The Secretary-General of the National Council for Family Affairs, Dr. Muhammad Miqdadi, confirmed that updating the national strategy is the most prominent effort that has been implemented to reduce child labor, which was prepared by the Ministry of Labor in agreement with a group of partners and stakeholders in this aspect, in order to ensure the elimination of child labor in violation of the law and the protection of children working with Ensure a decent work environment.

Miqdadi said that the tasks of the Council in this regard were to follow up and evaluate the implementation plan of the strategy and come up with a report showing the efforts of the institutions to identify and strengthen the strengths and strengthen the weaknesses to ensure the achievement of the objectives of the plan.

He pointed out that Jordan is one of the countries that have taken clear and positive steps to combat child labour. Pointing out that the Jordanian Labor Law prohibits the employment of a juvenile who has not completed sixteen years of age in any way, and prohibits his employment in work that is dangerous or harmful to health before reaching eighteen years of age.

And he indicated that the Council worked in a participatory manner with the concerned authorities to issue the national framework for dealing with cases of working children and beggars, and it was updated in the year 2020, stressing the importance of having binding legal texts to combat this phenomenon, as the Jordanian Child Rights Law came to confirm in Article (16) item ( a), provided that the Ministry of Education, in coordination with the competent authorities, takes measures to ensure that the child does not drop out or drop out of education.

He explained that late or early childhood issues took a large part of the Council’s work, whether in terms of policies, programs, plans, etc., noting that in 2010 a study was conducted on the physical, psychological and social effects of child labour; The discussion of this matter came as a result of its consequences that negatively affect the child’s growth and development in terms of physical, cognitive and emotional aspects.

He noted that the preparation of such studies came for the purposes of identifying the effects left by the phenomenon of child labor, to identify the nature of their work in Jordan, and to identify aspects of abuse to which working children are exposed and to compare it with non-working children, indicating that the implemented plans, programs and strategies were all based on results. Science against child labour.

The media spokesman for the Ministry of Labor, Muhammad Al-Zyoud, said regarding the reality of child labor, that the ministry relies on official figures issued by the national surveys of child labor conducted by the Department of Statistics. Therefore, it does not base its procedures on inaccurate figures that were not issued by studies conducted with a scientific methodology declared to all.

And he indicated that the national strategy to combat child labor 2022-2030 was updated through a national team formed by the government, headed by the Ministry of Labor, with membership of a number of ministries, local civil society institutions, international organizations, and representatives of the Chambers of Industry and Commerce and the Federation of Jordan Trade Unions.

He added that the implementation plan included many axes, and each ax included a set of strategic goals, programs and main activities for each goal, and the entity responsible for implementing them. The National Council for Family Affairs undertakes the task of implementing and evaluating the strategy.

He pointed out that the indicators that fall within the responsibilities of the Ministry of Labor in the implementation plan of the strategy were set within the annual plan of the Ministry’s Inspection Directorate, which includes measures for inspection visits to reduce child labour.

And he continued, “The ministry participated in updating the national framework to reduce child labor and begging for the year 2021.”

He explained that the Ministry, as part of its inspection procedures, directs (15%) of all its inspection visits, which aim to inspect child labour. These visits target all sectors, in addition to focusing on the sectors that most employ children, such as vehicle repair, wholesale trade, the agricultural sector, and manufacturing industries.

And he indicated that the results of the inspection visits in the first five months of the current year 2023 showed that the number of working children discovered reached (231) children, and the number of inspection visits since the beginning of 2023 to limit child labor reached (7587) visits, and the number of violations issued against employers and employers. For children in violation of the provisions of the Labor Law, there are (96) violations.

He pointed out that the ministry receives reports of child labor received through the national system to reduce child labor on the ministry’s website, noting that since the beginning of this year, (52) activities have been implemented to raise awareness among parents regarding the dangers of child labor in the labor market.

At the end of his speech, Al-Zyoud stressed that reducing child labor is a joint responsibility between government agencies, the competent authorities and the local community, which calls for concerted efforts to achieve a safe childhood, indicating that in conjunction with the International Day for the Elimination of Child Labor, a campaign of inspection visits was launched on all economic sectors and activities to ensure that The extent to which establishments comply with the provisions of the government law regarding child labor.