Middle East: Child labour on the rise as conflicts and tensions grow
As wars, conflict and political tension have increased in the Middle East over recent years, so have the number of children ensnared in hazardous labour and child exploitation, says a recent report by the International Labour Organization commissioned by the Cairo-based Organization of Arab States and the Arab Council for Childhood and Development (ACCD).
The new dangers children in the Middle East are now facing include increased employment in street work, bonded labour, early marriages, sex trade and recruitment by armed groups.
In Syria, for example, more than 2.8 million children were forced out of school since pro-democracy protests erupted in 2011 and a civil war ensued. ‘Child labour is being used as a coping mechanism after exhausting other strategies such as reducing food consumption, spending savings and accumulating debt,’ says the report. Syrian children toil in activities such as begging and scavenging for scrap metal among other hazardous occupations, the report says.
We are seeing massive movements of people into Europe from Northern Africa and from Syria and they are desperate…So they‘ll do anything
Peter Talibart
Co-chair, IBA Employment and Industrial Relations Law Committee
Arab governments have generally worked to combat child labour through legislation but often failed to rein in abuse because of the spread of corruption, lack of oversight and their own contribution to political instability. Some countries have even restricted the work of some NGOs whose activities include combatting child labour.
The 145-page ILO report details various forms of abuse that Middle East children encounter but says the spike in underage involvement in armed conflict and exposure to political tension have resulted in some of the worst abuses in a decade. ’Over the past ten years, during which the region has witnessed high levels of armed conflict resulting in the mass displacement of populations – both within and between countries – the situation has certainly worsened,’ the report says.
More than half the 22 Arab countries, with a population of 420 million people, are currently affected by conflicts or inflows of refugees and internally displaced persons. These include Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen. ’As is the case across the globe, conflict has hit women and children disproportionately hard in the region. In consequence, child labour has emerged as perhaps the most critical child-protection issue in the region, requiring our urgent attention and action,’ said Frank Hagemann, the ILO’s deputy regional director for Arab States. ’The effects of recent economic shocks, political turmoil, conflict and war have worsened pre-existing levels of child labour, and have also reversed much of the progress Arab countries made in combatting child labour through policy development and practical measures.’
The report was compiled before the start of several developments that look set to send the region further into downward spiral. A full-blown civil war started earlier this year in Libya after warlord Khalifa Haftar launched a military campaign to take over Tripoli, the Mediterranean country’s capital city with a population of 1.5 million people, from the UN-recognized government.
Sudan and Algeria saw mass public protests that caused the ouster of their two long-time rulers within the space of one month. There are reports already of food and fuel shortages in some parts of Sudan.
Political tension is also simmering in countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia that are witnessing an unprecedented crackdown on dissent and political opposition that includes sentencing opponents to death en masse.
Iran is also bracing for a US push to bring its oil exports to zero, a development that many Middle East experts say could send more people into poverty and further destabilize the region given that the Islamic Republic is heavily involved in countries throughout the region. Eric Edmonds, a professor of economics at Dartmouth College, who specializes in child-labour issues, says in such crises families adapt as a survival mechanism in conflict zones. ‘When the political situation pushes families into desperation, they are going to do everything they can to survive. That almost always means ‘all hands on deck’ towards livelihood,’ he says.
Peter Talibart, co-chair of the IBA’s Employment and Industrial Relations Law Committee agreed that desperation often creates child labour but said the international community should take a wider look at the issue beyond just blaming political tension and conflicts. ’I wouldn’t limit it to political tensions. I think economic tensions. I think movement of people. We are seeing massive movements of people into Europe from Northern Africa and from Syria and they are desperate. They are disinherited from their own countries and have to try to make a life somewhere with limited means. So they‘ll do anything.’
Talibart says the wider challenge of modern slavery creates the environment where child labour thrives. ’Looking at just child labour in isolation from the broader problem that is modern slavery in my view is a mistake because child labour is a subset of a bigger problem - modern slavery,’ he says. ‘Saying that political tensions are primary driver of the rise in child labour potentially makes the same kind of mistake. You are looking at a part of the problem and part of the cause of a problem rather than looking at the whole thing. And by focusing at one fact we risk ignoring the others…It starts with desperation and I think it starts with people who are prepared to take advantage of desperate people. Children working is a very difficult issue. People would tell you they are against child labour and change their minds if they are then told that the families need the child to work in order for them to eat. Both are unacceptable circumstances.’
The ILO study refers to an economic side to the problem saying that recruitment by political or armed groups in countries like Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen is attractive because of the relatively high and regular salaries they offer but stated that there’s a spike in forced or deceitful recruitment.
Gruelling tasks underage workers can face in conflict zones include smuggling goods across borders and collecting oil waste, food from landfills or even body parts for burial.
The report authors say that while the majority of children recruited in conflict zones are boys, girls are increasingly being used as well. ‘Another major concern is the vulnerability of girls to forced marriage, trafficking and sexual abuse.’
’Child labour is only one of the many reasons to be concerned about children in conflict settings,’ said Eric V. Edmonds of Dartmouth College. ‘An enormous body of evidence suggests that early life experiences can have lasting consequences. Hence, through children, the impact of conflict far outlives the conflict itself.’