Child labour rises in Gaza as youngsters become family breadwinners
Child labour, Education in emergencies
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Child labour has risen sharply inGaza, where youngsters toiling in garages and on constructionsites have become breadwinners for families feeling the brunt ofthe Palestinian enclave’s 43% unemployment rate.
In the past five years, the number of working childrenbetween the ages of 10 and 17 has doubled to 9700 in theterritory, according to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics.
The bureau said 2900 of those children are below the legalemployment age of 15. Economists in the narrow coastal strip,home to 1.9 million Palestinians, estimate the real number ofunderage workers could be twice as high.
The increase in Gaza goes against trends. The says the worldwide number of children inlabour has fallen by a third since 2000, from 246 million to 168million, with more than a fifth in sub-Saharan Africa.
At one garage in downtown Gaza, 16-year-old Mahmoud Yazjiand another boy, aged 12, work nine hours a day. Mahmoud said heearns the equivalent of $13 a week; the younger boy takes homehalf of that.
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“My father makes 1000 shekels ($258) a month. It disappearsin a few days and we struggle for the rest of the month,”Mahmoud said.
Haitham Khzaiq, 16, quit school six months ago to sell candyapples to visitors at Gaza’s newly developed seaport, a majorpicnic venue. He works a half-day, seven days a week, and saidhe earns a total of 20 shekels ($5).
“We are five brothers and eight sisters. I am the oldest sonand I had to work because my father is unemployed,” he said. “I don’t earn enough but it is better than nothing and it isbetter than begging people for money.”
A devastating 2014 war between Palestinian militants andIsrael, border restrictions imposed by Israel and Egypt and thedestruction of cross-border smuggling tunnels by an Egyptiangovernment at odds with Gaza’s Hamas rulers have contributed toeconomic hardship in the territory.
The United Nations estimates that 80% of thepopulation is aid-dependent, with unemployment rising to itscurrent level from around 35% five years ago.
“Some people are living like kings and many others like usare hardly finding anything to eat,” said 10-year-old Mohammed,who sells potato chips on the street and began working after hisfather, a construction labourer, lost his job.
Gaza children at a school for displaced families during the 2014 conflict Picture: UNICEF/d’Aki
A gap is evident on the Gaza beachfront, where child vendorslugging trays of tea, coffee and snacks mingle with otherchildren using expensive cellphones to record their familypicnics. Several smart hotels overlook the port and beachfront.
A Dutch-funded organisation, , has been running a project for three years aimedat convincing families in Gaza of the importance of returningworking children to the classroom.
“We are very worried. We feel children’s rights are beingtrampled on,” said Naeem al-Ghalban, who heads the society.
Its representatives visit the homes of working children theymeet on the street and invite them to guidance sessions at theorganisation’s headquarters. Children are taken for visits toGaza’s colleges to show them what could lie ahead if they goback to school.
Ghalban said that, over the past three years, some 50 workingchildren have taken up their studies again as a result of theorganisation’s efforts.
“We have managed to persuade some families that educatingtheir children is far better and more valuable than the littlemoney they make,” he said.
The , the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, corruption and climate change.
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