Child labor in Saada

Yemen Children Platform - Mohammed Jamal Al-Tayyari

The phenomenon of child labor has recently increased significantly in various Yemeni governorates with the continuation of the conflict in the country since the outbreak of the war in 2014. The phenomenon has worsened at a high rate since 2015 in a broader sense. Saada Governorate is one of the Yemeni governorates that witnessed an increase in the rate of child labor, which is located northwest of the capital, Sana'a, and is about 242 kilometers away from it. 

Struggle for a living
In a faltering and pale voice, the eleven-year-old Abdullah Sadiq, from the Lower Wasab District of Dhamar Governorate, one of the children working in the Khafji Market in the Sahar District of Saada Governorate in the central market for exporting the "qat" plant to and from all governorates of the Republic of Yemen, speaks to the "Children of Yemen" platform, saying: "I hope to continue my studies and learn. Work is tiring. We don't sleep or get to rest. It's continuous work. I work from four in the afternoon until four in the morning every day."

Abdullah Sadiq works 12 hours a day for a small amount of money with a qat merchant, which does not meet his daily needs. He says: "I work for five hundred Yemeni riyals in the bitter cold to provide daily expenses for me and my family. I work in qat tinning, packaging, and packing ice to help preserve the qat," as he describes.

In addition, Abdullah's body is exposed to cracks in his hands and feet due to the bitter cold in the region, and the signs of fatigue, exhaustion, and staying up late are evident in his facial expressions.

In the same context, the child Rashid Al-Wasabi, 10 years old, one of the workers in the central qat market, spoke about his urgent need to work despite the small return he receives for his work in cutting ice with the severe cold in the winter season, which coincides with the qat season in this region. He said: “I work to provide the cost of treatment for my sick father who has become unable to work, and I support my family, me and my three brothers who work with me in the market, Ali, Khaled and Zakaria, and every day we collect 3,000 Yemeni riyals, trying to cover our family needs and our father’s treatment.”

 Violations and deprivation
Abdullah and his fellow children who work in the central market are subjected to many violations and physical assaults or reprimands with obscene and shameful words that may reach the point of beating and deprivation of the meager wages they receive for their work. He describes this: "I wish we would die and not live this life. Sometimes if we are late for work, they say go to sleep in a loud voice and they utter the worst words at us and deduct from the salary they give us."

The child Rashid Al-Wasabi confirms that he is subjected to physical and verbal assaults and deductions from the wages he receives if he is late or absent from work without any consideration for his health conditions that he is going through due to the weather changes and his weak immunity, as he describes.

For their part, the parents of the two children state that the living conditions are what forced them to leave their children to go to work in the "qat" markets to support their families and look for sources of livelihood in a lawful way, despite their great knowledge that their deprivation of education is a big problem, but their circumstances have become an obstacle between them and staying alive.

Escape to the Border
There are many children who try to escape to the Saudi border through Saada Governorate in search of a source of livelihood to support their families and cover their daily needs, but the security services sometimes arrest them before arriving or when trying to escape through illegal routes. Some of them arrive through smugglers who receive wages for smuggling them to the border in the amount of 500 Saudi riyals, or 130 US dollars. Upon their arrival, they are thrown into working in smuggling qat or illegal work such as begging, which exposes their lives to danger such as forced recruitment, exploitation and rape.

Malek Mohammed, 30 years old, one of the workers in Saada Governorate, in his interview with the "Children of Yemen" platform, that Ibrahim Fouad, 13 years old, is one of the children who were arrested at the Al-Jamlah border point, which is one of the security points located in Al-Jamlah, which is geographically affiliated with Saada Governorate and administratively with Majz District, so he describes it as: "Ibrahim fled from his father due to family pressures to provide living expenses, as well as his father's severe beating." 

Child Smuggling
Salem Obaid, a social worker at the Social Affairs and Labor Office in Saada Governorate, told the "Children of Yemen" platform: "There is a significant increase in child labor in Saada Governorate as a result of the ongoing wars, conflicts, and displacement, which has led to the cessation of education for some children and their going to the labor market to search for sources of livelihood for families that have made their source of income from their children. The scarcity of income for the displaced family is also the main reason for the increase in child labor in Saada Governorate.

