![[Syria] Working as delivery boys is just one of many jobs for Syria's growing number of child workers. [Date picture taken: 07/12/2006]](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20067120.jpg.webp?itok=-jVWaOo5 "Working as delivery boys is just one of many jobs for Syria's growing number of child workers")
While most other children were spending their time in school playgrounds, Redda Sarsawe was earning a living for his family by working as a carpenter. “I left school five years ago,” said the 14-year-old from Hagar Aswad, an impoverished suburb south of Damascus. “My parents didn’t give me any money for books, so I started working.”
Redda may earn up to $10 a day as a craftsman, but he is also breaking Syrian law, which requires that children stay in school – and not enter the job market – until they are 15 years old. But in a country with an estimated 600,000 working children between 10 and 17, local activists say the laws aimed at protecting children’s rights are not being implemented.
“There’s a contradiction in Syrian law,” said Suad Kobbai, a member of the Human Rights Organisation in Syria. “The reformed child labour law prevents children from working until they are 15, but the basic Syrian labour law kept the minimum work age at 12. This is a legal loophole that must be closed.”
Child labour – a growing problem
In a 1998 study, the Ministry of Labour estimated that nearly one in ten children aged between 10 and 14 worked regularly. In a nationwide survey conducted in 2002, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) interviewed more than 20,000 households and found that nearly 13 percent of children aged between 12 and 14 were employed. Some 3 percent of 10- to 11-year-olds were also found to be working.
The survey further found that children of poor, rural families were most likely to be put to work, with nearly half of working children employed as unpaid workers in family businesses. It also found that many children under 14 years old were working 46-hour work weeks.
Most child labourers, say experts, consist of children that have dropped out of school. A National Human Development Report, co-published by the Syrian State Planning Commission and the UNDP last July, found that a full quarter of Syrian students leave school before finishing primary-level education, while over two thirds do not finish secondary education.
In her own survey of children working in two industrial sites on the edge of Damascus, Kobbai found that many of them were also vulnerable to physical abuse in the workplace. “Three boys from the countryside – aged 11, 14 and 17 – who work in a workshop told me they were sexually abused by their employer,” said Kobbai.
Although the Ministry of Social Affairs is tasked with monitoring and fining employers of children, activists say current penalties of only 1,000 Syrian pounds ($20) make the employment of children cost efficient. “Employers should be put in jail, and their workshops closed,” said Kobbai. “Employers pay taxes to the social affairs ministry, but they’re not asked about the names or ages of their workers. The ministry gets its taxes, but the children don’t get their rights.”
As Redda put it, avoiding official inspections is not difficult: “Sometimes my boss asks me to leave the workshop when an observer from the Social Affairs Ministry arrives,” he said.
A plan for action
Last October, Damascus – a state party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – adopted the National Plan on Protection of Children in Syria, drawn up by the newly created Syrian Commission for Family Affairs. The plan outlines the creation, within two years, of a comprehensive support network for children, including the development of social sciences in higher education curricula and the training of specialists to better coordinate with doctors and social workers.
According to plan coordinator Rania al Haj Ali, the scheme aims to raise public awareness about children’s rights; improve financial, legal and health support to children; and establish new child support centres. “It will take time, but our aim is to build a comprehensive system for child support,” said Haj Ali. “Some parents think it’s alright to send their children to work, but we say this is exercising a kind of violence against children.”
The first step will be a field survey by the central bureau of statistics to update data available on the mistreatment of children, particularly child labourers. “Realistically, you cannot eradicate child labour completely,” said Haj Ali. “But we aim to minimise it. We have comprehensive legislation on child labour, and we aim to make sure it’s implemented.”
In the interim, though, many of Syria’s young labourers continue to be overworked and, in many cases, abused. “My boss always shouts at me, and sometimes he hits me,” said Redda. “Sometimes, I cry when I see my friends go school – I want to wear clean clothes and go to school with them.”
HM/SZ/AM
Redda may earn up to $10 a day as a craftsman, but he is also breaking Syrian law, which requires that children stay in school – and not enter the job market – until they are 15 years old. But in a country with an estimated 600,000 working children between 10 and 17, local activists say the laws aimed at protecting children’s rights are not being implemented.
“There’s a contradiction in Syrian law,” said Suad Kobbai, a member of the Human Rights Organisation in Syria. “The reformed child labour law prevents children from working until they are 15, but the basic Syrian labour law kept the minimum work age at 12. This is a legal loophole that must be closed.”
Child labour – a growing problem
In a 1998 study, the Ministry of Labour estimated that nearly one in ten children aged between 10 and 14 worked regularly. In a nationwide survey conducted in 2002, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) interviewed more than 20,000 households and found that nearly 13 percent of children aged between 12 and 14 were employed. Some 3 percent of 10- to 11-year-olds were also found to be working.
The survey further found that children of poor, rural families were most likely to be put to work, with nearly half of working children employed as unpaid workers in family businesses. It also found that many children under 14 years old were working 46-hour work weeks.
Most child labourers, say experts, consist of children that have dropped out of school. A National Human Development Report, co-published by the Syrian State Planning Commission and the UNDP last July, found that a full quarter of Syrian students leave school before finishing primary-level education, while over two thirds do not finish secondary education.
In her own survey of children working in two industrial sites on the edge of Damascus, Kobbai found that many of them were also vulnerable to physical abuse in the workplace. “Three boys from the countryside – aged 11, 14 and 17 – who work in a workshop told me they were sexually abused by their employer,” said Kobbai.
Although the Ministry of Social Affairs is tasked with monitoring and fining employers of children, activists say current penalties of only 1,000 Syrian pounds ($20) make the employment of children cost efficient. “Employers should be put in jail, and their workshops closed,” said Kobbai. “Employers pay taxes to the social affairs ministry, but they’re not asked about the names or ages of their workers. The ministry gets its taxes, but the children don’t get their rights.”
As Redda put it, avoiding official inspections is not difficult: “Sometimes my boss asks me to leave the workshop when an observer from the Social Affairs Ministry arrives,” he said.
A plan for action
Last October, Damascus – a state party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – adopted the National Plan on Protection of Children in Syria, drawn up by the newly created Syrian Commission for Family Affairs. The plan outlines the creation, within two years, of a comprehensive support network for children, including the development of social sciences in higher education curricula and the training of specialists to better coordinate with doctors and social workers.
According to plan coordinator Rania al Haj Ali, the scheme aims to raise public awareness about children’s rights; improve financial, legal and health support to children; and establish new child support centres. “It will take time, but our aim is to build a comprehensive system for child support,” said Haj Ali. “Some parents think it’s alright to send their children to work, but we say this is exercising a kind of violence against children.”
The first step will be a field survey by the central bureau of statistics to update data available on the mistreatment of children, particularly child labourers. “Realistically, you cannot eradicate child labour completely,” said Haj Ali. “But we aim to minimise it. We have comprehensive legislation on child labour, and we aim to make sure it’s implemented.”
In the interim, though, many of Syria’s young labourers continue to be overworked and, in many cases, abused. “My boss always shouts at me, and sometimes he hits me,” said Redda. “Sometimes, I cry when I see my friends go school – I want to wear clean clothes and go to school with them.”
HM/SZ/AM
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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