DILEMMAS IN TACKLING CHILD LABOR - THE CASE OF SCAVENGER CHILDREN IN THE PHILIPPINES

Although there is wide agreement that hazardous child labour should be stopped, it is not at all dear bow to do this most effectively and co st-efficiently. This report of a pilot ILO child labour project descri bes a particularly distressing (but not uncommon) example of child lab our in the informal sector - child scavengers - and reviews various po licy and programmatic dilemmas encountered in addressing this problem at the enormous Philippine garbage dump known as Smokey Mountain. It s hows that a multi-pronged approach beginning with highly targeted rese arch is crucial and provides an example of how this can be done.