The tragedy of child labor in Iraq amid inability to enforce laws

Child labor in Iraq has skyrocketed to what the Iraqi Ministry of Labor has described as the “worst” in the country’s history amid the authorities’ inability to curb the increase in child exploitation. Laws to combat the phenomenon were not implemented due to the weakness of the oversight committees, which contributed to the exacerbation of this issue.

Trade unionists and officials attributed the spread of the phenomenon of child labor to the economic and security conditions in the country, in addition to the irregular work sector.

The laws of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in Iraq stipulate that an employer who employs children be punished with a fine, or by suspending their permit or activity.

Internationally, the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Article (32-1) says: “States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.”

According to the High Commission for Human Rights in Iraq, the rate of child labor in Iraq is estimated to be around 2%. The organization states that Iraqi children face the highest rate of poverty, as there are two poor children out of every five children in the country.