Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Jordan (Ratification: 2000)

Article 7(2) of the Convention. Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Refugee children. In its previous comments, the Committee noted from the ILO–IPEC rapid assessment on child labour in the urban informal sector in three governorates of Jordan, 2014, that one in ten Syrian refugee children were engaged in child labour and that access to education constituted a significant vulnerability among Syrians with an estimated 60 per cent of the school-age children not attending school. It also noted from the ILO report entitled The ILO response to the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan and Lebanon, of March 2014, that many refugee children were working in hazardous conditions in the agricultural and urban informal sector, street peddling or begging, with an estimated 30,000 child labourers in Jordan vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. The Committee urged the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to protect Syrian refugee children from the worst forms of child labour and to provide the necessary and appropriate direct assistance for their removal and for their rehabilitation and social integration.

The Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that the protection which is provided to a Jordanian child is also provided to a non Jordanian child. With regard to measures taken to protect children, including Syrian refugee children, from the worst forms of child labour, the Government refers to the following measures taken by the Ministry of Labour, such as: (i) increasing inspection visits to undertakings and adopting a more strict approach in initiating legal proceedings against cases of non-compliance; (ii) providing advice and counselling to employers with respect to the consequences of engaging children in child labour; (iii) referring and transferring children to institutions which provide services and support to working children and their families, such as the Social Support Centre which has received a large number of Syrian refugee working children; and (iv) increasing awareness on the importance of education and on the risks of occupational hazards through community awareness raising sessions and involving Syrian refugee children and their families in the “World Day Against Child Labour” event.

The Committee notes that according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) fact sheet on Jordan of June 2018, there are 751,275 refugees in Jordan of which 48 per cent are children. It also notes that the Government, in collaboration with ILO–IPEC, is implementing a project entitled “Tackling child labour among Syrian Refugees and their host communities in Jordan and Lebanon” with the aim of contributing to the elimination of child labour, especially its worst forms among Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan. According to the UNICEF fact sheet on education in Jordan, UNICEF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, is providing education to over 165,000 Syrian refuge children in camps and host communities. Moreover, the Committee notes with interest the achievements made following the implementation of the “3RP Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan 2017–18”, which was developed by over 270 actors (UN and international and national NGOs) to tackle Syrian refugee crisis and implemented under the leadership of the national authorities of Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. According to the 2017 Annual Report of the 3RP, in Jordan: an estimated 15,246 girls and boys received specialized child protection case management and multi-sectoral services; 130,668 Syrian children were enrolled in camp schools; 6,421 children were enrolled in the Ministry of Education certified catch-up and drop-out programmes; 118,107 children and adolescents were enrolled in learning support services; and 8,617 children were enrolled in pre-primary levels. It finally notes from the findings of the National Child Labour Survey Report of 2016 that the school attendance rates for children of other nationalities was 90.5 per cent and for Syrian children was 72.5 per cent. The Committee notes, however, that according to the UNICEF assessment of February 2018, 85 per cent of Syrian refugee children in Jordan are living in poverty and are deprived of the most basic needs, including education, and are vulnerable to exploitation. The Committee takes due note of the various measures taken by the Government to identify, reach out to, remove and reintegrate Syrian refugee children who are exposed to the worst forms of child labour. The Committee therefore strongly encourages the Government to continue to take effective and time-bound measures to protect Syrian refugee children from the worst forms of child labour and to provide the necessary and appropriate direct assistance for their removal and for their rehabilitation and social integration. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard as well as the results achieved.

The Committee is also raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.