with child labour issues.
The model for this programme was Thai Trade Unions Against HIV/AIDS Project, conducted in 1993. The methodology was found to be effective as participants' trade union connections enabled them to organise courses in the workplace environment, and being workers themselves, they were able to convey the desired message, with appropriate language and background information, probably far more effectively than it would be possible for an "outsider" such as an academic or social worker. Although the enterprises in which trade unionists work, being predominately mid and large-scale, are unlikely to employ child labour, the workers' children may be at risk of becoming child labour, and they are likely to disseminate information received throughout their communities, where child labour in smaller enterprises may be an important issue.
Among the problems encountered or likely to be encountered by programmes structured in this way is the fragmented nature of trade union organisation. There are approximately eight major confederations of unions, and since drawing from all of these is not practical, diplomacy must be employed in selecting those to be involved. Additionally, while the conducting of such programmes is within the university's regulated role of provide activities of benefit to Thai society, the university's contribution is highly unlikely to extend beyond "in kind" support. Other outside funding is thus needed to develop an ongoing programme, and it is not at present clear from where this might be secured. So for example, no follow-up activities were conducted for the HIV/AIDS training, due to lack of funds, and that course, despite its apparent success and continuing need, was not repeated.
Elements of Best Practice
* Through its "train the trainers" approach, this programme has the potential to develop a strong core of grassroots individuals who can speak in appropriate language and terminology to workers.
* By utilising the influence and ties of trade unions to company managements, it can ensure time is made available to reach workers.
Case J: Child Garland Sellers in Chiang Mai
Tom is 11 years old, the youngest in a family of five children, four of whom still live at home with their mother, who has been separated from her partner for some years. He works in the market from around 3 p.m. until late, earning about 100 baht a day, the same amount of money as his mother earns as a dishwasher, although it costs them 60 baht per day in transport to get to the market. Tom has only completed Second Grade of school, although he says he will be going back to start Third Grade next year.
Jo is an eight-year-old garland seller who works each night in the market in Chiang Mai, in a food stall area frequented by both tourists and locals. A bright and outgoing girl who during the day studies in third grade at school, she says she makes between 200 and 300 baht profit per night, and keeps working until she has sold her allotment, usually about 11 p.m. She says she is not scared, as her brother (apparently a few years older) watches over her efforts from the corner of the market.
Children such as Tom and Jo present some difficult issues for child labour workers. According to government regulations, they should not be working, and their parents have in fact been offered 3,000 baht per year in social welfare assistance on the condition that they stop selling garlands. But this money is obviously not enough to compensate for their income. The authorities are concerned about the image they present in the market, and they risk at any time being rounded up by the police and social welfare authorities. There is also concern about them becoming mixed up with criminal elements at the market, and with street children who are frequently drug addicts or sellers of commercial sexual services. To the outside eye, it certainly appears to be an unsafe environment, and it is clear that working late, it is difficult for these children to continue their schooling effectively.
But the children themselves are very keen to continue working, are proud of their ability to assist their families, and no doubt do learn some skills, ranging from managing money to dealing with foreign tourists confidently, which may actuallly be of significant vocational use later in life. As their parents often work at the market, there would in many cases be problems of supervision were they to remain at home at night.
This case study indicates some of the dilemmas faced by workers in the child labour field. Many dedicated NGOs feel it would be better to allow these children to continue to work, offering support and assistance to ensure their safety and encourage their continuing in school. Generally, however, most government workers feel that this is impossible, due to their work being in breach of Thai law and international norms, andd concern about the image of Thailand their work presents to a large number of tourists.
Case K: Newspaper Coverage of Child Labour Issues
English-language papers in Thailand, while they have a relatively small circulation, are valuable in reaching key policy and decisionmakers in the government, private and NGO sectors, as these papers provide greater depth of coverage and analysis than Thai-language media, but due to limitations in language skills are generally only available to university graduates, and a high percentage of their readers have post-graduate education, often obtained overseas. The Thai-language media has a range of styles, but can be generally described as populist, and catering from a range of educational and interest levels from university graduates to readers who have only completed primary school.
Since no research has been carried out to examine in detail the level and nature of newspaper coverage of child labour issues, this report's researchers carried out a scan of the mass-circulation, popular market Thai-language paper Thai Rath, as an example of the popular media (for 1994 and '95), and of the two major English-language newspapers, the Bangkok Post and the Nation (from 1995 to August 1997). A list of the articles relevant to child labour is contained in Appendix IIC. To ensure manageability this scan focused primarily on child labour, as distinct from child prostitution issues, which receive more frequent, if often highly sensationalised, coverage.
In both groups of papers very few if any stories appear to have been developed at the initiative of journalists. They are primarily reports of conferences and seminars, of government action or policy initiatives, or of arrests or rescues of child labourers, with information in those cases often provided by NGOs which assisted in the enforcement action. This is typical of coverage of all social issues.
In Thai Rath, most of the stories on child labour from the survey period were on what is known as the "social affairs" page, deep within the broadsheet paper, often page 19. Stories on this page, often accompanied by conference-type photos of line-up of participants or presentations, are usually obviously taken from press releases, either from the government (usually departments reporting on their work) or NGOs. Over the two years studied there was an increase in the number of these stories printed, but this may have reflected an increase in activity on the issue, rather than increased media interest. Occasionally opinion pieces by columnists appeared during 1994 and 1995 , typically on page three or five. Child prostitution specifically rather than child labour, however, is likely to be the topic of these pieces, which may have broader themes, such as campaigning against perceived increases in materialism.
The rare exceptions of stories which received more prominent treatment are generally those which are particular graphic or which have striking photos. Thus one of the few child labour stories to make page one of Thai Rath was on May 4, 1994, (a few days after Labour Day, thus increasing news value) when a 13-year-old boy had his hand cut off in an accident on a building site. Included was a graphic photo of the boy with his arm still trapped in machinery, and a caption explaining that when a rescue foundation took the boy to a private hospital, it refused to accept him, and he had to be moved to a public hospital.
Although the two scans were not exactly parallel, it is clear that in general the English-language newspapers give far more coverage of child labour issues, in far more prominent positions, at far greater length, than in Thai Rath (as would be true of virtually all issues). The English-language papers are broadly sympathetic to the fight against child labour, and give it a prominent position in Page One stories and in their daily magazine stories, which frequently total 2,000 words or more. Many of these stories are summaries of conferences, and reflect a range of voices, from academics to working children. There are also a smaller number of lengthy comment piece generally run on comment pages. It is also obvious that over the study period the number of stories has increased, although this probably simply reflects the increasing activity on the issue.
Shorter stories, usually on page one or three, fall into three main groups. The most common are reports of government initiatives or release of official figures on child labour. A number of these reflect government concerns about the impact of child labour reports (and also reports of child prostitution) on Thailand's international image. A small but perhaps influential group of these stories, sometimes found in business sections, are those identifying child labour concerns as a threat to Thailand's trade. These often obviously originate from foreign news sources, but contain some local comment, often by government officials, which acknowledge the problem but indicate Thailand should not be punished as it is doing the best it can.
The second most common group of stories are of individual, usually extreme, cases of abuse of child workers, including physical abuse which has led to injury. Examination of these stories leads to the conclusion that in most cases the newspapers' informants were NGOs involved in the cases, although in some examples it appears reports came directly from police sources. Very seldom, however, are the final outcomes of these cases, in terms of the fate of the children or outcomes of prosecution of employers, reported. The third main group of stories relates to releases of research data, usually either directly from universities or information released via NGOs.
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