Tackling child labour among Syrian refugees and their host communities in Jordan and Lebanon

The effects of the Syrian crisis are increasingly spilling over into the economic and social spheres of Jordan and Lebanon, leading to stalled economic activity, loss of income and shrinking access to quality public services. As a result, social cohesion between host communities and Syrian refugees is deteriorating. At the same time, refugees must resort to negative coping strategies such as child labour in order to survive. A lack of access to formal jobs for parents and vocational opportunities for Syrian adolescents also exacerbates the problem.

In response, the project adopts a dual-track approach to tackling child labour by enacting policy reforms in refugee host communities as well as building the capacity of government, civil society as well as worker and employer institutions to combat and prevent child labour.

Objectives

• Contribute to the elimination of child labour, especially its worst forms, among Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan and Lebanon;
• facilitate policy reform through consensus between refugees, host community residents, government officials as well as worker and employer organizations; and
• build the technical capacity of government, civil society as well as workers’ and employers’ organizations to leverage national platforms to combat child labour.

Main Activities

• Conduct evidence-based research on occupational safety and health (OSH), hazards for children in selected sectors as well as links between adult and adolescent labour market participation and child labour;
• engage national and local government officials as well as workers’ and employers’ organizations in policy dialogue to improve socioeconomic conditions of vulnerable children;
• develop and disseminate audio-visual and printed materials that promote awareness of child labour;
• convene district-level discussion groups and national level forums on child labour;
• advocate to mainstream child labour concerns in activities aimed at easing de facto restrictions on labour market access for refugees;
• inform and assist children to understand and express their rights based on international conventions;
• identify capacity needs within line ministries as well as workers’ and employers’ organizations engaged in national action plans to combat child labour;
• improve technical resources and practices to accommodate emerging child labour cases and referrals in government as well as workers’ and employers’ organizations;
• facilitate inter-agency communication and cooperation between government and civil society organizations combating child labour;
• provide training to government, civil society as well as workers’ and employers’ organizations to combat to child labour through programming and project development as well as identification, prevention, withdrawal and rehabilitation of children engaged in child labour; and
• engage and train security forces to bolster the enforcement of child labour laws and withdrawal of children from illicit work.

Outcomes

• Consensus is achieved among policymakers and other stakeholders to grant refugees of working age access to certain sectors of the labour market and/or engage them in other socioeconomic activities which prevent or eliminate child labour; and
• improve technical capacity of government, civil society as well as worker’s and employers’ organizations to combat child labour.