Child labor statistics improve in Morocco

Employed children in Morocco plummeted in 1999 to 1.5% in 1999 against 2.9% in 1987, after Morocco passed a law fixing the legal child labor age to over 18.

A survey conducted by the Moroccan statistics department says 538,485 children below 15 years are employed in various activities. This represents 5.7% of Morocco's 9 million children below 15.

Some 88% of the employed children are found in the rural areas with girls representing 51.4%.

Morocco -- which grants great importance to the protection of child's basic rights -- endorsed last September the international convention banning child labor. The convention sets the legal minimum age to over 18 and seeks to protect children from commercial and industrial exploitation.

Morocco has also set up a child's parliament to enable children to express their views regarding their situation and problems and their grudge against the adult community.

The parliament, which convened its first session last May in the presence of several members of the Moroccan Cabinet, is made of 357 children representing all Moroccan regions.