World Day Against Child Labour

The ILO in the Arab States launches a string of initiatives to mark the World Day Against Child Labour

ILO events in Jordan and Lebanon highlight child labour among residents and refugees.

Press release | 12 June 2014
BEIRUT/AMMAN (ILO News) — The ILO and its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) held a series of events to raise awareness of child labour in the region, specifically with regard to Syrian refugee child labour. The events are part of the ILO’s global efforts to mark the Word Day Against Child Labour (WDACL), which falls on June 12. Events taking place in Lebanon and Jordan to mark the World Day Against Child Labour comprise of:
  1. The launch of surveys in Jordan on child labour in in agriculture and the urban informal sector (June 9);
  2. a media workshop in Lebanon on methods to ethically and effectively report on child labour (June 9);
  3. a theatrical performance by Syrian refugee and host community children in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley (June 12); and
  4. a fun-run for working and non-working children in Jordan (June 22).

Lebanon

The media workshop on child labour in Lebanon held on Monday (June 9) brought together both print and broadcast journalists in Lebanon to discuss issues relating to reporting on child labour in Lebanon with government officials, ILO child labour experts and media consultants. During the workshop, participants built on how child labour issues have evolved in Lebanon since the ILO held a similar workshop a year ago. The workshop also covered issues related to reporting on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Lebanon and invited media institutions to cover the WDACL theatrical performance.

The ILO also partnered with Lebanon’s Ministry of Labour and the Beyond Association to launch a theatre, drama, singing production by Syrian and Lebanese children working in hazardous types of child labour in Lebanon on Thursday (June 12). The production was attended by approximately 3,000 working and at risk children and their families from Syrian refugee settlements in Lebanon and surrounding host communities, policy makers within these communities, relevant humanitarian agencies, as well as representatives of workers and employers organizations. The performance came after months of training sessions administered by Syrian and Lebanese arts, theatre, music teachers and social workers with working children who employed the IPEC SCREAM – Supporting Children’s Rights through Education, the Arts and the Media – programme.

Jordan

The ILO studies on child labour in Jordan’s agricultural and urban informal sector released on Monday (June 9) found improvements in law enforcement, greater access to education, alternative support mechanisms, as well as closer cooperation between stakeholders were all needed to tackle the growing number of children employed in Jordan’s agricultural and informal sectors. Syrian refugee children were found to be particularly vulnerable to child labour in both urban informal and agricultural sectors in Jordan and over 70 per cent of all working children in both sectors do not attend school.

Around 500 children from across Jordan will also participate in a two-kilometre fun run next Sunday (June 22) to mark World Day Against Child Labour in the capital Amman. Working and non-working children between the ages of seven and 18 will take part in the run organised by the ILO and Jordan’s Ministries of Labour, Education and Social Development as well as the country’s National Committee to Combat Child Labour. Other activities on the day will include a football match, a magic show and dance performances. Runners will also receive schools bags with needed supplies to promote the right to education.

“Every year in the run-up to the World Day Against Child Labour the ILO in the Arab State takes practical measures to further the fight against child labour in the region,” said Frank Hagemann, Deputy Director of the ILO Regional Office for the Arab States. “Such events intend to raise awareness of child labour and its worst forms among the general public as well as government officials, workers’ and employers’ organisations in order to remind them that deep reforms that tackle the root causes child labour among refugees remain a joint responsibility.”