Child labour...generations lost in the depths of Syrian crisis

The ongoing Syrian crisis since 2011 has turned children's lives upside down. Half of this country's children grew up knowing nothing about their country except wars and crises, which pushed millions of Syrians into poverty and forced them to work in extremely dangerous and unhealthy conditions and environments.

The phenomenon of child labor is one of the most dangerous phenomena that the entire world suffers from. It represents a great danger to children and their societies alike. Children who are still in the process of physical and mental development differ in their structure and ability to endure compared to adults.

The World Day Against Child Labor, which falls on June 12 of each year, is an opportunity to raise awareness of the seriousness of this problem and work to put an end to it. Although Syria no longer makes international headlines on a regular basis, the conflict still greatly affects children's future and lives, according to UNICEF.

The impact of the crisis on Syrian children

With more than 13 years having passed since the crisis, UNICEF estimates that more than 90% of Syrians live below the poverty line, at least 12 million people cannot obtain enough adequate food, and 15 million people, including 7.5 million children, need food. At least, to some form of humanitarian aid to survive, and more than 600,000 children suffer from malnutrition, according to its report issued in March of this year.

Regarding depriving children of education, the report confirms that 2.5 million children in Syria are not currently receiving education, and 1.6 million others are also threatened with the same fate, which has made child labor rates reach dangerous levels, even though accurate data on child labor is not available.

Democratic Autonomous Administration efforts

Hamrin Haj Hussein confirms that the coordination works according to a strategy to reduce child labor in areas of the Democratic Autonomous Administration, and aims to protect children and guarantee their rights in all areas of life. “We focus greatly on child labor, and we have a program in this regard to combat it.”

Regarding their work, she adds: “We continuously conduct field studies, visit families and points where child labor is witnessed, and we have been able to return a large number of children to schools, and we are helping the families financially to reduce this labor.”

The administrator of the Child Protection Office and the deputy head of the Women’s Authority in the Democratic Autonomous Administration of al-Jazira canton, Warda Hanna, indicates that the Democratic Autonomous Administration pays great attention to this matter, and works through its institutions in accordance with children’s programs and law to reduce and address child labor.

The Vice head of the Women’s Body in the Democratic Autonomous Administration of al-Jazira canton believes that eliminating this problem requires local and international efforts, represented in the first place by resolving the Syrian crisis. She referred to those efforts by saying: “It requires working to develop and improve livelihoods, provide effective safety and education, and give priority to the judiciary.” on the worst forms of child labor, and investing in strengthening national and community child protection systems and services.”

In order to provide a safe environment for children, the Social Contract for the North and East Syria region stipulates “protecting children and combating all forms of persecution and political, intellectual, economic and social exploitation of them, and adopting all international agreements and covenants related to children to ensure a better life and future,” and designated it with a law bearing No. 7 of the laws it issued by DAA.

The law includes, in its 31st article, an alternative care system that “provides social, psychological, and health care for children whose circumstances prevented them from growing up in a normal environment, and who went to work in illegal jobs that are not appropriate for their age.”

The Martyr Halabja Center, affiliated with the Democratic Autonomous Administration, is one of the alternative care centers for children in al-Jazira canton, which works to eliminate child labor, as well as “scavenging through waste and begging,” and to care for the homeless, by rehabilitating children and ensuring a family atmosphere through “educational, psychological, Social, entertainment.

Since the opening of this center in 2022, the center has cared for nearly 700 children and returned them to their normal lives, and its results are considered satisfactory, according to what was confirmed by the center’s administrator, Thuraya Abbas.

T/Satt.

ANHA