MADINAH — Some expatriate families here have taken advantage of the crackdown campaign on residency law violators by sending their children to do hard labor. Instead of going to school, children as old as eight were seen at the vegetable market pushing wheelbarrows, carrying people's stuff and in some cases selling vegetables, Al-Watan newspaper reported. According to Madinah Passport Directorate spokesman Lt. Col. Hisham Al-Radadi, these children's families know that passport officers will not treat a child the way they treat adults who violate residency laws. “They know these kids won't be arrested or deported,” he said. Dozens of store owners have called on authorities to deal with the rising number of child laborers. They said the children are often caught stealing from stores and said if authorities do not step in, more families will send their children to work in the market, in complete violation of the regulations. What do you think about child labor? An Al-Watan reporter met several customers roaming the market and asked them what they thought about child labor. While some agreed that sending children to work in the market helps prevent families from asking others for money or food, the majority agreed this was a blatant violation of child labor laws. Sharaf Al-Qarafi, supervisor of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR)'s Madinah office, said the Kingdom is a signatory to the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child and has a duty to end the practice. “Our inspectors work with other authorities on monitoring child labor cases. We take stern action against people who send children to work in streets because it's considered a form of child abuse. This deprives them of the right to education,” Al-Qarafi said. She blamed family disintegration, ignorance and poor economic conditions for child labor. Al-Qarafi said citing Article 32 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: “States recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.” She also quoted Article 162 of Saudi Labor Law, which stipulates that “a person who is below 15 years shall not be employed.” Human trafficking laws should help fight child labor because the laws hold the person who exploits a child and sends him to work accountable even if this person is a family member, Al-Qarafi said. Matar Al-Qarni, a social activist, lambasted parents who force their children to do strenuous physical jobs, calling upon the Ministry of Labor and all concerned authorities to raid places where children work.
