Protecting the rights of child workers

10 October 2004

Tam is eleven years old and lives with her family in an urban slum in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. Two years ago, her family left their home in one of the hill tribe communities on the Thai-Myanmar border and travelled to Chiang Mai in search of work.

Unable to speak the Thai language as well as their local indigenous dialect, and with few skills and no legal status in Thailand, Tam’s parents found it impossible to find work. In desperation, Tam and her younger brother have to beg for money from locals and tourists to earn just enough to feed their family.

Forced to work

Tam is one of a number of children that Chiang Mai YMCA, with support from Y Care International, has been working to help for the last four years. The YMCA helps children whose families live in poverty, orphans and those who have escaped abusive families to find work in the city.

These children, whose homes are either on the street or in the slums, are forced to work selling posies to tourists in the night bazaar, begging on the streets or collecting rubbish for recycling.

Chiang Mai YMCA child workers’ project provides basic education, health awareness and sports activities, whilst using various forums to advocate for children’s rights.

Support with school

With assistance from Chiang Mai YMCA, Tam has recently enrolled at a local secondary school, which has accepted her despite her lack of Thai citizenship. The school has also agreed to waive Tam’s tuition fees. Chiang Mai YMCA will be providing additional out-of-school support to bring her up to the educational level of her classmates.

Campaigning for basic rights

The YMCA is working closely with the Chiang Mai Child Rights Network to campaign for changes in policy to protect the rights of marginalised children, so many more children like Tam can have the future they deserve.

• Adapted from article published in Y Care, the Journal of Y Care International, issue 19, autumn 2004