Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Jordan (Ratification: 2000)

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Article 7(2) of the Convention. Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Refugee children. Following its previous comments, the Committee takes note of the Government’s information, in its report, regarding the measures taken to protect child refugees from the worst forms of child labour. The Government indicates, firstly, that inspection visits do not discriminate between Jordanian and other children and that complaints are followed up regardless of the applicant’s nationality. Moreover, the Department to Stop Child Labour, of the Ministry of Labour, oversees and implements various projects, including a project to combat the worst forms of child labour in agriculture and the Case Management Services project for the protection of children in host communities (with the support of UNICEF). The Committee also takes note of the ILO’s cross-cutting development-focused strategy, adopted as part of the wider UN-response to the refugee crisis, which supports both refugees and host community residents in order to preserve social and economic stability as well as realise the rights of both to decent work and social justice.

The Committee notes, however, that according to the UNICEF report on Socio-Economic Assessment and Practices in Jerash Camp of 2021 (which houses over 31,000 refugees), many socio-economic issues are still prevalent among child refugees. The report reveals not only that child labour is a prevalent issue in Jerash Camp (21 per cent of households reporting child labour in the six-months reporting period in 2021), but that all the children working in the camp are involved in some kind of hazardous work: 65 per cent reported that their children are exposed to extreme cold or heat; 62 per cent reported long working hours; 54 per cent are exposed to fumes or dust; 49 per cent have to carry heavy loads; 31 per cent work with dangerous tools; and 31 per cent work on heights. Also, 14 per cent of the households reported that their children were exposed to dangerous chemicals.

Moreover, even in the households where children were not working, 42 per cent reported that they would accept to work, should the opportunity have been offered. As a result, the report indicates that child labour figures, including in hazardous work, were underrepresented during the reporting period. This can certainly be explained by the variety of vulnerability factors which affects the residents of the camp, including particularly high poverty rates due to several legal restrictions related to their non-citizen status that limit their rights and add to the barriers that stand between them and their access to employment opportunities, health care, educational opportunities, and other social services. In fact, nearly 60 per cent of the households reported education as their priority need, and health and child protection are key services that households in the camp prioritize. The Committee therefore strongly encourages the Government to continue to take effective and time-bound measures to improve the socio-economic situation of refugees in the country, in order to reduce the vulnerability of refugee children and protect them from the worst forms of child labour. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved, from the various projects being implemented with the support of the ILO and UNICEF, in terms of number of refugee children who have received the necessary and appropriate direct assistance for their removal from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration.

Children in street situations. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest the adoption of the National Framework to Combat Child Labour and Begging of 2020 which aims to identify children who are at risk of engaging in some form of work and/or being on the streets for begging and/or for the purposes of selling, regardless of their affiliation or origin, or whether they are refugee children and/or in host communities and/or other conditions and circumstances, including those who drop out of school. The National Framework defines four response phases to identified cases of child labour: (1) detection and reporting; (2) immediate response; (3) intervention; and (4) procedure of closure of the case file. The National Framework is accompanied by the 2020 Manual on applied measures for its implementation, which sets out the detailed procedures, institutional coordination, referral mechanisms and communication networks for the case-by-case management of child labour and child begging cases and the reintegration of these children into education. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the measures adopted in the framework of the National Framework to Combat Child Labour and Begging of 2020 on the protection of children in street situations from the worst forms of child labour, including information on the number of such children who have been rescued and provided with assistance.

The Committee is also raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.