A new multi-organizational report finds
that conflict and war over the past decade has coincided with an increase in
child labour among refugee children, the internally displaced and other
populations across the region.
Commissioned by the League of Arab States (LAS) and the Arab Council for
Childhood Development (ACCD), the “Child Labour in the Arab Region: A
Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis ” report is the first to provide an overview of the profile and trends
of child labour in the League’s 22 member states. “Over the past ten years,
during which the region has witnessed high levels of armed conflict resulting
in the mass displacement of populations – both within and between countries –
the situation has certainly worsened,” the report states.
A dearth of systematically and comprehensively-collected regional data from
previous years means that exact figures on the recent rise of child labour
among different population groups are difficult to assess, explained Frank
Hagemann, Deputy Regional Director for Arab States from the International
Labour Organization (ILO). The ILO is the lead UN agency that oversaw
production of the study, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
“Yet the report makes clear that the effects of recent economic shocks,
political turmoil, conflict and war have worsened pre-existing levels of child
labour, and have also reversed much of the progress Arab countries made in
combatting child labour through policy development and practical measures,”
Hagemann said. “As is the case across the globe, conflict has hit women and
children disproportionately hard in the region. In consequence, child labour
has emerged as perhaps the most critical child-protection issue in the region,
requiring our urgent attention and action,” Hagemann said.
Worst forms of child labour
The study reports that children in parts
of the Arab region “have been increasingly drawn into the worst forms of child
labour and face serious and worrying exploitation, abuse and violation of their
rights.”
“Refugee and displaced children work in different sectors of activity, with a
notable rise in street work, bonded labour, early marriages, and commercial
sexual exploitation. Child labour among refugee and displaced children is
mainly a coping mechanism for their families who face extreme poverty or where
adults are unemployed,” the study states.
The case of hazardous work in agriculture
“The worst forms of child labour include
the kinds of hazardous work found in the agriculture sector, in which most
children in the Arab region work in both paid and unpaid labour,” said
Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, FAO assistant Director-General and Regional
Representative for the Near East and North Africa. “Such labour takes place
mostly in rural areas, and represents a cheap workforce for small-scale farming
– mostly non-mechanized labour-intensive methods of production involving high
risks.”
Conflicts and mass displacement had a toll on agriculture and food security.
Building resilient rural livelihoods is essential to child labour reduction in
this sector, which generally involve high level of work related fatalities,
non-fatal accidents and occupational diseases.
“Agriculture accounts for more than half of children in employment in countries
such as Yemen, Sudan and Egypt. The predominance of agriculture calls for
special attention since this sector is characterized by early entry into work
compared to other sectors,” Ould Ahmed added.
Mass displacement and armed conflict
The worst forms of child labour are also
found in services and industry, and includes the multiple dangers associated
with working on the streets.
They also include direct and indirect involvement in armed conflict and in
situations associated with armed conflict.
The study reports that over half of Arab countries are currently affected by
conflicts or inflows of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). These
include Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the
Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Yemen.
The study reports a rise in the recruitment and use of children by armed
groups, both among local and refugee populations, especially in Yemen, Syria
and Iraq.
“The majority of recruited children are generally boys. However, there is an
emerging tendency to recruit more girls and children below the age of 15.
Hundreds of children across the Arab region are also held in detention and even
tortured on grounds of being involved in armed groups,” the report states.
Children in parts of the region are being forced into new types of activities
relating to situations of armed conflict, such as smuggling goods across the
border or between fighting zones, collecting oil waste, performing funerary
work (collecting body parts for burial), as well as fetching water or
collecting food from fields and landfills littered with explosive remnants of
war, the report adds.
Children’s involvement in employment varies substantially across the Arab
region, with Sudan and Yemen showing the highest rates of child employment
(19.2 per cent and 34.8 per cent respectively.)
Child employment rates are higher among boys. The report cautions, however,
“surveys might fail to capture hidden forms of child labour among girls, such
as domestic work and unpaid household services, which merit further research
and enquiry.” Unpaid work is also higher amongst the younger age group, and in
rural areas.
Endorsement and recommendations
The report was presented to LAS member
states, who had previously endorsed the report, at the League’s headquarters in
Cairo on 7 March. LAS commissioned the report to provide an understanding of
the main trends of child employment as a first step towards designing
better-targeted policies and interventions to address the problem of child
labour. The commission was based on a recommendation of the 20th Session of the
Arab Childhood Committee (ACC) of November 2014.
The report stresses, “There is an urgent and immediate need to safeguard
children in the Arab region, whether their serious exploitation is a result of
pure economic issues or in combination with conflict and displacement. Arab
countries need to realize that child labour poses immediate and future
challenges not only to the children themselves, but also to their nations and
communities, as well as the broader economy.”
“It is now urgent to address both the root causes and repercussions of child
labour, and to ultimately eliminate it, especially in its worst forms,” the
report states.
The study concludes with recommendations to the 22 LAS member states to improve
their governance frameworks, especially by aligning national legislation with
international legal standards, and ensuring the effective enforcement of child
labour laws and regulations.
It recommends, secondly, protecting children from economic and social
vulnerability by improving the socio-economic circumstances of families so that
they do not resort to child labour to generate income for households where
adults suffer from poverty and unemployment. Achieving this requires improved
labour market policies, social protection, access to basic services including
education, and awareness-raising programmes.
The study recommends, thirdly, protecting children from the impact of armed
conflict through humanitarian programmes and aid for refugees and the
displaced, protecting children from recruitment and use in armed conflict, and
rehabilitating and reintegrating children used in armed conflicts.