UNICEF warns: Syrian Children labour reached dangerous levels

03 Jul 2015

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the non-governmental organization “Save the Children” warned in Thursday’s report from the worsening Syrian children labour, which amounted to dangerous levels as a result of the conflict in Syria and the humanitarian crisis resulting from it.

This two organizations said in a report entitled “Small hands and heavy burden” that “the conflict and the humanitarian crisis in Syria are pushing increasing numbers of children to fall prey to exploitation in the labour market.”

Roger Hearn, Regional Director of the Organization “Save the Children” in the Middle East, Europe and Asia, said that the Syrian crisis, “paid millions to poverty what made the child labour rates up to dangerous levels.”

He added “At a time when families become more desperate, the children work mainly in order to stay alive, and those become major economic players in Syria or neighbouring countries.”

The report, which was published in Amman found that “four out of five Syrian children living in poverty” while “2,7 million Syrian children out of school, a figure compounded by the number of children who are forced to engage in the labour market.”

He added that “The children inside Syria are contributing to their family income in more than three-quarters of families covered by the surveys. In Jordan is half of Syrian refugee children the main breadwinner in the family. “

But in Lebanon, the report found children aged just six years working in some areas, while three quarters of the Syrians children working in Iraq to provide the livelihood of their families.

The report found that 75 percent of working children in the Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan, suffer health problems, while 22% of working children in agriculture in Jordan exposure to work injuries.

And the two organizations urged the international community to give the priority to eliminate the worst forms of child labour, and funding help initiatives to provide income for the Syrians, providing quality and safe education.

And they have warned of the “Children of Syria paying a heavy price because of the world’s failure to end the conflict.”