Baghdad – IA – Nassar Al-Hajj
Today, Saturday, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs confirmed the application of educational and financial incentives to reduce child labor in Iraq, noting that it recorded a significant decrease and its work at the general rate encourages the closure of the file completely. While it touched on its most prominent steps in this field and the bodies that cooperate with it, it pointed out that combating begging Children represent a thorny issue that requires strict legal procedures.
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The Ministry’s media advisor, Kazem Al-Atwani, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA): “The Ministry of Labor has achieved, during the current year 2023, great and important steps towards addressing child labor, and the work will continue until this file is completed and completely closed.”
He added, “The Ministry had a major role in reducing child labor significantly compared to previous years through its inspection committees and the measures it took. Despite the small number of these committees, they play a major role. During the past year, they were able to arrest more than 400 children in the labor market. Their presence is considered a violation of the law, and their families were included in the ministry’s services.”
He continued, “The Ministry, through the Department of Labor and Vocational Training, obligated all employers who found children in their workplaces to write a written pledge to stop child labor, otherwise they expose themselves to legal accountability.”
He stressed, “Article Seven of Labor Law No. 37 of 2015 obligated employers not to employ any child under the age of 12 and allowed those between the ages of 12 and 17 to practice work that is not arduous or dangerous.”
Al-Atwani pointed out that “educational incentives were applied through the Department of Labor and Vocational Training in the Ministry of Labor and in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, where we worked to bring many children who dropped out of school due to work into accelerated education after it was noticed that they were in the difficult labor market that was not compatible with their job opportunities.” They were given accredited academic certificates during the school holiday.
He pointed out, “The decision to apply represents an additional incentive and the launch of financial scholarships for pupils and students will contribute greatly to preventing young students from dropping out of their schools in order to work, and these measures have helped achieve a significant reduction in the child labor rate.”
He pointed out, “With regard to children’s begging, this is a thorny issue, and we have begun working on it in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, and we have achieved important goals. However, many of these children’s families refuse social protection salaries, and despite writing a pledge not to engage in begging for themselves or their children, they return to begging, and we need Stricter legal measures to curb this phenomenon, which has gone beyond being a need for money and has become a profession run by large mafias.”
