Jordan's 'unfair' economic policies driving children into hazardous work: rights body

A civil society group warned this week that child labour in Jordan is on the increase due to "unfair" economic policies and increasing poverty in the kingdom.

Jordan Labour Watch said that around 76,000 children in Jordan are in work with 60 percent engaged in hazardous occupations, such as in landfills, handling heavy machinery, or working night shifts.

The rights group launched a five-day campaign on Saturday dubbed "Children Not Laborers" aimed at ending the practice.

Jordanian law forbids employers from hiring anyone aged under 16, and bans under-18s from engaging in hazardous work.

A spokesperson for the Jordanian ministry of labour said on Monday that it had carried out over 7,500 inspection visits in 2023, and stopped 231 cases of child labour in the same time period.

The government also maintains an online hotline that allows people to report cases of child labour in the country.

Despite the government's efforts to stamp out child labour, the rights group said authorities had "failed to address the root cause" of the issue. This includes economic policies aimed at liberalising the economy that have depressed wages and driven up poverty rates from 13.3 percent in 2008 to nearly 25 percent in 2022.

In recent years, Jordan’s government has been gradually lifting subsidies on key goods and modifying its social support programmes.

According to the International Labour Organisation, the country’s social assistance programmes currently reach "very few Jordanians" with less than a third of those classified as "poor" accessing these schemes.

Declining living standards have sparked popular protests in the country, including a month-long strike in the southern province of Maan in December 2022 which broke out into violence.

Children rights' advocates attempted to pass a "children's rights law" in July 2022, but conservative blocs in parliament scuttled the bill, claiming it was against local values and customs.

The law would have codified a host of protections for children, including healthcare, education and would have allowed teachers to report abuse of children.

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Jordan is a signatory to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, which obliges it to provide certain protections to children.

In practice though, activists have said that children in Jordan experience a host of socioeconomic issues including child labour and neglect.

According to a 2019 UNICEF survey, nearly three-in-four children have experienced some form of physical violence in their lifetime.

Jordan Labour Watch urged stricter oversight from relevant authorities to prevent child labour, particularly in hazardous occupations, from occurring.