Children “on hot tin”… Child labor is rampant in Damascus and its countryside.

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The phenomenon of child labor is exacerbating in light of the deteriorating living conditions. As a laboratory is not devoid of a child who has been employed for a task that suits his physical structure or does not suit it, just as the containers are no longer devoid of children inside or beside them searching for their daily sustenance among the trash of the neighborhood residents, so they find cardboard or plastic that they sell in order to help their families.

In the city and countryside, this phenomenon is widespread, and in an attempt to find out some details of working in this “profession”, we met with a group of children scattered in the Sahnaya area in rural Damascus, who talked about some of the details of their work and their scavenging of rubbish to collect what they come across of materials that can be sold.

The child “Ammar” is no more than 6 years old and uses the edges of the containers in Sahnaya as a place to search for plastic and cardboard. He says that he works as a “scraper” for a cardboard center (a scavenger), but he does not know where the center is or to which party it is affiliated. He carries the load of rubbish that covers his skinny body, and hands it over to one of the people dealing with the center.

plastic collection

The same thing was confirmed by the child “Sami”, who has been working since the morning, collecting plastic and cardboard and handing them over to his uncle for free. He added that his father took his brothers out of school to work in garbage collection, under the pretext of saving the family from poverty and the reality of life.

Through talking with a number of these children gathered around garbage containers, it was confirmed that they were not enrolled in schools, but rather began to fight the harsh battle of life by collecting plastic and cardboard, in order to take the sum of 5000 per day, which is considered a dream for each of them, as if he had obtained a treasure.

The owner of one of the shops in the area talked about the work of these children by virtue of her work and her observations, indicating that the children are distributed from seven o’clock in the morning, when approximately every five children receive a garbage container and they clean it and sit in it until seven o’clock in the evening.

Her opinion was shared by her friend, who adds to her words that these children are subjected to violence for and without reason, and adds as an example: “I once saw a man beat a child of the scavengers forcefully, condemning his appearance while he was smelling the flame, and scolded him severely, asking him not to smell the flame again.”

Who is responsible for deterring this phenomenon?

A member of the Sahnaya municipal council stated that they have nothing to do with these children, but rather the responsibility and tasks of the council belong to the cleaners who have cars and vehicles with them.

Social Affairs: Our mission is only beggars!

The Director of Services at the Directorate of Social Affairs and Labor in Rif Dimashq, Wafaa Abu Hamra, stated that the mission of the beggars office in the directorate is to collect beggars and place them in the beggary institute (Dar al-Tisal) in the Kiswah area, in order to qualify them and teach them a good profession that they can benefit from in their lives. The Directorate of Affairs has nothing to do with them, as they take cleaning as a profession and are not responsible for them.

Ministry of Social Affairs: We have no relationship

With regard to the status of children and their rehabilitation, he contacted the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, which clarified that the Directorate of Cleanliness in the governorate is responsible for them and for confiscating everything they work with. They want.

Who is responsible for deterring the phenomenon of child labor?

Here, the General Supervisor of the Services Complex in Damascus Governorate, Director of Hygiene, Eng. Imad Al-Ali, confirmed that child labor is prohibited and there is no law that allows it, especially for the group that collects “plastic” or “digging up containers” in addition to the health damage that they face.

He added: “For those who carry out these acts, we communicate with the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Department (Ministry of Interior), and in cooperation with it, we know the main source that occupies them (the operator), and the latter is subject to penalties; These children are rehabilitated by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.

He reaffirmed that the subject of scavenging is not allowed, whether for children or adults, because of its effects on the environment in the first place and on the health of its workers in the second degree, because this work in particular increases the additional burdens on the work of cleaners during the process of digging up containers, so garbage is scattered next to the containers and smells spread due to Unearth closed bags.

Regarding the measures taken by the governorate, Al-Ali says: “We, as a governorate, are carrying out campaigns to combat the phenomenon of exhuming and confiscating the tools related to this process, whether tools – cars – vehicles – bicycles – and mechanisms that operate with three wheels. They are seized in cooperation with the police command; The campaigns are continuing, especially on the collection centers for this scrap that are located throughout the city, and the (warehouses) or the place where this waste is collected from plastic and cardboard are sealed, given that there are no licenses for this, and they are dealt with legally.

The Child Protection Act does not allow them to work:

In turn, the lawyer specialized in social affairs, Rami Al-Khair, saw during his speech that “The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is concerned with controlling the phenomenon of child labor in partnership with several government agencies, especially after the issuance of the Child Protection Law, according to which a child may not work unless he is 15 years old, and this law It has not been implemented until now,” pointing out that the economic situation and the living conditions of the parents have prevented the application of this law at present, in addition to the weakness of the executive authority’s oversight of this phenomenon.

He continued that the Department of Combating Trafficking in Persons is doing a good job in controlling child labor, but this widespread phenomenon requires governmental and social cooperation with organizations and civil societies, noting that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is supposed to have centers to receive children and the elderly whose conditions are critical to provide all forms of care for them.

He noted that the economic conditions forced parents to send their children to work, for example, “the monthly salary of one employee is enough to buy one and a half chickens, which is one meal for a family, and the rest of the month remains without food.” For children whose conditions are critical for their care and education.

Education’s view of child labor:

A source in rural Damascus education noted that the compulsory education law in Syria forces these children to enroll in schools, and their failure to enroll is considered a violation by their parents.

The site notes that the aim of publishing this report is to identify the problem, support these children, and choose a more suitable place for them to join other children, not to have their workplace waxed and deprived of their source of livelihood without an alternative to support them.

Athar Press



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