Over half a million children work in Morocco
Morocco, Culture, 4/28/2005

Some 600,000 children work in Morocco, which represents 11% of the Kingdom's 5.5 million children, according to a joint study carried out recently by the Moroccan Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (Ipec) and the World Bank.

In a seminar initiated, Tuesday, by the Employment ministry on "ways to better integrate the fight against child labor in social development," employment Minister Mustapha Mansouri underscored the importance that Morocco's government is committed to eliminating child labor, pointing out that, since the signing of relevant international conventions, efforts are being made to raise schooling rates, access to health services, adding amendments were introduced in the Family, penal and civil procedures codes to benefit children.

The State Secretary in charge of Family, Child and the Disabled, Yasmina Baddou, highlighted the 2005-2015 action plan that her department has written to carry out the government 2002 commitment made in New York, during the UN Special Session on Children.

Representatives of international bodies, mainly UNICEF, Ipec and the World Bank, lauded Morocco's efforts to protect children against all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse.

For Ms. Maie Ayoub Von Kohl, representative of the UNICEF, eliminating child labor can only be fruitful through integrated actions at the political, economic, legal and social levels.

According to the joint study 13% of all male children under 15 and 9.5% of female children are currently exploited in the job market. Rural areas contribute 87% of working children, says the same source, while the remaining 13% come from cities.

Previous Stories:
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