HPC calls for intensified efforts to combat child labour

AMMAN — Marking World Day Against Child Labour, the Higher Population Council (HPC) stressed the need to intensify national and international efforts to combat child labour.

“Children’s involvement in hazardous activities jeopardises their physical, mental social and educational development,” said an HPC statement sent to The Jordan Times on the occasion, highlighting the importance of developing “clear” mechanisms to stop child exploitation and to achieve sustainable development.

In response to the child labour problem, the Kingdom has taken “positive steps” to enhance the response and delivery of policy on child labour following the launch of the framework for the reduction of child workers and beggars in 2020, according to the statement. 

The statement added that Jordan was among the first countries to ratify international conventions on the protection of children from economic exploitation, including the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention concerning the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment C138, in addition to Convention No. 182, which calls for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour.

Marked on June 12, this year’s World Day Against Child Labour is celebrated with a week of action against child labour. At the national level, the Ministry of Labour launched national events and outreach activities on Sunday at Zaha Cultural Centre in Amman, with the purpose of eliminating child labour in the Kingdom.

Participating entities in these events include: The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Development, the Public Security Directorate’s Family Protection Unit, the HPC, UNICEF, UNHCR, the ILO, in addition to other organisations and civil society institutions.

The 2022 theme “Universal Social Protection to End Child Labour” calls for increased investment in social protection schemes to fight poverty and eradicate child labour, according to the UN, which noted that social protection is both “a human right and a potent policy tool to prevent families from resorting to child labour in times of crisis”.

At the beginning of 2020, one in 10 children aged five and over were involved in child labour worldwide, equating to around 160 million children, or 63 million girls and 97 million boys, a recent report by the ILO and UNICEF titled “The Role of Social Protection in the Elimination of Child Labour” said.

The report also shows that by reducing family poverty risks and vulnerability, supporting livelihoods and school enrolment and establishing effective social protection floors, governments would be able to address child labour.