Friday March 29th, 2024
Download SceneNow app
Copied

Over 1.5 Million Child Labourers in Egypt

UNICEF partners reveal staggering stats on child labour in Egypt.

Staff Writer

Om el Dounia is perhaps not being the best mother to all of its children. On Sunday during a lecture on decreasing child labour, Peter Van Rooij, director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) shared a 2014 study by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) sponsored by UNICEF. It revealed that approximately 1.594 million children ages 5 through 17 are working in Egypt.

Rooij told the audience, however, that child labour appears to be on the decline. He seems to be optimistic because Egypt has signed two international conventions to combat child labour. Additionally, Egypt has developed a federal strategy to fight to eradicate child labour.

Globally, child labour is on the decline; Rooij stated that child labour is down 30%.

With 160 million children currently working worldwide, Egyptian child labourers only make up .9375% but we hope to see that number continue to fall.