World No Child Labor Day: Different Childhood in Iraqi Children

Xinhua News Agency, Baghdad, June 12 (Reporter Zhang Shuhui, Liang Youchang) June 12 is World No Child Labor Day. Children, this should be spoiled in the arms of their parents; children, supposed to carry school bags to go to school; children, should have enjoyed playing in the sun ...

But in some parts of the world, many children, because of war and poverty, can not enjoy the happy life that their peers should have. They are forced to become child laborers and face the hardships of life with innocent bodies. In Iraq, where war and violence have been staged, many children have to go to work for their livelihood.

Local time on the 10th, the Iraqi capital Baghdad usher in a sandstorm. Early morning, 13-year-old Hassan opened the house early, into the gray sand. Instead of carrying school bags like other peers, he went to school instead of going to work on time. He has lived this way for the past two years.

Hassan and his family live in a shabby house in the Old City of Baghdad. Know that a reporter to interview, Hassan deliberately put on a red shirt, clothes, though worn, but still his favorite clothes. Hassan approaching adolescence also know to wear more beautiful, and the hair combed neatly, but the mature hair still can not hide Hassan childlike.

Hassan is now an apprentice in a small furniture factory, earning 10,000 Iraqi dinars a day (about $ 8). Although he also wanted to go to school very much, his mother died of illness a few years ago, his father and brother could only work odd jobs, and young brothers and sisters at home, so he had to drop out of school to become an apprentice in this furniture factory.

"I left school after I was in fifth grade and my father and brothers did not have enough income so I could only work out." In the interview, Hassan repeatedly stressed that "going to work is the only way to support your family ".

Hassan, a two-year apprentice, has been able to master most of the operations in this rudimentary furniture factory. Thin, he used as dangerous adult nail machines and cutting machines. Due to the perennial work, dirty hand rough rough. Always with him, is another Usham, a ten-year-old apprentice. Two children, busy in dusty and dangerous workshops.

Child is a child, talking about football, Hassan's face with a smile at once, talk endlessly. Playing with children living around the house, Hassan most looking forward to. But what often disappoints him is that he missed a lot of play time because he needed work.

In the perennial war-torn Iraq, there are not many children who have dropped out of work such as Hassan's work to support their families. Walking in the streets and markets of Baghdad, odd-looking children can be seen everywhere. In one of the landmarks of Liberation Square, there are often 2322 children selling chewing gum or calling cards. Under the hot sun, these seemingly only seven or eight-year-old children are tanned like a flower. In some markets, some children, like adults, are rushing to carry goods for guests who purchase bulk goods.

According to figures released by UNICEF earlier, at least 11% of Iraqi children under the age of 14 have become child laborers. In addition to the main reason for poverty, many children work because fathers or other families have died in a terrorist attack and their families have lost their source of income.

In addition to their bitter life and loss of happy childhood, these child laborers mostly work in dangerous and harsh environments, and many suffer from various kinds of sexual assaults, including sexual abuse.

Even more noteworthy is that as young children are not easily screened by police and checkpoints, they are tricked by terrorists and help terrorists carry explosives and bombs to secure areas such as downtown Baghdad. Some children are even recruited by terrorists and trained to become human bombs. A reporter's friend once saw a 10-year-old boy in Baghdad with a simple bomb mounted under a car.

Ten years have passed since the Iraq war, but the country is still facing turmoil and conflict. The road to reconstruction is far from being on track. Who will protect Iraqi children's future? This is a problem that needs attention.

Author: Zhang Shuhui Liangyou Chang