Maat concludes its awareness campaign on eliminating child labor in Egypt by 2025

Okeil: Efforts must be intensified between the state and civil society organizations to eliminate the phenomenon of child labor in Egypt

Monica Mina: Poverty is a major cause of child labor… International experiences must be used to eradicate this phenomenon

Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights Association concluded today its electronic campaign on the phenomenon of child labor in Egypt, which was launched on June 12 and continued throughout the month, with the aim of raising awareness of the phenomenon and the worst forms of child labor in all governorates of the Republic by publishing relevant figures and statistics, Which highlighted the rates of geographical and gender distribution in the phenomenon of child labor in Egypt.

The campaign also reviewed the most important Egyptian laws and legislation related to child labor and the National Action Plan for Combating the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Egypt and Supporting Family (2018 – 2025), which was launched by the Egyptian government. On the efforts and challenges facing the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, the Association also issued a report on combating the phenomenon of child labor in the context of strengthening national efforts towards achieving sustainable development, especially since the seventh target of the eighth goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is concerned with eliminating the worst forms of child labor by 2025.

In this context, Ayman Okeil, a human rights expert and head of Maat Association, stressed that child labor is one of the most dangerous forms, a crime against humanity, as it is an assassination of the spirit of childhood and a harnessing of its innocence, despite the constitution prohibiting the employment of children before they exceed the age of completing basic education, and the efforts of the government and civil society organizations to combat this phenomenon, But, this phenomenon remains worrying because of its effects on the future generation, who spent the period of formation and shaping their conscience captive to a living. Okeil called for the need to intensify efforts between the state and civil society in order to develop and implement a rapid plan to eliminate this phenomenon, by raising community awareness and clarifying the violations and risks involved in this phenomenon, and how to work to prevent its risks, and making efforts by the Ministry of Manpower to activate inspection activities on labor establishments.

Okeil added that 2021 is the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, and therefore international and regional experiences must be exchanged to address this phenomenon, especially with the presence of specialized UN bodies such as the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child or international development entities such as Alliance 8.7.

For her part, Monica Mina, Director of Projects and Programs at Maat Association, said that poverty is the main reason for children's involvement in the labor market in the hope of increasing family income as a means of survival. Mina added that the official figures show that it spreads among both women and children in higher proportions, based on their position as the weakest sector in society. The recent survey conducted by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics in partnership with the International Program for the Elimination of Child Labour, revealed that there are 1.6 million children between the ages of 12 and 17 years working, representing 9.3% of children “a child from 10” who are forced to work. The rate of child labor is much higher in rural areas than in urban areas, and peaks in rural Upper Egypt, then Lower Egypt, and then border rural governorates. Mina added that work in agriculture comes at the top of the crafts they practice, at a rate of 63%, then work in industrial sites such as mining, construction and manufacturing industries by 18.9%.

Mina explained that the campaign carried out by Maat Association comes within the framework of the project "Eliminating Child Labor in Egypt by 2025", which is implemented by the Foundation in cooperation with the Dutch company ADMC and the RVO of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy in the Netherlands, in line with the Maat Action Plan to achieve the goals Sustainable Development 2030 and the African Agenda 2036.

You can view all campaign activities, via this link: