Exclusive interview: Mona Al-Ban: The media must regain its role in combating child labor

Child labor is one of the most prominent challenges facing Yemen, which has been exacerbated by the ongoing war and the collapse of the country's economy. This has pushed more children to work in harsh and unsafe conditions, depriving them of education and enjoying their childhood.
The "yemenschildren" platform conducted an interview with Mona Al-Ban, head of the Anti-Child Labor Unit at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, to shed light on this worsening phenomenon.
In the dialogue, Alban spoke about the reality of child labor in Yemen, the reasons for its spread, areas of child labor, and its dangers to children and society. As well as efforts to combat this phenomenon; And protect children.

Here are the details of the interview, which was conducted by our colleague Kamal Hassan:

What is your assessment of child labor in Yemen currently, and what are the main reasons for the spread of this phenomenon?
The phenomenon of child labor is considered a widespread phenomenon in all countries. Which suffers from problems of poverty and wars, and it is not a problem that Yemen only suffers from.
As for the reasons for its spread, there are three main reasons, poverty comes first, followed by educational problems, then social problems and family disintegration.
There are secondary reasons that have contributed to the increase in this phenomenon, such as the desire of some children to obtain pocket money as an imitation of their working child friends, so they go to work during the summer vacations, and buy toys with their wages or spend it on school supplies. For these people, poverty is usually not their motivation.
One of the secondary factors for the emergence of working children is the presence of a type of traditional professions and crafts in which children work in order to preserve the cultural heritage within the framework of one family, so that the family is exempted from bringing in workers from outside it, and thus the craft or profession remains inherited in the family itself.

What statistics do you have on working children?
In 2010, the Central Bureau of Statistics, in cooperation and with funding from the International Labor Organization and UNICEF, carried out a comprehensive survey on child labor for the age group from 5 to 17 years, the results of which were announced in January 2013, and showed that there are (1,614,000) working children working in all professions. Various in all governorates of the Republic.
This number is in the safe state of the country, that is, before the war; When the situation was stable, and there were no problems other than poverty, as soon as the war broke out in the country, many families lost their homes and were forced to migrate to safer areas, and many families lost their breadwinners.
In addition to the demolition of a number of schools, and many parents losing their jobs due to the Corona epidemic, which caused a high unemployment rate among adults. We have actually noticed that the rate of child labor has actually increased in conjunction with the Corona pandemic.

What are the forms or fields of child labor...the most prominent dangerous jobs that children in Yemen engage in?
Children usually work in areas of the unorganized sector of the labor market, such as: workshops of all kinds - such as car, welding, and electrical workshops - agricultural work, and rest houses. The unorganized sector always attracts cheap labour.
It is noted that children change their jobs according to the situation or new changes in the country. They do not stay in the same profession for a long time.
Among them is that many children, especially in conflict areas, joined the fighting fronts, and considered this their work and source of income.
We notice that children join any new jobs or professions; There are even children who have turned to begging within groups run by adults, who distribute the children in specific areas to beg in, and at the end of the day they receive from them what they have collected from begging. With the passage of time, the child takes up begging, and leaves the framework of these groups to practice it alone.

What are the most prominent violations that working children are exposed to in the country?
When a child goes out to work, he is exposed to many violations. He also acquires immoral habits as a result of his presence in places far from the family, parental control, and accompanying adults outside his family.
Many working children are exposed to physical and psychological abuse, as a result of exposure to violence, harassment, or even rape.
Unfortunately, many children are afraid to report these violations committed against them, which affects their psychology and makes them prey to violations.
Children are also exposed to exploitation in long hours and exhausting work, especially in car repair, carpentry, or welding workshops, where materials are released that affect the child’s health.

What are the effects of child labor on the child's physical and psychological health, and on the future of working children?
As long as the child goes out to the labor market and leaves school, this will result in the emergence of a generation that suffers from a kind of illiteracy regression, in which crime and street gangs are widespread, and real development in the country will stop.
The consequences of child labor also include their infection with diseases. As a result of their dealing with volatile materials in car repair or carpentry workshops, or when spraying pesticides on agricultural crops, which causes children to suffer from cancerous diseases in the long term.
Children in the labor market also acquire bad habits such as drug addiction and moral deviation. In addition to the effects that extend to society in general, such as the return of illiteracy and the spread of gangs and organized crime.

