Slideshow
Child labourers in Lebanon: The power of play
The incidence of child labour in agriculture is on the rise in Lebanon, especially in the Beqaa Valley region which is host to a large number of Syrian refugees. The ILO held a funfair in the area to raise awareness amongst refugees and locals of the risks and hazards of child labour in agriculture. It included plays written and performed by child labourers and their parents, highlighting aspects of their plight and helping them relieve some of the distress they feel due to their situation. The ILO organized the event with funding from the Denmark-led Regional Protection and Development Programme, and in cooperation with Lebanon’s Ministry of Labour and the NGO Beyond Association.
Kowsar Ibrahim, 12, is from Aleppo in Syria, and now lives in the Fayda Refugee Camps in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. She works during the day in the valley’s vineyards, and attends school in the afternoons. During the school holidays, she works full time to help her parents and seven siblings make ends meet.
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
The Beqaa is an agricultural area bordering Syria, and has received large numbers of Syrian refugees in recent years. The incidence of child labour – much of it in hazardous agricultural work – has increased here among both refugees and locals since the outbreak of the Syria conflict in 2011.
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
Sabreen Ibrahim, also 12, is Kowsar’s cousin and lives in the same camp. She works for $US 4 a day. An overseer, known as a “shawish,” will take one dollar from her daily as a form of commission. “I prefer working in the vineyards because of the shade and it doesn’t involve lifting heavy things,” she says. “I wouldn’t be working if I were back in Syria.”
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
The children are taken early in the morning from their camps to the fields in trucks.
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
The ILO partnered with Lebanon’s Ministry of Labour and the child protection association Beyond to hold an event in the Beqaa to raise awareness amongst refugees and locals of the risks and dangers of child labour in agriculture. It included plays written and performed by child labourers and their parents, highlighting aspects of their plight.
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
A child labourer performing during the event, which also marked World Day against Child Labour.
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
The event included a funfair with children’s games and activities.
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
The children participating in the fair were Lebanese and Syrian child labourers in agriculture, many involved in hazardous work.
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
Children enjoying a performance at the fair. Agriculture is one of the three most dangerous sectors in terms of occupational safety and health, regardless of the worker’s age.
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
A child clapping to the music at the fair.
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
A young girl enjoying games at the fair. Speakers at the event stressed that when agricultural work jeopardizes the physical, mental or moral well-being of a child, either because of its nature or because of the conditions in which it is carried out, it constitutes one of the “worst forms of child labour.”
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
Children enjoying games at the fair. Some of them had never been to a funfair before.
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
The ILO warns that unless national authorities and the international community take greater action and increase public awareness around the issue, children will continue to be exploited and exposed to hazardous working conditions while missing out on crucial schooling years.
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
The fair included painting and other art activities to help the children express some of the distress they feel due to their life of toil and hardship as child labourers.
© Tabitha Ross / ILO
Girls proudly hold up posters they designed at the fair: “No to child labour” and “Education is our weapon.”
© Tabitha Ross / ILO