Ninewa, Iraq (ILO News) School teachers, administrators and social workers attended a two-day workshop in the Iraqi Governorate of Ninewa, aimed at building their capacities to address child labour in the country.

The workshop in June was conducted by Al-Tahreer Association for Development, one of ILO’s local partners implementing activities to tackle the worst forms of child labour amongst IDPs, refugees, and vulnerable host communities in Iraq.

The training brought together one hundred participants and introduced them to the concept of child labour, including its worst forms, in line with International and national frameworks governing child labour.

The training also presented participants with case studies in which they were tasked to identify the different forms of child labour and practical techniques to refer and support them.

“Years of conflict and displacement, exacerbated by economic challenges has made many children vulnerable to child labour. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and school closures, even more children are at risk of child labour,” said Lawen Hawezy, chief technical advisor for ILO’s child labour project in Iraq. “This makes it even more urgent for educators to address those concerns, as we continue to work towards tackling the challenges together.”

The purpose of the training was to strengthen the capabilities of the school administrators and teachers to better understand the concept of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, its causes, and negative consequences, and to ultimately play a proactive role in identifying children at risk of child labour and tackling this issue.

Marwan Abdul Ghani Abdullah, director of Sona Al-Hayat School for Boys, who participated in the training said: "This is the first training workshop that I have attended on child labour. The training was excellent because it gave us a real chance to understand the worst forms of child labour. We are keen to apply all the information that we received in the training on the ground among the students."

"The workshop was unique because child labour is a widespread issue among our society. The objective of the workshop was to educate our educational staff, including teachers and school administrators, on the phenomenon of child labour, so they can in return spread awareness among children and their families, for the purpose of promoting education and the return to school," added Hammam Sate' Mohamed, Senior Legal Counsel at the Ninewa Education Directorate.


With support from the European Regional Development and Protection Programme for Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq (RDPP II)  – a joint European initiative by the Czech Republic, Denmark, the European Union, Ireland and Switzerland, the ILO in Iraq is implementing a programme which tackles the worst forms of child labour amongst Syrian refugees, internally displaced persons and vulnerable host community members. This includes piloting a Child Labour Monitoring System, increasing access to quality education for children, providing skills training and income-generating activities to older siblings and caretakers of vulnerable children, and supporting the development of a National Action Plan against child labour.

For more information, see Tackling the worst forms of child labour amongst IDPs, refugees, and vulnerable host communities in Iraq