Child Labor in Gaza Hits 9700!

Local Editor

Child labor is rising sharply in Gaza, where youngsters toiling in garages and on construction sites became the breadwinners for families feeling the brunt of the Palestinian enclave's 43 percent unemployment rate. In the past five years, the number of working children aged between 10 and 17 doubled to 9,700 in the territory, according to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics.

Meanwhile, 2,900 of those children are below the legal employment age of 15, the bureau added. However, economists in the narrow coastal strip, home to 1.9 million Palestinians, estimated the real number of underage workers could be twice as high.

Nevertheless, the increase in Gaza is considered against trends as the International Labor Organization said the worldwide number of children in labor has fallen by a third since 2000, from 246 million to 168 million, with more than a fifth in sub-Saharan Africa.

After the 2014 "Israeli" devastating war against the Gaza Strip, border restrictions imposed by the Zionist entity and Egypt contributed to economic hardship in the territory.

In this regard, the United Nations estimated that 80 percent of the population is aid dependent, with unemployment rising to its current level from around 35 percent five years ago.

A Dutch-funded organization, El-Wedad Society for Community Rehabilitation, has been running a project for three years aimed at convincing families in Gaza of the importance of returning working children to the classroom.

The organization's representatives visited the homes of working children they met on the street and invited them to guidance sessions at the organization's headquarters. Children are taken for visits to Gaza's colleges to show them what could lie ahead if they go back to school.

Over the past three years, some 50 working children have taken up their studies again as a result of the organization's efforts. "We have managed to persuade some families that educating their children is far better and more valuable than the little money they make," Head of the organization, Naeem al-Ghalban, explained.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team