The aid agency CARE International has warned of the direct impact of the war in Syria on the future of Syrian children, many of whom were forced to engage in child labor to make a living.
On the occasion of the World Day for the Elimination of Child Labor which falls on June 12, the agency said that tens of thousands of Syrian children in the region are still engaged in child labor, making them a prey to exploitation and many forms of abuse.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates the number of child workers in Jordan as exceeding 100,000 children, up from 33,000 before the outbreak of the Syrian conflict. About 40 per cent of these children work in hard and dangerous conditions, according to ILO. Approximately 90,000 Syrian children are out of school.
CARE country director in Jordan Salam Kanaan said that many of the Syrian children living in Jordan and the region dropped out of school as they are the sole breadwinners for their families.
Kanaan added that about a third of the Syrian families in Jordan are headed by women who can’t easily find appropriate jobs, which forces them to depend on their children to make a living rather than going to school.
Kanaan estimated that Syrian children living in Jordan barely earn $40 USD a month.
CARE international called on the international community to step up support for the Syrian refugees and the host countries.
Kanaan warned that without sources of income and stable ways of living, the number of Syrian child workers will increase and their situation will severely worsen, and that they will remain deprived of education.
On June 6, a report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) revealed that the Assad regime is responsible for the death of over 19,000 children out of nearly 21,000 children killed in Syria since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in March 2011.
The report indicated that at least 10,000 children have been detained by regime forces since March 2011, while 37,000 more have been orphaned. Nearly 4,083 educational facilities have been damaged as a result of regime attacks, according to the report. At least two million children inside Syria are deprived from education, the report also said. (Source: Al-Arabiya)
