World Day Against Child Labour 2017

B-roll: In conflicts and disasters, protect children from child labour

Globally over 1.5 billion people live in countries that are affected by conflict, violence and fragility. At the same time, around 200 million people are affected by disasters every year. A third of them are children. A significant proportion of the 168 million children engaged in child labour live in areas affected by conflict and disaster. The World Day Against Child Labour this year focuses on the impact of conflicts and disasters on child labour.

Date issued: 12 June 2017 | Size/duration: 02:23
Duration: 2'23''
Location:
    Beirut (shot April 2017) and Bekaa Valley (shot October 2016) in Lebanon, and Geneva, Switzerland (shot 12 June 2017)
Audio:     natural sound (in English and Arabic)
Rights:    copyright ILO - ILO audio-visual material is subject to a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license
Keywords:   child labour, conflict situations, natural disasters, Syrian refugees
Contact:     multimedia@ilo.org

Conflicts and disasters have a devastating impact on people’s lives. Children are often the first to suffer as schools are destroyed and basic services are disrupted. Many children are internally displaced or become refugees in other countries, and are particularly vulnerable to trafficking and child labour. Ultimately, millions of children are pushed into child labour by conflicts and disasters.

The ILO works closely with partners to tackle child labour in emergencies. In 2016, the Child Labour Task Force of the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action , co-chaired by the ILO and Plan International, launched its Inter-agency Guidance: Supporting the Protection Needs of Child Labourers in Emergencies . This toolkit provides guidance to humanitarian workers on protecting children from child labour. In addition, the ILO is part of Alliance 8.7 , the global strategic partnership committed to achieving SDG Target 8.7, which calls on the world to end forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking, and, by 2025 to end child labour in all its forms. One of its six Action Groups is dedicated to addressing these issues in situations of crisis.

ILO TV provides footage of ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder and Abbas Ahmad Assi, a former child labourer, now a university student, volunteer for the NGO Beyond and advocate for Lebanon's National Podium Against Child Labour.  They spoke at today's World Day Against Child Labour event held in the grounds of the United Nations in Geneva.

ILO TV also provides footage shot in April 2017 and October 2016 in Lebanon, from its SCREAM project, helping Syrian refugee children leave child labour and obtain vocational training. 

Shotlist:


00:00 – 00:36   Geneva, Switzerland
Guy Ryder, Director-General, International Labour Organization (ILO) - in English:
“We know that we are today facing the greatest refugee crisis the world has known for decades and we see too many instances of crisis and disasters afflicting nations around the world. And the point here is that it is self-evident and dramatic the extent to which crisis and disaster render children vulnerable.”

“Homes destroyed, families disrupted, schools out of business… all of this means that conflicts and disasters are very bad news to those of us who are trying to put an end to child labour.”

00:36 – 01:13  Geneva, Switzerland
Abbas Ahmad Assi, Student, volunteer (NGO Beyond) and advocate (National Podium Against Child Labour) from Lebanon – in English:
“My father got sick after the 2006 war in Lebanon. I had to help him, I tried to help him but then his health was totally destroyed so I had to take all the responsibility and work. So I know what a child faces at work, I know what he feels. I know this can destroy a child, this can destroy his future. So I think it’s my responsibility to stand beside him, to help.”

01:13 – 01:22   Beirut, Lebanon
Khadija, Syrian refugee, 11 years old:
"I had to carry heavy bags of potatoes. That's why I am not growing taller anymore. The work bent my back."

01:22 – 01:34   Beirut, Lebanon
Hussein, Syrian refugee, 13 years old:
"I worked in potato harvesting when I was ten years old. When I did that work I felt tired and older than I was."

01:34 – 01:43 Beirut, Lebanon
Bushra, Syrian refugee, 16 years old:
"I went to work in the jam factory when I was 13. I used to leave at 6am and come back at 8pm. The pay was very low."

01:43 – 01:57
Syrian refugee children in a refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

01:57 – 02:23
Syrian refugee children work in a potato field in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

02:23
END