Salem added that there are no official statistics on child labor in Saada Governorate, but through field visits and evaluation, it is noted that the percentage of child labor has increased significantly, as child labor in Saada is mostly from the border areas and displaced people coming from other governorates, as these children are exploited in hard work for a small fee that does not cover the needs of the child's family.

Salem confirms that children are being smuggled through the border crossings from Saada to be forced to work in Saudi Arabia in immoral jobs such as begging, and most of those who have been arrested by the competent authorities are from other governorates such as Sana’a, Al Mahwit, Al Hudaydah and Hajjah.

Psychological effects and usurped rights
Dr. Ishraq Al-Sabry, a psychological specialist, pointed out that there are many effects caused by child labor in her talk to the "Children of Yemen" platform, saying: Exposure to insult and self-deprecation for working children and exposure to harassment in all its forms in the markets and fear. Many children are also exposed to harassment of all kinds by employers or customers as well. They also suffer from an inability to adapt to those around them due to their mixing with adults and witnessing contradictory interactions.

Al-Sabry adds that children's sense of responsibility towards their families places a great burden on them that may exceed their ability to bear, so they deviate into immoral acts that may be practiced against them from types of physical and psychological violence and they lose security from those around them, so they act aggressively towards others as values are shaken, as nothing is fixed in their upbringing and in their confrontations with society in all its categories.

Al-Sabry confirms that depriving them of the most basic childhood rights of food, clothing, drink, shelter, and safety, and their feeling of being let down by those around them, whether relatives or neighbors, makes them cruel in their dealings in the future and resorts to lying, stealing, and other wrong behaviors, so they turn into deviants without realizing it, they are overcome by constant anxiety about the future and fear of those around them and hatred for the society that does not contain them, so they grow up in resentment and hatred towards those around them.

Frightening statistics
According to the International Labor Organization and according to recent statistics in Yemen, the phenomenon of child labor is increasing in abundance, especially on the borders with the Gulf States, where there are one million and six hundred children between the ages of five and seventeen working in Yemen out of a total number of children in Yemen, which is estimated at about seven million children.

According to open sources reviewed by the report’s author, a survey conducted by the Central Statistical Organization in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in October 2023 showed that 29% of Yemeni children between the ages of 12 and 14 are engaged in work. According to a report issued by the International Labor Organization in June 2021, Yemen ranked first in the Arab world in child labor at 13.6%, followed by Sudan at 12.6% and Iraq at 4.9%. UNICEF described the situation of children in Yemen as “being robbed of their future” due to the largest humanitarian crisis their country is witnessing, according to a statement issued in early 2023, in which it confirmed that 23.7 million Yemenis need assistance, including 13 million children.

 Law without effect
Article (144) and Article (5) of the Yemeni Law for the Protection of Children Living in Difficult Conditions state that the state shall guarantee the protection of motherhood and childhood and shall provide children with special care and shall work to create the necessary conditions for their upbringing in all aspects of their lives in a sound manner that respects freedom, dignity, humanity, Islamic and social values, and in a healthy environment. The state shall take scientific and practical measures and procedures to verify the suffering of children living in difficult conditions, such as street children, homeless persons, victims of natural and man-made disasters, children exposed to abuse, deprived and socially exploited, and to ensure that children are not lured into approaching or engaging in illegal activities or falling into practicing them.

Possible Solutions
Salem Obaid believes that the solutions lie in finding income-boosting projects for needy families, such as workshops and economic empowerment factories, and that the competent authorities must combat this phenomenon by providing what is appropriate to meet the needs of the families of these children.

On the other hand, Dr. Ishraq Al-Sabry confirmed that the solutions lie in identifying jobs that are appropriate for their age group, raising the level of social security, identifying the type of places where children work, educating families about the risks their children are exposed to, qualifying children with some income-generating skills to work within their families, publicly punishing and shaming those who expose children’s lives to any type of blackmail or harassment, rehabilitating and supporting parents through small income-generating projects, establishing associations that care for working children and work to educate and qualify them for the labor market, and imposing violations and penalties on those who exploit children and burden them with work that exceeds their capabilities, as she describes.