UPDATE OF WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR INFORMATION:

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006925

SIPDIS

DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER AND DRL/IL FOR LAUREN HOLT

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI JO USAID
SUBJECT: UPDATE OF WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR INFORMATION:
JORDAN

REF: A. STATE 143352

B. 04 AMMAN 6977


1. Post has contacted appropriate ministries and NGOs per ref
A in order to update ref B reporting on the worst forms of
child labor in Jordan, and the efforts in place to combat
them. The bulk of the information from ref B remains
unchanged, and the worst forms of child labor, as defined in
ILO Convention 182, are rare in Jordan. Following is updated
information on current initiatives to combat child labor in
Jordan, grouped by the source organization and subject.


2. The Information and Resource Center (IRC) of the King
Hussein Foundation (originally established by Queen Noor in
1995 as the National Task Force for Children): The IRC has
been conducting research on child labor for over one year. In
2004, with funding from the Swiss Embassy in Amman, the IRC
undertook an effort focused on street children in Irbid, a
large city in northern Jordan, with a goal of expanding the
effort to areas of Amman. As of yet, there are no published
results.


3. Questscope: UK-based Questscope, in coordination with the
Ministries of Labor (MOL),Education (MOE),and Social
Development (MoSD) implemented two projects aimed at
eliminating child labor. Both projects focus on
underprivileged children and those detained at juvenile
centers. The first project provides adult mentors for
"at-risk" youth. The mentor and child meet weekly for
one-on-one activities, and groups of mentors and children
regularly go on recreational outings or meet for educational
activities. The project considers each child's experience and
specific needs in partnering with organizations whose
resources match individual cases. The World Bank funded the
mentoring program until April 2005. The program is still
operating, though on a severely limited scale, while
Questscope lobbies for additional funding to keep it
operational for another 18 months. The second project is
dubbed "Earn & Learn". Citing statistics that some children
provide 40% of their families' income, often through menial
work and potentially dangerous jobs, the project aims to
teach them vocational skills to help them attain higher
grades of employment. The children start by participating in
informal education classes after normal working hours to earn
a diploma from the MOE. Those that earn the diploma are
guaranteed one-year of vocational training. The Earn & Learn
project is funded by the European Union and sponsored by the
MOE. Currently, 200 dropouts are taking part in the education
classes, and there are ten vocational training centers set up
for the graduates. Jordan's Development and Employment Fund
provides microfinance assistance to participants, enabling
them to start their own businesses.


4. The National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA): The NCFA
was founded by royal decree and started official operations
in 2001. The NCFA shares the original mandate of the National
Task Force for Children, to advance the interests of
Jordanian youth. The NCFA, however, has the expanded goal of
ensuring a better life for Jordanian families. The NCFA is
quasi-governmental, and provides policy recommendations and
advocacy. It also facilitates coordination between the GOJ
and the NGO community. The issue of child labor falls under
the responsibility of the Childhood Unit at the NCFA, and it
has worked hand in hand with Questscope on both the mentoring
and Earn & Learn projects.


5. MOL: In January 2004, the MOL announced a USD one million
ILO project to combat child labor in Jordan. The project was
to be implemented in coordination with the MOE and MoSD, and
aimed to rehabilitate working children under 18 years of age,
sending them back to school while helping their families to
earn a living. The project set the lofty goal of benefiting
500 families within three years. To date, this project has
barely gotten off the ground. The current ILO administrator
says that her predecessor had trouble organizing the project,
but that work on a rehabilitation center is ongoing.
Organizers hope to achieve tangible results by 2006.


6. SCREAM - Stop Child Labor: The Ministry of Labor's Child
Labor Unit (CLU) initiated this ILO-IPEC (International
Program on the Elimination of Child Labor) program to raise
awareness of child labor among young people. (NOTE: According
to a 2002 CLU study, 32,000 children are working throughout
Jordan. END NOTE.) The program consists of 14 modules in
arts, education, and media. It conducted its first workshop
in June 2004 to train 38 educators and volunteers on child
labor and its negative consequences. Since then, it has
conducted subsequent workshops at public universities in
Jordan. The CLU is now working on an initiative to introduce
the SCREAM modules in private universities, with the goal of
incorporating them in a formal degree program on child
protection studies.


7. Pending Legislation: Jordan has signed the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child, but the corresponding
ratification and implementing legislation is still pending
approval in parliament. It was on the agenda for the recent
extraordinary session of parliament this summer, but was not
addressed. It will remain on the agenda when parliament
reconvenes for its next ordinary session, likely in November.
According to a UNICEF official, draft laws pertaining to
children and juveniles have traditionally not been a high
priority for members of parliament. Included in the
implementing legislation is a provision to increase the
minimum age for workers in hazardous occupations from 17 to

18. In 2003 King Abdullah issued a royal decree increasing
the minimum age of these workers to 18, and the Ministry of
Labor has issued instructions to its inspectors to enforce
this change. Jordan has ratified ILO convention 138, which
raises the minimum working age to 18, and ILO law 182, which
calls for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor.


8. The National Center for Human Rights (NCHR),the NCFA, and
UNICEF are jointly working on addressing child labor on two
fronts: through the pending child rights law, and by amending
current laws. The ILO and MOL are preparing to administer a
rapid assessment survey on the worst forms of child labor,
with the ILO currently finalizing the questionnaire. They
hope to have preliminary results by November 2005. Current
labor law does provide some measure of protection for working
children. It limits the workday of a minor (defined as under
18) to six hours, and provides for a one-hour break after
four continuous hours of work. Also, working hours for
children must be between 6:00am and 8:00pm. In practice, this
law is not always strictly observed. The same 2002 CLU report
revealed that 19 percent of children worked at least 10-hour
days.


9. The street scene: Child beggars are present on some
streets in Amman. Many of these children are forced to beg by
their parents. While there is no empirical evidence of sexual
abuse, there are suspicions among the NGO community that such
activities do occur, however infrequently. These children are
vulnerable to exploitation, both by their families and by
those who seek to employ them. The Ministry of Social
Development's anti-vagrancy campaign works to detain and
investigate the child beggars, and to prosecute those who
exploit them. According to the MoSD, on average 20 child
beggars are rounded up daily. Detained children must be
picked up by their parents/guardian. However, there is
currently no fine or penalty assessed against the parents.
Consequently, there is no financial incentive for families to
keep their children from returning to the street.
HENZEL