The child Ayman (12 years), one of the displaced children from Hodeidah, wanders the streets of Aden every morning in his daily struggle to collect plastic bottles that he will sell and transfer the cost to his entire family in Hodeidah. Ayman said he wishes, according to his interview with Khuyut, to return to his school and resume his education, after the war deprived him, like thousands other children of their right to education.
While the entire world celebrates the International Day for the Elimination of Child Labor on the twelfth of June every year, children in conflicting parts of the world, such as Yemen, are outside the humanitarian map. The war and its destructive effects are still ongoing in the country and have severe repercussions on society in general, including thousands of children who roam the streets and roads, after circumstances forced them to leave their schools and deprived them of enjoying their childhood and dreams, in order to search for a meal and a source of livelihood to support their families.
Human rights activist, Tahani Al-Sarari, stated to "Khuyut" that child labor is critical problem spread in many countries in the world, but in countries that witness continuous wars and conflicts have the largest share of it, despite the fact that Yemen ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, that is, 31 years ago.
Al-Sarari added that the Yemeni labor law has regulated many job related matters, including working hours for juveniles, prohibiting their work without the consent of parents, identified certain fines in case of breaching and non-compliance with the provisions of the law, and setting many regulatory measures in the case of work.
Usurped Childhood
Childhood is an essential stage in a person’s life, as it is the period that shapes child's personality as well as his physical and psychological upbringing, but the matter is different when this period of life is not passed through the normal stages.
Due to the economic deterioration and the current conflicting conditions that the country is going through, child labor has become a living reality. Many families have been forced to push their children to work in order to help the family in the provision of living needs.
For her part, the social worker, Marina Mohamed, told "Khuyut" that some parents resort to employing their children and involving them in the labor market at early age, which puts their childhood at risk, and results in many negative effects that are reflected on society and the children themselves that emerge from this imbalance household.
Moreover, Marina believes that the effects of this may go beyond a state of disorder in behavior, leaving countless psychological disabilities, as child labor - according to her - especially the poor and unqualified children, who often belongs to the marginalized group, which lacks awareness programs, and is completely neglected and out of the attention of society and the official authorities in general.
Painful reality
The International Labor Organization indicates that 1.4 million children working in Yemen are deprived of the most basic rights, and that about 34.3% of children between the ages of 5 and 17 have been engaged in labor in Yemen. Given the current difficult living conditions, the phenomenon is expanding during the war at a greater rate than it was before the broke of the conflict.
In this context, lawyer and specialist in administrative justice, Nizar Sarar, explained in a statement to "Khuyut" that child labor has become, due to the economic deterioration and the current conflicting circumstances that the country is going through, a living reality, as many families have been forced to push their children to work in the provision for living needs.
He also believes that child labor is subject to many determinants in view of the type of business owners in which they work, and whether this child works for an employer or for his father; The labor law, according to his statement, has established controls that regulate child labor and put the relevant procedures that cover all these cases.
Mr. Sarar concluded his speech with Khuyut by emphasizing on the need to establish a legalization project that takes into account the changes and the consequences of the ongoing war, including the economic impacts in particular, which are among the loopholes of the current labor law.
