Children's Rights in the Middle East By: AJ Simo

India Afghanistan

Most families in the Middle East suffer from poverty. They suffer from poverty for 3 reasons; they have big families, a father dead, and little money. Houses there are usually made of mud and straw. The roads outside are made of mud. There is a stream of sewage running through the roads because there are no sewers.

There is usually one small bedroom in the house where about six people sleep! Some of the houses there are even bulldozed or knocked down during war. The roofs of the houses are made of cardboard and so are the windows.

There are 3 major religions in the Middle East; Hindu, Christianity, and Muslim. Hindu is the biggest religion in the Middle East 70% of people are Hindu. 18% are Muslim in the Middle East. The rest of the people in the Middle East are mostly Christian and a little bit other religions.

Child Labor in Afghanistan 30% of all children 5-14 in afghan are engaged in child labor. Child labor is a huge growing issue in Afghanistan. A 13 year old girl is smuggling heavy bags of flour across the border of Afghanistan. Boys do hard unpaid house work like; child care, cooking, cleaning, and fetching. For children in Afghanistan, it is a fight for survival and so many do not make it.

 Kids in India begin working at a very young age or if they don’t work they are street children.  They have to work very hard to keep their families alive because they all live in poverty.  India has the largest number of laborers under the age of 14 in the whole world.  The government has tried to control child labor but child labor continues to exist and grow.

Bonded Children Parents sell their kids into labor in the Middle East. Sometimes they are committed for a lifetime and have no hope for being free. The kids have to do hard work where they are sold to. They sleep at the factory on a cold hard floor. They worked for 8 hours with one break for a small meal. At the factories kids usually make Cigarettes and weave carpets.

 The government in India has 4 rules to try to control child labor. 1.That no child below the age of 14 is allowed to work. 2.Children are not abused and are not forced economic necessity work that they can’t do at their age or strength. 3. Children should be given opportunities to grow in a healthy way and in conditions of freedom. 4.They have to get educated for 14 years.

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