FORCED OUT OF SCHOOL AND INTO THE FACTORY: Iraq’s growing problem with illegal child labour

By Fatima Karim in Baghdad

In mud and amid thick black smoke, a 10-year-old stands under the blazing sun, with his donkey beside him. The donkey carries a load of bricks.

This child, Abdullah Hassan, lives in Nahrawan, a south-eastern suburb of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, which is well known as a centre of brick production.

Hassan has been working in Nahrawan’s factories since he was six years old, alongside his family.

“I work together with my older brother and sister, but my dream is to get out of this job,” he said. “I’d really like to get a mobile phone.”

Hundreds of children work in the brick factories in the dust, often leaving school early to join their families in long hours with minimal pay and without any rights or health care.

Abdullah says he earns around IQD115,000 (US$88) a month for working as much as 10 hours a day.

“My family had to move from one of the southern provinces to work here, which forced me to leave school,” Hassan said. “Not only me but almost everyone who works here hasn’t had the chance to get an education.”

Hassan’s father, Hassan Kati, talks about the hardships of the jobs in the brick factories.

“The air hurts our lungs, the pollution is very severe in all forms,” he explains. “We work day and night to meet our needs, and many blame me for involving my children in these jobs. But we need our children to help us earn enough. “If I had a decent job, my family wouldn’t live in such conditions,” he argued.

Because of how hot the Iraqi summer is, which makes working conditions unendurable, the working day at the factory usually starts at midnight and ends mid-morning, around 10 am

In the factory there is a hierarchy of jobs with work distributed according to age, Hassan explains. “Children aged five to eight are called ‘drivers’ and they ride donkey carts and transport bricks. Then there are ‘loaders’ who fill the carts with bricks.”

One of Hassan’s friends, Ali, passes by with his iron cart loaded with bricks. About the same age as Hassan, he has placed a piece of cloth on the cart’s handle to avoid its heat. He heads for his younger sister, Zahra, to move the bricks to the oven, the final step in brickmaking. He gives Zahra a water bottle and wipes her hot forehead with his hand.

Standing in the middle of piles of sand and covered in dust, Zahra says she is proud of the work they do here despite the harsh nature of the job.

“My dream is to live with my parents and siblings in a safe house away from this place. “I have great faith that I will achieve what I want one day with my family,” she says, full of hope.

The three primary-school-aged children are not alone in this labour.

The Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights estimates that 2% of all Iraqi children are involved in the job market in one way or another. Commission member Ali al-Bayati states that over 700,000 children work in Iraq.

UNICEF reports that a third of Iraqi children face difficult economic conditions, which pushes them to work to support their families. UNICEF also notes that two out of every five Iraqi children live in poverty.

All this is despite the fact that child labour is actually illegal under Iraqi law.

Legal expert Ali Jaber al-Tamimi says that Iraq’s Labor Law No. 37 of 2015 prohibits the employment of children under 15 years old. It only allows the employment of individuals aged 15 to 18 under special circumstances and only under strict supervision and in certain sectors. The law prescribes penalties for any employers who violate this, but al-Tamimi believes these laws were “born almost paralyzed and they are not enforced”.

Iraq’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs says that anyone violating those rules faces a variety of punishments, from fines to a suspension of their license to operate a business.

And child labor seems to be a growing phenomenon in Iraq.

This is happening because of the numerous conflicts and wars Iraq has been through as well as rising unemployment, factory and company closures and a largely unregulated labour sector, says Ali Rahim al-Saadi, head of the General Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq.

Al-Saadi says corruption plays a part, which sees politicians meddling in the labour market and allowing employers to avoid oversight. Additionally, he argues, various responsible ministries and unions do not play an adequate role in supervising workplaces and do not cover all the relevant sectors.

As for the children working in the brick factories, all they can really do about their situation is dream of a better life. 

Hassan, the 10-year-old, wants to become a famous football player and when he’s not working he and his friends have formed small teams so they can compete and train for fun.

“I will become a great player someday and then I’ll appear on the screens of the phones I have always dreamed of buying,” Hassan says with a poignant smile.

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