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Child labor rises in Jordan as pandemic adds to economic woes

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Updated 24 June 2021
Raed Omari
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Child labor rises in Jordan as pandemic adds to economic woes

  • In a recent report on the World Day Against Child Labor, annually marked on June 12, Workers’ House, a local NGO specialized in labor rights, expected the number of working children in Jordan aged between 5 and 17 to reach 100,000
Updated 24 June 2021
Raed Omari

AMMAN: Twelve-year-old Mamdouh said he has been on a seven-day street shift selling gum and candy to cover the needs of his family living in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Jordan’s capital, Amman. 

“A small van drops us off here every day at 5 p.m. to sell gum and candies, and the driver comes at 10 p.m. to take us back to Wehdat,” Mamdouh said, accompanied by a 9-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy selling candy in Amman’s Al-Weibdeh neighborhood.    

Insisting that no picture of him be used under fears of labor ministry inspectors, Mamdouh said his 56-year-old father has forced him to quit school and work to help feed their family.

Mamdouh lives in Al-Wehdat refugee camp, the second largest camp for Palestinian refugees in Jordan.

“We are six — two boys and four girls — but my father only allows my older brother and sister to go to school,” Mamdouh said, again insisting that no photo of him or his friends be used in the report.

“You are not an inspector from the labor and social development ministries, are you?” Mamdouh asked before telling his story to Arab News.

Government inspectors were seen looking for child workers and beggars in Al-Weibdeh, one of Amman’s oldest and most famous neighborhoods.

In a recent report on the World Day Against Child Labor, annually marked on June 12, Workers’ House, a local NGO specialized in labor rights, expected the number of working children in Jordan aged between 5 and 17 to reach 100,000 by the end of 2021, signaling an increase of 25 percent from the latest figures recorded in 2016.

The report warned against a “worrying” rise in the number of children who are victims of child labor as a result of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the subsequent economic distress and rise in poverty and unemployment rates in Jordan in 2020.

The unemployment rate in Jordan reached around 24 percent in the third quarter of 2020, up by 4.8 percent compared to the same period in 2019, according to official figures.

The Workers’ House report said that the pandemic has seen around 80,000 people lose their jobs in Jordan in 2020, with authorities forcing businesses to close in a bid to stem the spread of COVID-19. The organization added that more than 500,000 workers have been facing pay cuts since March 2020.

The organization also explained that the poverty rate in Jordan has climbed to 26 percent in 2020, prompting families, “in the absence of a social protection system,” to send their children to the labor market to secure their daily living.

The report called for updated data on the impact of the pandemic on child labor, adding that the latest survey was in 2016, in which the number of working children was placed at 76,000.

Citing the 2016 survey, the NGO said that, of the 76,000 working children aged between 5 and 17, 70,000 were illegally employed, with around 45,000 of them found working in hazardous environments.

The report said that 29 percent, 28 percent and 11 percent of the working children registered in 2016 were working in retail businesses and auto repair shops, agriculture, and construction, respectively. 

Labor Ministry Spokesman Mohammed Zyoud told Arab News that inspection teams have uncovered a total of 191 child labor cases from the 5,560 field visits they conducted during the first four months of this year.

He also said that the ministry’s inspectors had carried out a total of 11,952 and 7,143 field visits to businesses in 2020 and 2019 and discovered a total of 503 and 467 cases of child labor, respectively.

The spokesman also said that the ministry has taken a decision to intensify inspection campaigns and field visits during 2021 to curb child labor, which, he added, has been “increasing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying economic difficulties.”

During a recent seminar at Al-Rai Center for Strategic Studies, Labor Minister Yousef Shamali said that government inspectors working in the specialized unit for child labor carry out inspection campaigns annually on businesses across the kingdom to check on their abidance with the Jordanian labor law, which prohibits the employment of children under 16.

He also explained that the child laborers recovered by the inspectors are referred to the social protection center, where they receive educational and psychological rehabilitation to able to go back to school or vocational training to qualify them to join the labor market when they reach legal age.

Shamali also explained that the ministry set up an online database for child labor in 2018 and is financing the Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, implemented by the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization.

The International Labor Organization said that the influx of refugees from Syria to Jordan has exacerbated the situation of child labor, in terms of both magnitude and complexity, adding that it is supporting the government in its implementation of the National Framework to Combat Child Labor, adopted in 2011.

