Undocumented children in Chow Kit alleys vulnerable to labour exploitation

KUALA LUMPUR – Undocumented children living around the back alleys of Chow Kit face growing risks of labour exploitation in informal sectors due to increasingly complex vulnerabilities.

Yayasan Chow Kit founder Datuk Dr Hartini Zainudin said many of the children received extremely low wages and were often forced to work late into the night.

She said the jobs included working at restaurants or food stalls, such as washing dishes and carrying goods.

“Besides that, some help at night markets, work at vehicle workshops, small factories or construction sites. They also do street work such as selling tissues or collecting recyclable items.

“The payment they receive is usually around RM10 to RM30 a day or RM200 to RM500 a month.

“There are also cases where children are not paid at all and are only given food or a place to stay,” she said.

Hartini

Hartini said only a small number of cases involving children working in the informal sector had ever been brought to the attention of the Labour Department.

“The number of cases brought to the Labour Department is very small because most incidents occur within the informal sector.

“Many children do not have documents, causing their families to fear making reports or dealing with authorities,” she said.

Hartini said the children were also exposed to risks of violence and abuse in both public and domestic spaces.

She said the issue had become more complicated as many of the affected children were no longer seen on the streets because they now lived in enclosed spaces such as shared houses, small business premises and low-cost housing, making detection and assistance efforts more difficult.

“The pressure of rising living costs and unstable family employment after the pandemic has worsened the situation, making the chain of urban poverty more severe and harder to break,” she said.