ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Child labour is no new phenomenon in the Kurdistan Region, but the rise in unemployment and poverty amid the coronavirus outbreak has forced more children to work in support of their struggling families. Established in Geneva in 1925, International Children’s Day is marked on June 1 by close to 50 countries including Iraq to advance young people's welfare rights. But for children working at western Erbil's Alwa fruit and vegetable market, today was unremarkable. Nashbir, 14, works as a porter at the market, carrying over a 100 kilograms worth of fruit and vegetables per day. He works from midnight until 9:00 am every day to help his family survive the poverty they've encountered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I don’t like working, but I work to make my father and mother happy,” Nashbir told Rudaw on Monday while carrying goods. “This job is of no benefit to me, as I will turn into a labourer, which is not a good future for me nor my family.” “I only make 10,000 Iraqi dinars ($8.40) a day,” another child labourer at the market who did not want to be named told Rudaw on Monday. “I work from 7:00 am until 7:00 pm.” For financially struggling families, school closures because of the COVID-19 pandemic have allowed their children to take to labour. “Schools have been closed since the start of coronavirus, so I come to work with my father from 8:00 am until 6:00 pm,” Mohammed Khasraw, a child working at Alwa told Rudaw. “If I can't graduate, I want to work with my father, as I like this work,” Khasraw added. “But if I graduate, I want to be a dentist.” According to Iraqi law, children under 15 are prohibited from working. Local bodies like the Kurdistan Child Protection Organisation have made it their mission to turn the legislation into real practice. “We as the Kurdistan Child Protection organization aim to make child labor prevention a culture, so that society stops sending its children to work,” Nayif Sulaiman, head of the organisation's Erbil office told Rudaw on Monday. According to 2017 data from the organisation, more than 1,960 under-15s performed child labour in the Kurdistan Region. “Children are in need of protection – they should not be a source of income for the adults of their families,” he added.
