The Committee recommends that the State party intensify its efforts to combat trafficking in human beings, especially women and children, for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labour, inter alia, by supporting programmes and information campaigns to prevent trafficking, providing mandatory training for law enforcement officials, prosecutors and judges on the anti-trafficking legislation and increasing the provision of medical, psychological and legal support to victims. 27. The Committee remains concerned that despite the State party’s efforts to combat child labour, a large number of children between the age of 5 and 14 work in the informal economy. The Committee is particularly concerned that many of these children work in hazardous or dangerous conditions and are exposed to various forms of sexual and economic exploitation, including the worst forms of child labour. (art. 10) The Committee urges the State party to intensify its efforts to combat child labour and protect children from all forms of sexual and economic exploitation, including the worst forms of child labour, inter alia, through: (a) Strengthening its national legislation prohibiting child labour in accordance with international standards; (b) Increasing the number of labour inspections in order to ensure the respect of its national legislation prohibiting child labour; (c) Ensuring the imposition of fines and criminal sanctions to persons making use of illegal child labour; (d) Organising mandatory training for law enforcement officials, prosecutors and judges; and (e) Adopting all appropriate measures to facilitate recovery and access to educational opportunities for former child workers. The Committee recommends that the State party undertake a national survey on the nature and extent of child labour, and include information on progress made in combating child labour in its next periodic report. 28. The Committee is deeply concerned that, in spite of the high rate of economic growth achieved in recent years, the percentage of persons living below the official poverty line has actually increased to an estimated 36 per cent of the population in 2007. The Committee also notes with concern the wide regional disparities between the National Capital Region and the poorest regions of the country, in particular the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, and the significant inequalities in income distribution, especially between urban areas and poor rural areas. (art. 11) The Committee recommends that the State party allocate sufficient funds for the implementation of its poverty eradication strategy, and ensure the full integration of economic, social and cultural rights in the strategy, as recommended by the Committee in its statement on “Poverty and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” (E/C.12/2001/10). The Committee requests the State party to include in its next periodic report detailed information on the results of the measures adopted under the strategy, including updated statistical data, on an annual basis, on the percentage of the population living in poverty, disaggregated by gender, age, number of children per household, number of single-parent households, rural/urban population, and ethnic group. 29. The Committee notes with concern that an estimated 16.5 million, roughly 30 per cent, of the urban population continue to live in informal settlements and slums, sometimes built on riverbanks, railroad tracks and other high-risk areas, with no or limited basic infrastructures and services, without legal security of tenure and under constant threat of eviction. The Committee also notes with concern that the percentage of the national budget allocated to the realization of housing programmes aimed at providing security of tenure and affordable housing, such as the Presidential Land Proclamation, is not sufficient to increase the supply of social housing units for members of the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups. (art. 11) The Committee requests the State party to allocate sufficient funds for the realization of programmes aimed at providing security of tenure and affordable housing, particularly to members of the most disadvantaged and marginalized groups, in line with its general comment No. 4 (1991) on the right to adequate housing. 30. The Committee regrets that most of its previous recommendations relating to the prevention of illegalforced evictions (E/C.12/1995/7, paras. 31 and 32) have not been acted upon by the State party, and remains deeply concerned about the largescale forced eviction of urban families carried out for the purpose of urban renewal and beautification, which has reportedly affected over 1.2 million people in the period between 1995 and 2008. It is also concerned about the lack of effective consultation of, and legal redress for, persons affected by forced evictions, and the inadequate measures to provide sufficient compensation or adequate relocation sites to families who have been forcibly removed from their properties. (art. 11) In line with the recommendations contained in paragraphs 31 and 32 of its previous concluding observations, the Committee urges the State party, as a matter of priority, to (a) Ensure the effective implementation of the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA) of 1992 (Republic Act No. 7279) and other laws and regulations prohibiting illegal forced evictions and demolitions; (b) Reinforce the mandate of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor “as the sole clearing house for the conduct of demolition and eviction”, in accordance with Executive Order No. 152 of 2002; (c) Undertake open, participatory and meaningful consultations with affected residents and communities prior to