What about the role of human rights organizations in combating the phenomenon of child labor?
There is no strong role for human rights organizations that we can sense in this aspect; However, its role appears at certain times to file shadow reports, which are considered to undermine the government’s efforts.
We did not touch upon the role of human rights organizations that defend the rights of working children, but there are civil society organizations whose number does not exceed the fingers of one hand working in the field of protecting working children in the labor market, and their role is weak.

How can civil society organizations contribute to combating child labor in Yemen?
We need the role of civil society organizations; Because they are the ones who have the most contact with families and individuals in society.
These organizations mainly emanate from communities, and therefore their role must be major in raising awareness among families about the dangers of their children’s involvement.
In the labor market at an early age, confirming that their rightful place is in school.

How do you evaluate the position of employers regarding child labor?
Most employers exploit child labor, whether by employing them for long hours or giving them low wages, and they consider children as cheap labor.

What is the role of national laws and legislation in protecting children from work, and are they sufficient for this?
In 2000, the Republic of Yemen approved two International Labor Organization agreements: the first, Convention No. 182 prohibiting the worst forms of child labor, and Convention No. 138 regarding the minimum labor market.
These two agreements obligated the state to amend the enactment of national legislation in this context, so in 2002 it issued Law No. 45 on the Rights of the Child, which devoted a special section to the rights of working children.
In 2013, a ministerial decision was issued regarding a list of jobs prohibited for working children under the age of 18.
Before the outbreak of war in the country, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor carried out field visits through labor inspectors. To verify the implementation of the two government decisions.
There were strict penalties for violating employers. But the war torpedoed all those efforts. We need to reactivate these laws to protect our children in the labor market.

Tell us about the Anti-Child Labor Unit that you manage, and its role in protecting children?
The unit was established in 2002, with the aim of building the Ministry’s capabilities in the field of combating child labor, contributing to enacting and amending legislation that is consistent with international agreements, and raising awareness of the danger of child labor.
As well as cooperation with the Ministry of Education in how to transform the school from a repellent environment into an attractive environment for children, and to encourage students to take places in school.
The role of the Anti-Child Labor Unit is a coordination role between child workers by protecting them from dangerous work. Also, search for income-generating projects for the family, by opening communication channels with the Social Fund for Development, the Chamber of Commerce, or supporting organizations.

How can the conditions of families of children exposed to involvement in work be improved?
Before the war, there were organizations that supported families whose children entered the labor market with a monthly sum, in exchange for the child stopping work and going to school.
The Social Fund for Development was implementing income-generating projects for poor families whose children worked in exchange for the child returning to school.
Currently, the International Labor Organization and other civil society organizations have begun working on projects to empower youth and families with working children, and are training and empowering one of the adults in the family to work in it, after carrying out a survey of the targeted area.

How do you evaluate the role of the media in confronting the phenomenon of child labor, and what should be done in this context?
The role of the media is very important both in combating child labor and in raising awareness of the seriousness of the problem.
The media must regain its role as it was before the war. There have been continuous efforts to produce media messages directed at families to make them aware of the importance of education for children, and to warn against children leaving school and going to work.
We should also not forget the Ministry of Endowments, which played a major role in directing religious discourse to society in the countryside where the level of education is low, and religious discourse is closer to them.
It is important for the Ministries of Information, Endowments, Education, and other bodies to intensify their efforts and work hand in hand to protect children working in the labor market.

What about the role of education in preventing children from entering the labor market?
One of the most important factors that push children to work, in parallel with poverty, are educational problems. The violence practiced in schools to punish students, the absence of extracurricular activities, overcrowding in classrooms, and lack of understanding of the curricula all combine to cause students to have a low level or fail, and thus the child prefers to stay away from the study atmosphere and continues to search for a job opportunity.
In addition to the discouraging talk that circulates among adults about the usefulness of study, and what a degree does to a person...! This bad and very frustrating idea takes hold for our children and youth.
The Ministry of Education must facilitate curricula, provide flexibility in delivering information to students, intensify extracurricular activities, and transform the school environment into an attractive environment for children.
Also, the Ministry must return simple vocational subjects to the curricula. For example, we notice that many children tend towards vocational skills, and it is appropriate to have the basics of these skills available in the primary school stages, thus strengthening the child’s conviction to move to vocational studies and enroll in vocational institutes, and continue his secondary studies, and then university.