Thousands of children plus their grown-up hanger-ons celebrated an event combining two international days celebrating children and their rights Tuesday at Samdech Hun Sen Park and the riverbank in Phnom Penh, the Mekong Times newspaper reported.
The days celebrated were the International Children's Day of June 1 and International Child Labor Day of June 12. The themes featured were "Health care for infants and children for the development of the country" and "Education is the right solution to child labor."
"Every Cambodian citizen has a great obligation to ensure infants and children can live peacefully, grow to be healthy and intelligent adults, and live in peace and dignity," said Ith Sam Heng, chairman of the Cambodian National Council for Children and minister of social affairs, in front of thousands of children.
"Child and infant health care is a key to poverty reduction and sustainable development. All parents have the obligation to keep their children healthy and disease free he said.
The minister added that investment in child and infant health care is the only way to ensure that Cambodian children receive full rights so they can do their best to rebuild the country and have a decent standard of living.
"Children are the bamboo shoots which will grow into our bamboo plants and are the firm pillar of the country, but the poverty of the people is an obstacle to the achievement of children's educational potential," said Deputy Prime Minister Sok An at the event.
He also urged all national and international organizations to pay close attention to children's issues and to seek means to free children from all forms of exploitation.
Speaking at the event, Menachery Paul Joseph, technical advisory leader at the International Labor Organization's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, encouraged the government to work for the elimination of child labor in all sectors.
He said "if children are laboring, they are doing it outside of school, which means they are unable to go to school to receive an education".
Meas Samnang, representative for the NGO Committee on the Rights of the Child, said during the event that children are the most vulnerable to exploitation in the community because their parents' poverty often means they are unable to attend school.
According to a 2003 survey, nearly 30,000 domestic child laborers in Phnom Penh alone were not going to school, he said.
He urged the government, NGOs and members of the public to encourage the implementation of laws to prevent the use of child labor.
"Education is the most suitable solution for children," said the official.
| Editor: Jiang Yuxia |
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