Children of the quarries

When Ahmed left school at age 11 to work in the rock quarries near his village, he was happy to earn a little money to help support his family. “But as soon as I went to work, I found it very hard,” Ahmed, who is now 14 and still working the quarries, recently told a local NGO. “We’ve seen lots of accidents – terrible accidents – because the blades on the [rock-cutting] machines spin so fast. They have injured lots of people.” Ahmed is one of the 2,000 to 3,000 children under the age of 18 being illegally employed in more than 500 rock quarries in and around the central Egyptian town of Minya, located some 250km south of Cairo. Henein pointed out that the lack of regulation in the sector makes it easy for quarry owners to employ children. Almost none of the workers have contracts with their employers, and the vastness of the industry makes it hard for labour inspectors to enforce child labour laws or ensure that employers provide adequate safety gear such as masks, goggles or footwear. In spite of the dangers, however, many children choose quarry work over other jobs simply because it pays better. Children, who commonly work between 10- and 12-hour days, can earn between US $1.74 and US $2.60 in the quarries daily, while jobs in carpentry or car repair shops earns them only US $0.35 to US $0.87 per day. Since most adult quarry workers earn between US $2.60 and US $4.34 daily, with some earning as much as US $8.69, it’s obvious why quarry owners employ minors. “There’s an abundant supply. They’re cheap, easy to manage and don’t demand any kind of security,” explained Osman. “Their families are very poor, and, in some cases, they beg the companies to put the kids to work.” Efforts to end child labour Though the issue has been traditionally ignored, interest has grown over the past few years in the plight of Egypt’s estimated 2.7 million working children. The majority work in agriculture, with over a million being hired each year for the cotton harvest, during which they work 11-hour days in 40-degree heat. In a recent UNICEF survey, nearly all children asked reported beatings by foremen. According to Osman, there is some hope of eradicating child labour in quarries because – unlike agriculture – quarry work is limited in scope. “Eradicating child labour in agriculture is impossible. It’s too large and the issue is between families,” Osman said. “But in the quarries, the magnitude is known.” Henein, who has been working with quarry workers for over a decade, confirms that interest in the issue had reached a new high. The new governor of Minya has reportedly begun holding weekly meetings on the issue with both governmental and non-governmental parties. Egypt’s first lady, Suzanne Mubarak, publicised the importance of ending child labour in Egypt by participating in the ILO’s international “Red Card to Child Labour” campaign during the recent African Football Cup of Nations, which Egypt hosted. The first lady, who is herself from Minya, has declared her desire to see all child labourers out of the quarries within the next two years. The root of the problem The real question remains, however: how to accomplish this? While the Egypt Child Law of 1996 bans the employment of children under 14, and regulates the hours and conditions of those between 15 and 17, it remains largely un-enforced. More importantly, it does nothing to address the root causes propelling youngsters into this dangerous line of work. “The essential reason is poverty,” says Henein bluntly. According to the UN 2005 Egypt Common Country Assessment, almost 17 percent of the country’s total population of some 77.5 million was living below the poverty line as of 2000. The situation is much worse in Upper Egypt, especially in rural areas like those surrounding the quarries. A number of projects currently aim to address the issue. Since its foundation in 2000, Wadi El-Nil has been trying both to get kids out of the quarries and to improve conditions for those who remain. The association pays for professional training in less hazardous professions for former quarry workers – such as carpentry – and has established a fund to help quarry owners buy safety equipment for their machines. A new World Bank grant of US $364,770 to Caritas-Egypt will serve to broaden these efforts. Caritas, an international Catholic NGO, will collaborate with Wadi El-Nil and six other local NGOs to raise awareness about the issue, return young quarry workers to school and train older ones for new jobs. Through micro-credit loans to the families of quarry workers, the project – which began in January and will continue until July 2007 – will also try to provide them with alternative sources of income. But it remains unclear just how successful these projects will be in ending the phenomenon, especially within the two-year timeframe suggested by the first lady. “[Child labour] won’t end in two years, or even ten,” warned Kamiel Kamil Hanna, director of Caritas-Egypt’s Minya office. “The number is large and the more the economic situation worsens, the more forces there are pushing kids to work.” Henein agreed. “You can’t solve poverty with a single project – poverty is solved with a wide-ranging programme,” he said. He urged greater efforts by the government to enforce child labour laws and attract investors who can responsibly develop the area. “We need to be optimistic,” Henein added. “Now that we’re seeing interest in the issue at the highest levels, we can expect to start seeing changes.”