Since the conflict began in Syria in 2011, Jordan has witnessed a significant influx of refugees seeking shelter in refugee camps and urban areas across the country. The number of registered and unregistered refugees in Jordan is currently more than 500,000. The UN estimates that the Syrian refugee population in Jordan could grow to more than one million by the end of 2013. According to UN sources, 80 per cent of refugees are made up of women and children and nearly 55 per cent are under the age of 18.

Many children have missed up to two years of their education because of the fighting, and the capacity of schools in host communities is reaching saturation point which could further undermine access to and quality of education for Syrian and Jordanian children alike.

Child labour among Syrian refugees was identified as an issue of concern in the very first joint UN-government needs assessment of Syrian refugees entering Jordan in March 2012. Syrian children can be found working in a variety of occupations both inside and outside of the refugee camps.

The ILO is stepping up its efforts to work with other UN agencies and national partners to combat the rapidly growing problem of child labour among refugees and, as an important first step, obtaining more data on this phenomenon to inform the development of future interventions.

Objectives

• Conduct two rapid assessments on child labour in agriculture and urban informal sectors in the Jordan Valley, Amman, Irbid and Mafraq to determine the nature, magnitude, pattern, distribution and causes of child labour in these sectors. The assessments will also establish the socio-economic characteristics of the working children and their families, investigate the effects of child labour on the health, safety, education and rights of the working children, among other;
• work with the Ministries of Labour, Education and Social Development and the UN and international agencies focusing on the Syrian crisis to ensure closer linkages between the national child labour and humanitarian child protection referral mechanisms;
• support the Labour Inspectorate at the Ministry of Labour to address and refer cases of labour violations in relation to refugees, including child labour; and
• produce a video to highlight the rapid growth of child labour in Jordan due to the Syrian refugee crisis and the Syrian refugee profile, the challenges facing national institutions in addressing this phenomenon and how the ILO hopes to support interventions in this context.

Activities

• The rapid assessments will focus on all working children in agriculture and urban informal sectors in the selected geographical areas and disaggregate data and findings based on nationality.
  • The studies will be conducted using two approaches, namely a desk review and a field assessment.
  • The desk reviews aim at studying the relevant literature available and collecting data and statistics concerning the numbers of child labourers as well as their main demographic, educational and employment characteristics.
  • The field assessments will involve surveying a representative sample of around 200 households in the identified geographical areas and conducting focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with children, families, employers, labour inspectors and others.
•  Strengthen institutional capacity and coordination to combat unacceptable forms of work:
  • Organise consultations with key stakeholders to discuss linking the referral system on child protection used by the humanitarian community with that of the National Framework to Combat Child Labour. This would include considering the integration of humanitarian databases with the National Database on Child Labour; and
  • support the Labour Inspectorate at the Ministry of Labour to address and refer cases of labour violations in relation to refugees, including child labour, through advisory services and training provided through the existing ILO-IPEC project ‘’Moving Towards a Child Labour Free Jordan.’’
• Produce a film on the issue of child labour among the Syrian refugee population in Jordan and highlighting the causes and consequences of child labour on the children and their families, the humanitarian and socio-economic characteristics of Syrian refugee child labour in Jordan and the impact this is having on national institutions and communities:
  • Film cases in Amman, Mafraq, Irbid and Jordan Valley; and
  • interview Syrian refugee families and children, emergency response officials (national and international), employers and officials from various ministries.

Outcomes

• Strengthen the knowledge base on child labour among Syrian refugees.
• Develop links and cross-referencing between the National Framework to Combat Child Labour and the UN humanitarian child protection referral mechanisms, including identifying roles, responsibilities and focal points.
• Support capacity-building and the development of communication systems between national and international partners.
• Identify gaps in interventions and service provision that should be addressed through future programme development on the Syrian crisis.
• Raise awareness of the problem of child labour and the need to address the causes and consequences as a matter of urgency.