PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
9% Egyptian children involved in child labour
Cairo, Egypt (PANA) - Egypt’s official statistics body said Thursday that more than nine per cent of the country's children were involved in child labour, which translates to about 1.6 million underage workers, aged between five and 17 years old.
The 2010 child labour survey, which was prepared by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization And Statistics (CAPMAS), in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), is the first scientific, internationally-acknowledged assessment of the child labour situation in Egypt.
The study, which highlighted that most of these children work in adverse conditions, showed that about two thirds of working children in Egypt are younger than 15 years of age, with about 46 per cent aged between the 12 and 14 years.
It indicated that Egyptian country side hosts the majority of child workers in both Upper and Lower Egypt, where the agriculture sector employees 68 per cent of underaged workers, followed by the services sector, which hires 18 per cent.
According to the study, child labourers are sometimes preferred by certain employers as they are easily controlled and are paid less.
Children are often exposed to adverse working conditions and long working hours, in which they are deprived of their basic rights stipulated by the law.
They are mostly hired by informal sector enterprises, which are highly unregulated and generally disregard labour laws.
The Egyptian law permits children older than 14 years old to participate in the work force on the condition they do not perform hazardous or arduous tasks.
Results showed that a whopping 82 per cent of total underaged workers work in adverse conditions, which includes exhausting jobs, exposition to dust, smoke, high or low temperatures, chemicals, insecticides, among others.
Poverty seems to be the main reason for the unfortunate phenomenon.
The survey indicated that 50 per cent of working children say they work to help their families; almost 40 per cent said they work to raise their families’ income, while six per cent said they work to learn a craft they can utilize when they grow up.
-0- PANA MI/BOS 15July2011
The 2010 child labour survey, which was prepared by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization And Statistics (CAPMAS), in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), is the first scientific, internationally-acknowledged assessment of the child labour situation in Egypt.
The study, which highlighted that most of these children work in adverse conditions, showed that about two thirds of working children in Egypt are younger than 15 years of age, with about 46 per cent aged between the 12 and 14 years.
It indicated that Egyptian country side hosts the majority of child workers in both Upper and Lower Egypt, where the agriculture sector employees 68 per cent of underaged workers, followed by the services sector, which hires 18 per cent.
According to the study, child labourers are sometimes preferred by certain employers as they are easily controlled and are paid less.
Children are often exposed to adverse working conditions and long working hours, in which they are deprived of their basic rights stipulated by the law.
They are mostly hired by informal sector enterprises, which are highly unregulated and generally disregard labour laws.
The Egyptian law permits children older than 14 years old to participate in the work force on the condition they do not perform hazardous or arduous tasks.
Results showed that a whopping 82 per cent of total underaged workers work in adverse conditions, which includes exhausting jobs, exposition to dust, smoke, high or low temperatures, chemicals, insecticides, among others.
Poverty seems to be the main reason for the unfortunate phenomenon.
The survey indicated that 50 per cent of working children say they work to help their families; almost 40 per cent said they work to raise their families’ income, while six per cent said they work to learn a craft they can utilize when they grow up.
-0- PANA MI/BOS 15July2011
