ENDING CHILD LABOR. Extreme poverty (above) has forced many Indian girls to drop out from school and work to help their families. (Photo by Plan Philippines/India)

Throughout history, women continue to struggle to be heard – in their communities, in the society, and sadly, even in their own homes. What more girls aged 17 and below who speak up and demand to be treated fairly?

But for Hezel Candelario, Roxanne Napallacan and Indian Nirmala Kumari, three brave girls who are fighting uphill battles, nothing is insurmountable because they believe in themselves, first and foremost.

At the recent “Asia Pacific NGOGO Forum on Beijing + 15’’ held at Miriam College, the three empowered girls and over 500 delegates gathered to develop strategies for a stronger civil society advocating the rights of women.

The forum themed “Weaving Wisdom, Confronting Crises and Forging the Future” is also an assessment of the gains and challenges of the 15th year Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) created
in 1995 at the United Nations Fourth World Conference in Beijing, China.

GIRL-CHILD

The issue of the girl-child is one of the concerns of the BPFA.

It is also an advocacy of Plan International, a child-centered non-government organization, through its “Because I Am A Girl” campaign.

“There is less emphasis on girl-children (aged 0-17) in the children’s rights advocates discourse and the women’s rights discourse. We like to emphasize girl activism and the role of the girls in addressing issues through the stories of the three girl-speakers,” explains Lydia Domingo, gender adviser of Plan Philippines.

FEISTY MS. ENVIRONMENTALIST

Unlike most girls her age, Hezel Candelario of Brgy. Paraiso, Masbate would rather engage in recycling, tree-planting and other environmental activities than spend time playing with her friends.

In Grade 1, Hezel already knew her environmental advocacy when she and her siblings became members of their Barangay Children’s Association under Plan Phils.

Her leadership skills were honed through examples shown by her brother, sister and friend who all became president of the Paraiso Active Youth and Children’s Organization (PAYCO). She later had her turn to lead the organization.

When she was 15, Hezel was chosen to represent the Philippines in the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali, Indonesia. There, she shared how climate change has adversely affected her community, particularly the livelihood of people and forcing their children to quit school and stay at home instead to take care of their siblings.

“Noong nasa Bali ako, dun ko narealize na ganun din pala kalaki ang epekto ng climate change sa ibang bansa at na ito pala ay isang global issue. Kaya pagbalik ko sa Masbate, nagsagawa ako ng maraming proyekto sa mga kabataan sa aming lugar,” shares the now 17-year-old Hezel.

Among the activities she initiated in her community were tree-planting, coastal clean-ups, wall painting and film showing about the environment. She would go from village to village to speak about climate change. She would represent her fellow youth in barangay leaders’ or elders’ meetings and urge them to create concrete environmental programs.

“Naisip ko siguro ito na talaga yung goal ko sa mundo, ako na talaga yung boses ng kabataan sa campaign on climate change. Ginagawa ko kasi ito hindi lang para sa aming mga kabataan pero para sa susunod na henerasyon because they are the owners of the future. Sana may makita pa rin silang magandang tanawin at pangalagaan ang kanilang mga lugar,” says Hezel, now a BS Human Resource Development Management freshman at Bicol University.

LITTLE HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST

A girl classmate was bullied by boys who lifted her skirt and laughed at her while she was crying in embarrassment. Worse, the teacher did not even impose disciplinary action on the culprits.

Girls in their town were raped by tricycle drivers on their way to school.

A teacher made her pupils swallow red hot chili as punishment for having failed their exam.

After seeing all these happening in her community in San Francisco, Southern Leyte, Roxanne Napallacan, 16, decided she had enough.

“Nakita ko yung ginawa ng teacher namin, pinakain ng sili ang mga kaklase ko at pinagtatawanan pa. Maingay kasi sila at mababa ang nakuhang score sa test namin. Nadurog ang puso ko,” recalls Roxanne, a senior high school student.

Worse, no one dared to report the incident to the principal or their parents for fear of being punished further.

But Roxanne found an ally in Plan Philippines. Finally, she was able to gather the guts to stand up against violence in their school and community through activities she helped organize as vice-president of their student government and as member of the Young Hearts Advocate Club.

Last year, she and some teachers helped Plan organize a “Learn without Fear” campaign in her community and held trainings and workshops about fighting violence in schools as well as other issues and concerns of children.

Participants of the event signed a covenant to support the cause and came up with their list of measures to make schools safer for children. These include the government’s responsibility to implement full enforcement on child protection laws; mechanisms that should be established in schools on positive, non-violent forms of discipline; increased awareness campaign on the rights and responsibilities of children; the conduct of orientations, seminars for teachers, school administrators and government officials that are geared towards better understanding of children; and the continued empowerment of children and parents to establish awareness of their rights.

CRUSADER VS. CHILD LABOR

In a patriarchal country such as India, discrimination against women happens even before birth.

Lilly Vishwanathan, senior program manager for Advocacy of Plan India, says out of 12 million girls born every year, one third die before being born.

“Parents determine the sex of child through ultrasound and they abort if it’s a girl. Inspite of the many laws for women, in reality, men are still the decision-makers in the family,” explains Vishwanathan.

In India, she adds, women are not as educated as men. For every 100 girls who go to school, only one graduates or reaches Grade 12. Many have to drop out because they help in household chores.
Nirmala Kumari, Plan India’s coordinator for Child Labor Protect program has been actively pursuing this advocacy for years now by mentoring young children and their parents.

One of her biggest accomplishments is putting to school a growing number of children and keeping them there, until hopefully they graduate.

“The children in my working area do not know about their rights. We talk to parents and convince them to let their children go to regular school, it’s just two to three hours. I am happy that as of present, we have now 115 children studying in the government primary school,” says the 24-year-old Nirmala.

By first changing the children’s mentality and empowering them, Nirmala is certain that sooner or later, the parents will also change and begin to grant the rights that their children deserve.

“My dream is for every child to get education without any discrimination, and equal rights. It may be a hard battle, but for them, I will do my best,” ends Nirmala.