Topics: Middle East Jordan child labor

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Netanyahu tells Macron: Palestinian state ‘huge reward for terrorism’

Updated 19 sec ago
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Netanyahu tells Macron: Palestinian state ‘huge reward for terrorism’

Updated 19 sec ago
Netanyahu expressed to the French president his “strong opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state, stating that it would be a huge reward for terrorism“
The French president said he told Netanyahu that “the ordeal the civilian populations of Gaza are going through must end“

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday that the establishment of a Palestinian state would be a “huge reward for terrorism.”
Macron, meanwhile, posted on X that he had told Netanyahu the suffering of civilians in Gaza “must end” and only a ceasefire in the war with Hamas would free the remaining Israeli hostages in the territory.
A statement released by Netanyahu’s office said the two leaders spoke by phone and the Israeli prime minister expressed to the French president his “strong opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state, stating that it would be a huge reward for terrorism.”
“The prime minister told the French president that a Palestinian state established just minutes away from Israeli cities would become a stronghold of Iranian terrorism, and that a vast majority of the Israeli public firmly opposes this — and this has been his consistent and long-standing policy.”
For his part, the French president said he told Netanyahu that “the ordeal the civilian populations of Gaza are going through must end,” and called for “the opening of all humanitarian aid crossings” into the besieged Palestinian territory.
Israel has cut off all aid to the Gaza Strip since March 2 to pressure Hamas.
The call came after Macron’s comments last week that Paris could recognize a Palestinian state within months sparked a wave of criticism in Israel, including from Netanyahu and his son, as well as right-wing groups in France.
On Monday, he said he hoped French recognition would encourage others to follow and that countries which did not recognize Israel should also do so.
The day before the call, Macron told the president of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, Mahmud Abbas, that he would support a plan for the PA to govern post-war Gaza, if it underwent reform.
“It is essential to set a framework for the day after: disarm and sideline Hamas, define credible governance and reform the Palestinian Authority,” Macron told Abbas in a phone call, according to a post on X.
“This should allow progress toward a two-state political solution, with a view to the peace conference in June, in the service of peace and security for all,” wrote Macron.
Israel has been battling Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the latter attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Jordanian intelligence thwarts plots threatening national security

Updated 4 min 26 sec ago
Arab News
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Jordanian intelligence thwarts plots threatening national security

Updated 4 min 26 sec ago
Arab News

AMMAN: Officials at Jordan's General Intelligence Department said on Tuesday they had foiled a series of plots targeting the kingdom’s national security, the Jordan News Agency reported.
According to a statement carried by JNA, the GID arrested 16 individuals suspected of “planning acts of chaos and sabotage.”
Authorities said the department had been monitoring the group’s activities since 2021.
The foiled plans reportedly involved the manufacture of missiles using both locally sourced materials and imported components, as well as the possession of explosives and firearms.
Investigators also uncovered a missile that had been concealed and prepared for deployment.
In addition to the weapons cache, the suspects were allegedly engaged in efforts to develop drones, recruit and train individuals within the country, and send others abroad for further training.
All individuals arrested have been referred to the State Security Court for legal proceedings, the GID confirmed.

Topics: Jordan

Nations call for immediate end to ‘horrific’ Sudan war

Updated 11 min 57 sec ago
AFP
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Nations call for immediate end to ‘horrific’ Sudan war

  • UK’s foreign minister David Lammy tells Sudan conference in London of a 'lack of political will' to end the conflict
  • Germany, France, EU and African Union co-host event but warring sides did not attend
Updated 11 min 57 sec ago
AFP

LONDON: The UK led international calls Tuesday for a swift end to the devastating war in Sudan, hosting a gathering of world officials with fresh pledges of humanitarian aid as the conflict which has cost thousands of lives entered its third year.
The war erupted on April 15, 2023 in a bitter power struggle between rival generals leading Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — neither of whom were present at the conference.
More than 13 million people have been uprooted and tens of thousands killed, with both sides accused of committing atrocities.
It has created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises.
“We simply cannot look away,” the UK’s foreign minister David Lammy said as he opened the talks among counterparts from around 15 countries, denouncing what he called “a lack of political will” to end the fighting.
“We have got to persuade the warring parties to protect civilians, to let aid in and across the country, and to put peace first,” he said, adding it would take “patient diplomacy.”
Various peace efforts have so far failed to lead to a ceasefire.
The continued fighting has fueled fears the tensions will spill over Sudan’s borders and stir further instability in the impoverished Horn of Africa region.
“There can be no military solution in Sudan, only an immediate, unconditional secession of hostilities,” said the African Union’s commissioner for political affairs, Bankole Adeoye.
“This, we believe, must be followed by an all-inclusive dialogue to end the war.”
The war has “shattered the lives of millions of children across Sudan,” said Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, which estimated 2,776 children had been killed or maimed in 2023 and 2024.
A UN-backed assessment has concluded that famine is now blighting parts of the country.
Britain’s foreign ministry said more than 30 million people were in desperate need, and 12 million women and girls were in danger of gender-based violence.
Lammy unveiled $159 million in new aid for Sudan, with the EU pledging more than $591 million to address the crisis, and Germany putting up some $142 million.
France also announced an extra $57 million in humanitarian aid this year.
“How can we forget the world’s largest humanitarian crisis?” asked German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
During a visit to a refugee camp, she said she heard “horrific reports of women and children being raped” while people were dying of hunger.
Germany and France as well as the European Union and the 55-member African Union are co-hosting the conference with the British government in London.
Ministers from some 14 other countries including Saudi Arabia and the United States were attending, the Foreign Office said, along with high-level representatives from bodies such as the United Nations.
Sudan’s government has protested that it was not invited to participate, soliciting a rebuke from Khartoum.
But the German foreign ministry said both the Sudanese army and the RSF militia were unwilling to come to the table.
Sudan has accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting the paramilitary forces with arms shipments. Those fighters and the Gulf state deny the charges.
In a statement Tuesday, the UAE issued “an urgent call for peace” and accused both sides of “committing atrocities.” It said a senior foreign ministry official would attend the London conference.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot stressed “the unity of Sudan must be preserved” and there could be no unilateral government imposed on civilians.
The conflict pits the regular army of Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against the RSF led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
It was triggered when relations between Burhan and Dagalo soured following a 2021 coup that ousted the transitional government put in place after the 2019 overthrow of longtime leader Omar Al-Bashir.
The RSF are rooted in Darfur and control much of its territory, as well as parts of Sudan’s south.
The army reclaimed the capital Khartoum last month, and holds sway in the east and north, leaving Africa’s third-largest country divided in two.

