Child labour in Arab countries: call for action

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7573.861-b

BMJ 2006;333:861-862 (21 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7573.861-b

Letter

Child labour in Arab countries: call for action

EDITOR—A PubMed search not limited by year and using theterms "child labour", "child labor", and "working children"found a total of nine peer reviewed studies on working childrenin Arab countries (Lebanon 3, Jordan 3, Egypt 2, and Morocco1). Some might attribute this to the seemingly less devastatingconditions of child labour in the Middle East and North Africacompared with other developing countries.¹ We argue otherwise,using our experience in Lebanon.

Children in Lebanon and most Arab countries are often employedin small hazardous industries, including artisan production,trades and service, in the agricultural sector, and in homesas domestic helpers. Such workplaces are assumed to be lesshazardous to the health of working children than major industries,especially if owned by a family member or a friend. However,children in artisan and mechanics shops work under poor sanitaryconditions with almost non-existent engineering or personalprotective measures, and suffer from physical strain, long hoursof work, low wages, and high exposure to noise and chemicals.²When their health was compared with that of non-working schoolchildren, differences were not striking.³ However, notable differenceswere identified when subclinical neurotoxic effects of solventswere investigated.⁴⁵

Working children in mechanic and artisan shops are exposed tosolvents at much higher air concentrations than allowable exposurelimits for adults, not accounting for dermal exposure in a populationthat uses solvents to degrease contaminated hands.² Comparedwith schoolchildren and working children not exposed to solvents,working children exposed to solvents performed worse on mostneurophysiological and neurobehavioural tests.^{4 5} Whether theseeffects are reversible, permanent, or will worsen with furtherexposure is unknown, as is the long term effect on children'semployment and productivity.

Credit: SHEHZAD NOORANI/STILL PICTURES

The magnitude of hazards to which working children, includingthose in Arab countries, are exposed must not be underestimatedand may increase with the rising political and economic unrestin the region and the violent conflicts in Lebanon, Iraq, andPalestine. We recommend that more studies on child labour beconducted, especially cohort studies on long term health effectsand studies on girls.

Basema Saddik, lecturer

Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, PO Box 170, Lidcombe, NSW 1825, Australia b.saddik{at}fhs.usyd.edu.au

Iman Nuwayhid, professor

Department of Environmental Health Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Lebanon

Competing interests: None declared.

References

International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) and Statistical Information and Monitoring Programme on Child Labour (SIMPOC). Every child counts—new global estimates on child labour. Geneva: International Labour Office. 2002. www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/simpoc/others/globalest.pdf (accessed 20 Jun 2006).
Nuwayhid I, Saddik B, Quba'a R. Working children in small industrial establishments in Tripoli and Akkar-Lebanon: their work environment and work activities. Report submitted to the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) at the International Labour Organization, Geneva: International Labour Office, 2001.
Nuwayhid I, Usta J, Makarem M, Khudr A, Zein A. Health of children working in small urban industrial shops. Occup Environ Med 2005;62: 86-94.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
Saddik B, Nuwayhid I, Williamson A, Black D. Evidence of neurotoxicity in working children in Lebanon. Neurotoxicology 2003;24: 733-9.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]
Saddik B, Williamson A, Nuwayhid I, Black D. The effects of solvent exposure on memory and motor dexterity in working children. Public Health Rep 2005;120: 657-63.[Web of Science][Medline]