On the World Day Against Child Labour, the Democracy and Workers’ Rights Center launches an urgent appeal to save the children of Gaza from bombings, hunger, and being forced to work in occupations and conditions incompatible with their age and well-being
On the World Day Against Child Labour, DWRC denounces Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children as one of the most comprehensive violations of children’s rights in modern times. Under the yoke of Israeli occupation and blockade, children have been transformed from students carrying books into laborers burdened with unbearable responsibilities. In the besieged destroyed Gaza Strip and the oppressed West Bank, work is not a “choice” but a sole means of survival for thousands of children.
Devastating figures indicate:
- An 80% increase in child labor since the escalation of the Israeli aggression, according to international reports.
- 39,000 orphans in Gaza, including 17,000 who have lost both parents, now act as providers for their families at ages not exceeding ten.
- 79.1% unemployment rate in Gaza, with the Palestinian economy collapsing by 33%, pushing families to send their children into the labor market.
- 111 public schools completely destroyed and 241 severely damaged and 89 schools belonging to UNRWA bombed and sabotaged in Gaza, depriving 700,000 students of education, while students in the West Bank face arrests and settler assaults at school gates.
Our teams in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have observed a sharp rise in the number of working children, a phenomenon that has become increasingly widespread following the destruction of numerous schools in Gaza and the closure of others in the West Bank due to ongoing Israeli raids on northern governorates such as Jenin and Tulkarem.
News agencies highlighted the situation of some of the affected children, such as Mohammed Al-Yazji (14 years old), who supports his six siblings, including an infant, after the killing of his mother and the loss of his father. He searches daily for food among the rubble. Meanwhile, Yahya Ashour (13 years old) sells coffee on the streets of Gaza City to support 16 family members. The situation is particularly dangerous in the Gaza Strip due constant bombings and shootings by the Israeli occupation army and the presence of unexploded ordnance and hazardous remnants in many areas, endangering civilian lives. Thus, we direct an urgent appeal to the United Nations and the international community:
· Take all necessary enforce an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and provide protection to the Palestinian people
· Hold the Israeli occupying Power accountable for its extremely grave violations of international humanitarian and human right law, including the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide through its systematic destruction of all the elements necessary for life in the Gaza Strip, use of starvation as a weapon of war and indiscriminate and deliberate targeting of civilians, creating unbearable conditions that force children into labor, including its worst forms.
· Lift the blockade on Gaza immediately and provide urgent support for rebuilding schools and the infrastructure, including economic establishments.
We also call on the Palestinian government and civil society to:
· Strengthen social protection networks for orphans and displaced families.
· Provide alternative educational solutions in besieged areas.
· Provide remedial programs for children forced into labor
Enough!
Children should not be forced to work under bombardment. They should not have to bear the responsibility of providing for themselves and their siblings, because their parents have been killed, are missing or are no longer able to work. Schools should not be routinely turned into rubble and child casualties become mere statistics. Palestinian children are entitled to a future, they deserve to be able to play, dream, learn and make plans for when they grow up like other children around the world.
No Comments yet!