Kurdistan Save the Children (KSC) documented 1,247 children between the ages of two and 14 years working in the streets of the Kurdistan Region’s cities.
The documentation of these children was done by KSC “through a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in collaboration with the Committee for Monitoring and Protection of Working Children,” according to KSC administrative board member Numan Abdulrahman.
Abdulrahman said there are more children working on the streets who have not been recorded.
Child labor is a widespread phenomenon in the Kurdistan Region. Children can be seen in the markets, bakeries, and at traffic lights doing odd jobs or selling items in exchange for small amounts of money.
Abdulrahman said their team collecting the data spoke with each child and warned their parents about the dangers of putting their young children to work.
According to KSC data, Sulaimani province had the highest number of working children with 443, followed by 414 in Duhok, and 390 in the capital Erbil.
June 1 is celebrated as International Children’s Day in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. The day was first proclaimed in 1925 during the World Conference on Child Welfare.
Soran Hussein contributed to this report
