Maat: Confronting child labor requires concerted efforts between CSOs & government

Okeil: Egypt's joining of the 8.7 Alliance will give a strong impetus to anti-child labor efforts in Egypt

Gouda: Efforts should now focus on eliminating the worst forms of child labor

Abu Al-Ezz: A media code of honor regarding children's rights should be activated

In continuation of the activities of the "Innocence Among the Dust" initiative, Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights organized a meeting to discuss mechanisms to strengthen the role of civil society and the government in confronting the phenomenon of child labor, focusing on children working in quarries in Minya Governorate, in presence of media professionals, researchers and representatives of CSOs.

During the meeting, Mr. Ayman Okeil, an international human rights expert and President of Maat, said that the initiative comes within the framework of the institution's efforts to achieve sustainable development goals, especially Target 8.7, which is concerned with ensuring decent work in line with human rights standards. Okeil also recommended Egypt to join the 8.7 Alliance concerned with achieving this target, pointing that Egypt's joining of the Alliance will give a strong impetus to the state's efforts to confront child labor, and he also stressed that efforts to reduce child labor are not limited to the government only, but rather civil society and the private sector must be integrated in order to be more effective.

Abdellatef Gouda, the Initiative coordinator, said that the Innocence Among the Dust Initiative focuses on Al-Minya governorate, being one of the governorates in Egypt with the highest rates of child labor, stressing that child labor in quarries is of specific concern being dangerous to their health and social rights.

On the other hand, Dr. Engy Abu Al-Ezz, Professor of Radio and Television at the Faculty of Mass Communication and session moderator, stressed the need to activate a media code of honor for children's rights, taking into account the application of international and national standards for the protection of children's rights, within the framework of the strategic national plan to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.

The "Innocence Among the Dust" initiative comes within the framework of the project to eliminate child labor in Egypt in accordance with the joint agreement between Maat and ADMC, which is funded by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and was launched in 2021.