It is high time to deal with child labor as a priority, IPEC Maroc
Morocco, Culture, 6/12/2004

It is high time to make the issue of child labor a priority in Morocco and integrate it in national strategies against poverty, said the national administrator of the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC).

Malak Ben Chekroun, said in an interview on the eve of the World Day against Child Labor (June 12), this issue, considered for long years as taboo, is finally perceived as a reality that should be stopped.

"Children should be withdrawn from the world of labor. They should be given alternatives and it should be made sure that they will not be substituted by other children," she said.

Some 600,000 children under 15 are involved in economic activities in Morocco, according to the national survey on Labor 2000 which noted that 80 percent of these children live in rural areas. It also noted that 58 percent of working children are boys against 42 percent of girls.

Another survey conducted in 1998-1999, noted that 90 percent of working children in Morocco are aged from 10 to 14, 80 percent do not go to school, 96 percent come from impoverished families, 59 percent are exposed to diseases and serious accidents and 52 percent of them work for over 50 hours a week.

Furthermore, a study published recently by the UNICEF underlined that 64 percent of people working in the carpet industry in Fez (east of Rabat) are young girls, the two thirds of which are aged from 10 to 15 years old. 63 percent of these girls have admitted that they have been subjected to physical and verbal violence.

The study also shows that in the southwest Moroccan region of Al Haouz, 51 percent of children aged from 7 to 15 years old work in agriculture. The study blamed the propagation of this phenomenon on poverty, illiteracy and the ignorance of parents.

Meanwhile, the number of under 15 girls working as maids in the Moroccan metropolis, Casablanca, is estimated at over 13,500, according to a survey conducted in 2001. Many of them are subjected to mistreatment, violence and sexual abuse, noted the survey.

IPEC Maroc administrator deplored the lack of coordination between the concerned parties to resolve this issue.

She said, nonetheless, Morocco intends to harmonize the national legislation with the basic principles of international conventions, especially with regard to increasing the minimum age for admission to work to 15 years old. This, in addition to the reinforcement of penal sanctions in the event of non-respect of legal provisions concerning child labor, she added.

According to Ben Chekroun, Morocco has developed a national plan to fight child labor, whose implementation has started with the launching of the program IPEC in 2001.

Efforts made by IPEC Maroc have enabled to withdraw 1300 children from the world of labor.

Africa comprises the largest number of children involved in economic activities in the world. Estimations in 2002 have shown that 211 million children aged from 5 to 14 years, in the world, are working.

Previous Stories:
  Moroccan government determined to fight children exploitation in work places   (12/20/2003)
  Casablanca: over 60% of maids aged below 15, study   (11/22/2003)
  Children rights code to be more effective   (7/10/2003)

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