A panel discussion on the World Day Against Child Labor was organized by the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action on June 12, 2020, with panelists from other organizations and institutions such as Save the Children in Lebanon, the United States Department of Labor (USDOL), World Vision, War Child UK, Columbia University and Plan International. The main subject of this panel discussion was “Child Labor in the context of COVID-19 pandemic”. Many experts and practitioners on prevention of child labor discussed the issue. The report below outlines the major highlights and the key take-home points from the webinar.
An Overview of Child Labor in Lebanon
The moderator of this panel was Audrey Bollier who is the Coordinator of the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action. She welcomed participants and gave opening remarks, along with an overview of the webinar’s agenda.
According to Monica Martinez, Child Protection Technical Advisor from Save the Children Lebanon, apart from a devastating economic crisis and political instability, COVID-19 increases the vulnerability of children engaged in harmful work in Lebanon. This is particularly so for those who come from Palestine and Syria. The organization acted against child labor with the implementation of the case management program that provides cash support to such children, their parents, and siblings. But, due to COVID-19 pandemic Save the Children faced two important challenges. First, the economic pressure caused by lockdown and government restrictions increased the number of vulnerable children and families, and the beneficiaries of the programs, particularly the children, were going back to the streets.
Monica said that the team continued to work physically and remotely with the beneficiaries. Livelihood activities have been temporarily substituted by Multi Proposed Assistance Cash which is more adapted to cover emergency basic needs and lack of job market opportunities. She listed ‘happy kid’ kits, food parcel kits, and infection and protection control kits as emergency basic needs.
Child Labor Policy of the USA
Kathryn Chinnock, Senior International Relations Officer in the US Department of Labor, introduced her presentation with a focus on the work that is being done by the government of the United States of America. She pointed out the importance of approaching the problem of child labor with increased urgency and new ideas because the global crisis (COVID-19) has changed the way we should look at the world.
The intervention of the US Department of Labor has operationalized around three axes, which are research and reporting; engagement with governments, business, workers’ organizations; and technical assistance. The US official highlighted two applications (Sweet & Toil and Comply Chain) which are innovative tools that help to build the capacity of governments and civil society organizations to end child labor and forced labor. Kathryn elaborated thus: “The pandemic is affecting everyone but vulnerable communities around the world are at greater risk of exploitation and abuse…. the loss of jobs and household food insecurity and family illness may lead children to work to help families in meeting basic needs; schools’ closures are also leaving more children in the home, and families desperate for income are likely to put their children to work. Increased domestic violence during the crisis may cause children to run away from home, increasing their vulnerability to exploitation particularly in the commercial sex industry.”
She concluded her presentation with an example of adaptations to the crisis on an already existing project supported by the US Department of Labor in Paraguay. In response to the pandemic, the Paraguay Okakuaa project has launched a communications campaign on COVID-19. Information on COVID-19 symptoms and government assistance programs available to workers impacted by the crisis are disseminated on radio public service. Because the number of vulnerable children to exploitation is increased during the current crisis, the Paraguay Okakuaa project is also educating the Inspectors of the Paraguay Ministry of Labor to have a good mastery of tools that are needed to address child labor.
A Consortium Project Against Child Exploitation
The Partnership Against Child Exploitation (PACE) project is carried out in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia by World Vision, World Child UK, Columbia University, and other stakeholders. The third speaker on this panel was Christine Barrett, Program Manager for World Vision UK. In her speech, she discussed the four levels of adaptations made by World Vision in response to the COVID-19.
First, as immediate actions, World Vision UK made sure the staff was safe from contracting COVID-19 and applied to DO NO HARM principles as foremost in the communities it worked with. Secondly, as short-term actions, WV UK incorporated dispersing hygiene kits at the start of planned community sessions in the Central African Republic. Thirdly, as medium-term adaptations, WV UK added COVID-19 aspects to Labor Markets Assessment report which was at that time in the draft to inform the stakeholders, and fourth, the British organization lifted restrictions on some activities which have been stopped in lieu of the pandemic.
Nandor Gergerly, the Programme Operations Coordinator at War Child UK, explained the adaptations that are being made to PACE programmes in the Central Africa Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in response to COVID-19. In CAR, the War Child UK trained community-based organizations, increased awareness of child protection risks, and put in place new networks around mining sites after the high number of cases were reported. In DRC, the organization changed its approaches and proposed a revision: door-to-door awareness raising has been substituted by mass gatherings, which were too costly.
Cecile Fanton, a Researcher from Columbia University introduced the research conducted to see the impact of COVID-19 on child labor in the mentioned PACE project areas, along with a practical example of adaptions. The findings of her work (in Ethiopia) demonstrate that the children were massively engaged in agriculture, the drop in the price of minerals increased child labor, and girls were more involved in household chores.
The second to last speaker of the panel was Sylvia Onate, Child Protection Specialist in Emergency at the Plan International. In her initial remarks, she discussed the Technical Note Annex on Child Labor and COVID-19. The guidance is structured in two main points: Child labor in the context of COVID-19 (children at risk of child labor and children already engaged in child labor), and actions to preventing and responding to child labor during COVID-19 (working with other sectors, child protection in others specific actions and working with governments).
Child Labour in Emergency Toolkit
The last speaker of this panel was Alyson Eynon, Child Protection and Humanitarian Consultant at the Child Labor Task Force. After a discussion about child labor emergency toolkit, she mentioned the revision process of the toolkit. According to her, the Taskforce conducted 28 new interviews and elaborated about 11 new tools for making significant changes such as stronger prevention lens, actions for frontline workers tools, case management, and differentiated responses for different risks, etc.
Below are some of the key take-home points from this panel discussion:
- Many organizations working to end child labor have adapted their traditional interventions to provide emergency assistance to beneficiaries in the COVID-19 scenario.
- All actors such as Save the Children in Lebanon, the United States Department of Labor (USDOL), World Vision, War Child UK, and othersmust work together if they want to eliminate child labor.
Jean Edwidge Petit-frère is currently finishing a master’s degree in International Migrations with a focus on actors and institutions of migration, reception, and international solidarity in France. He is the Head of Research at The HAITI Migration group, an organization whose mission is to contribute to better migration policy development in Haiti.