Forced to work

It seems that no matter how much the Ministry of Labour tries to combat child labour, the phenomenon is still widespread.

According to the ministry’s latest data, some 30,000 children are still employed in the labour market, especially in restaurants, coffee shops, cafeterias and garages.

The ministry says that it has fined some 75 such establishments in March alone, but that’s about it.

A child gainfully employed, earning badly needed income for his/her family means a child out of school. That also means that school dropout rates could be higher than thought.

The failure of the authorities to stem this tide may have several reasons.

One is that perhaps labour inspectors are not thorough enough. They might keep a closed eye and be reluctant to apply severe sanctions against employers of children despite the fact that national laws forbid children below 16 to work, and allow employment of young people above the age of 16 in nonhazardous type of work.

The ministry faces an uphill battle in its endeavours to prevent child labour because of rampant poverty and high cost of living, which force parents to rely on their children’s income for survival.

As long as the economy is bad for most people, there is no effective way for the government to prevent child labour in its entirety.

Families need to have means to make ends meet; if they cannot secure a decent living, they will resort to all sorts of things, one being money generated by their children working wherever they can find employment, in defiance of laws.

Child labour is not a violation of national legislation only; it is also contrary to international law, especially ILO conventions and international human rights treaties.

The most effective and practical way to end child labour is to improve the national economy and make the cost of living affordable to the majority of citizens, as indeed His Majesty King Abdullah has called for recently, when he instructed the government to draw up and adopt a 10-year economic plan to enable citizens to enjoy a decent standard of living.

Until that objective is attained, we will continue to find children working instead of studying, which is detrimental to the society in the long run, if short-term gratifying to the families.