Iraq tries to stop child labor by providing salaries to families

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – On Monday, the Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs announced five steps aimed at ending child labor, including allocating wages to select families to help them avoid sending their children to work.

According to the Iraqi News Agency, Raed Jabbar, Director of Labor and Vocational Training in the Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the problem of child labor is caused by the economic situation, since most poor families force their children to work under tough conditions (INA).

“The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is attempting to end the phenomena of child labor in collaboration with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the International Labour Organization (ILO),” Jabbar said in a statement cited by INA.

Jabbar also mentioned that the government has teams that do inspections to ensure that no working children are there. Employers who hire children under the age of majority are subject to legal action.

According to Jabbar, the ministry has initiated a campaign to educate families and businesses about the dangers of child labor in Baghdad and other governorates.

The Director of Labor and Vocational Training explained that the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs agreed to pay salaries to many families in exchange for promises that they will not send their children to work and, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, will return these children to school.