Topics: Sudan Sudan clashes

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Algerian expulsion of French officials ‘will have consequences’: French FM

Updated 36 min 20 sec ago
AFP
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Algerian expulsion of French officials ‘will have consequences’: French FM

  • Jean-Noel Barrot said the move was “regrettable” and warned it “will not be without consequences“
  • Algeria’s foreign ministry said it had declared the 12 persona non grata
Updated 36 min 20 sec ago
AFP

PARIS: France’s foreign minister on Tuesday slammed Algeria’s decision to expel 12 French officials and warned of a riposte, as tensions mounted between Paris and its former North African colony.
Jean-Noel Barrot said the move was “regrettable” and warned it “will not be without consequences,” adding that if “Algeria chooses escalation, we will respond with the greatest firmness.”
Algeria’s foreign ministry said it had declared the 12 persona non grata after the arrest in France of an Algerian consular official, a “vile act” it blamed on French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.
For decades, ties between France and Algeria have gone through diplomatic upheavals, and the fresh row comes at a delicate time in relations, underscoring the difficulties in repairing ties.
On Friday, French prosecutors indicted three Algerians, including a consular official, on suspicion of involvement in the 2024 abduction of an opponent of the Algerian government, Amir Boukhors, in a Paris suburb.
The men, who are also being prosecuted for “terrorist” conspiracy, were placed in pre-trial detention.

Topics: Algeria France French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot

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Lebanon says Israeli strike on south kills one

Updated 44 min 10 sec ago
AFP
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Lebanon says Israeli strike on south kills one

  • A “drone strike carried out by the Israeli enemy on a vehicle in the town of Aitarun killed one person ,” the health ministry said
  • Israel has continued to strike Lebanon since the November 27 ceasefire
Updated 44 min 10 sec ago
AFP

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike killed one person in the country’s south on Tuesday, the latest such attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
A “drone strike carried out by the Israeli enemy on a vehicle in the town of Aitarun killed one person and wounded three others including a child,” the health ministry said in a statement.
Israel has continued to strike Lebanon since the November 27 ceasefire that largely halted more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, including two months of all-out war.
The United Nations Human Rights Office said Tuesday that at least 71 civilians have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon since the ceasefire came into effect.
The truce accord was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and United Nations peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.
Under the truce, Hezbollah was to withdraw fighters from south of Lebanon’s Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure there.
Israel was to pull out all its forces from south Lebanon, but it continues to hold five positions that it deems “strategic.”
Lebanon’s army has been deploying in the south near the border as Israeli forces have withdrawn and has been dismantling Hezbollah sites.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in an interview Monday with Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera that the army was “dismantling tunnels and warehouses and confiscating weapons bases” south of the Litani “with great professionalism and without any problem from Hezbollah.”
He also said the army was “carrying out its duties north of the Litani,” noting the army had located a warehouse in Jiyeh, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Beirut and “confiscated its contents,” without specifying what, as well as carrying out activities in locations in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
“Even what the army is doing in some places north of the Litani, there has been no objection to, which is also a positive sign,” Aoun added.
A source close to Hezbollah told AFP on Saturday that the group had ceded to the Lebanese army around 190 of its 265 military positions identified south of the Litani.
Also Monday, the Lebanese military said a soldier was killed and three others wounded in an explosion in the country’s south, where Aoun said they had been dismantling mines in a tunnel.

Topics: Battlefield Lebanon Israel Hezbollah Lebanese President Joseph Aoun

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