World Day Against Child Labor
Skill training to tackle child labor on agenda: Health official
A health official Maryam Shirdel highlighted the need for skill training to tackle the social issue of child labor.
The director of the department of Social Harm Prevention at the Organization for Social Services and Participation expressed concern that financial assistance from citizens to working children could inadvertently lead to an increase in their numbers on the streets and intersections, inn.ir reported.
Shirdel noted that while the exact number of working children in Iran is not known, approximately 80% of those identified by municipal centers are foreign nationals, with 90% of them being Afghan.
She emphasized the importance of organizations working together to help these children break free from the cycle of harm and engage in skill-building activities to prevent them from engaging in risky or harmful occupations.
Regarding the income of working children on the streets and intersections, Shirdel explained that their earnings vary depending on their location and type of work.
She pointed out that not all working children are found on the streets, as many are employed in various sectors such as agriculture, tailoring workshops, mechanic shops, household labor, and gardening around Tehran.
Shirdel stressed that due to their role as breadwinners in their families, working children are in need of employment. She cautioned against providing financial support to these children, as it could inadvertently perpetuate their presence on the streets and intersections. She emphasized the importance of raising awareness among citizens to discourage financial help to working children.
Shirdel concluded by highlighting the need for proper cultural education to reduce the prevalence of working children on the streets and intersections.
She acknowledged the challenges posed by economic and security issues in neighboring countries, particularly Afghanistan, which contribute to the influx of migrants and exacerbate the situation of working children in Iran.
World progress in fight
against child labor
stalled
After having made significant progress in reducing the levels of child labor worldwide between the years 2000 and 2016, that progress stalled. Between 2016 and 2020 (the latest available data), the percentage of children working in these conditions remained the same, while the absolute number of children working in childhood labor even increased. Of the 160 million children estimated to be in child labor that year, 79 million are believed to have been working in hazardous conditions, directly endangering their health, safety and moral development. This is according to a report published jointly by the International Labor Organization and UNICEF.
While there has been continued progress in the fight against child labor in Asia and the Pacific as well as Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa has seen an increase in both the absolute number of children and the percentage of children in child labor since 2012.
Another knock on effect of children working in child labor is that they are often out of school, impacting their access to opportunities as they get older. According to the report, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia is the world region with the highest share of children in child labor who were also out of school in 2020, at 37.2 percent. This was followed by Central and Southern Asia (35.3 percent), Northern Africa and Western Asia (28.1 percent), Sub-Saharan Africa (28.1 percent) and Latin America and the Caribbean (15.5 percent).