Egypt
26.06.02
Urgent Interventions
Egypt: death and injuries of farm labourers, including children
Case EGY 250602.CC/ESCR
Child Concern
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Concern
Death and injuries of farm labourers including children
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Egypt.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by a reliable source of the continuing exploitation of farm labourers, including children, in the agricultural sector in Egypt.
According to the information received, children as young as 12 are obliged to work because of the deteriorated social and economic conditions under which most of the former tenants, daily-wage labourers and small scale holders live. The farmowners use to pay the labourers’ contractor to bring children to carry out some agricultural operations such as harvesting, seeding and land cleaning for trivial wages. The statistics reveal that there is more than 1.5 million child labourers in the agricultural sector in Egypt. Children are usually collected along the roads and transported in the back boxes of huge lorries. They work in farms for long hours with neither contracts nor any legal guarantees. They also have to endure reckless drivers, who have no driving licenses leading to tragic accidents.
Indeed, these children are often working up to 12 hours a day, 6 days per week, and with only one meal per day. Their average salary is reported to amount, in general, to approximately 9 US dollars per day, on which the labourers’ contractors retain a commission of 6 US dollars. Exposure to pesticides, causing diarrhoea, vomiting, faintness or difficulty to breathe is frequent. Contact with pesticides can either be direct, i.e. children continue to work in the fields while pesticides are sprayed, or indirect, i.e. children are transferred to another location while the crops are sprinkled. While in that case child labourers return to work in the fields 24 to 48 hours after the operation, this period is reported to be insufficient to protect them against poisoning. It is also reported that sometimes children participate in the preparation of the operation, as well as in the spraying of the pesticides. In this regard, long-term exposure to pesticides can lead to disorder in the nervous system, in the genital system or in the endocrine glands, to convulsions, or even to death.
The same source of information also reported the deaths of 21 farm labourers and injury of another 68 on 16 June 2002, due to a crash accident in El-Behira province. According to the information received, the two lorries crashed on the 71 kilometre on Cairo-Alexandria runway. One of these lorries was crowded with more than 70 farm labourers, most of them children, less than 18 years old, who were returning from their work “harvesting apricots” in El-Fayom province. The accident led to the deaths of 19 children and injury of another 48, most of them being from Manshia Safer, Elfark Elbahery and Attlasa villages in El-Fayom province. At the same time, in Kom Saadon village, another lorry crowded with a huge number of child labourers aged between 12 to 18 years old allegedly crashed, leading to the deaths of 2 girls and to the injury of 19others. The children were used to work in vegetable farms.
According to the information received, this type of accidents is common and tends to increase during harvesting seasons (May to October) when children are transported to the farms that are hundreds of kilometers away from their houses. Accordingly, in 2001, more than 27 children died and 40 were injured in Damita village, Gharbia province, Mohamed Afandi village, El-Fayom province, Alkam village, Monofia province and Bees village in El-Behira province due to road accidents.
Despite the repeated occurrence of these accident, the government does nothing but present trivial amounts of money to victims’ families and charge the drivers for their rushed speed and lack of driving license. On the other hand, the farmowners have no legal responsibility towards these children whom they employ and these children are not covered by any social or health insurance.
OMCT recalls that Egypt adopted the Child Law No. 12 in 1996, which, in article 64, prohibits the employment of children below the age of fourteen, but allows children between twelve and fourteen to receive vocational training from employers and to take part in seasonal agricultural work, provided that the work "is not hazardous to their health and growth, and does not interfere with their studies". Article 66 further limits the work day to six hours, only four of which may be consecutive, with one or more breaks totalling no less than one hour per day.
The international secretariat of OMCT is extremely concerned about the situation of farm labourers and especially that of children, and recalls that Egypt is party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and therefore bound to the compliance to article 32 which states that “States Parties 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”. Furthermore, article 39 calls upon States Parties to “take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of a child victim of: any form of neglect, exploitation, or abuse; torture or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. In addition, article 10 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recalls that “children and young persons should be protected from economic and social exploitation”.
In May 2000, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in its concluding observations to Egypt, expressed its deep concern about the fact that children under 12 work more than 6 hours daily in the agricultural sector. In this respect, it urged the government to “take steps towards establishing stronger labour laws in order to protect children from abusive working conditions and to undertake immediate measures towards the eradication of illegal child labour”.
Similarly, in February 2001, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its concluding observations to Egypt, expressed its concern about the conditions of child labourers in Egypt, and especially those employed in the agricultural sector. It especially called on the government “to ensure that the minimum age for admission to employment is enforced. (…) The labour inspectorate should be strengthened to ensure effective monitoring and implementation of child labour standards in the private sector, family enterprises, agricultural activities and domestic labour (…)”.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Egypt urging them to:
i. put an immediate end to the illegal recruitment of farm labourers and especially children below the age of admission to employment according to national and international legislation;
ii. guarantee respect for the economic, social and cultural rights of Egyptian children and notably 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, the right to education, to physical and mental health and to an adequate standard of living;
iii. guarantee an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the deaths and injuries in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iv. guarantee adequate reparation to the families of the death victims and also physical and psychological recovery to the injured persons;
v. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards, and in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Addresses
· H.E. President Mohammad Hosni Mubarak, Abedine Palace, Cairo, Egypt, Email : Webmaster@presidency.gov.eg
· H.E. Faruq Sayf al-Nasr, Minister of Justice, Ministry of Justice, Midan Lazoghly, Cairo, Egypt, Fax: +202 795 8103, E-mail: mojeb@idsc.gov.eg
· H.E. General Habib Ibrahim El Adly, Minister of the Interior, Al – Sheik Rihan Street, Bab al-Louk, Cairo, Egypt, Fax: + 202 579 2031, e-mail: moi@idsc.gov.eg.
Please also write to the embassies of Egypt in your respective country.
Geneva, 25 June 2002
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
Child Concern
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Concern
Death and injuries of farm labourers including children
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Egypt.
Brief description of the situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by a reliable source of the continuing exploitation of farm labourers, including children, in the agricultural sector in Egypt.
According to the information received, children as young as 12 are obliged to work because of the deteriorated social and economic conditions under which most of the former tenants, daily-wage labourers and small scale holders live. The farmowners use to pay the labourers’ contractor to bring children to carry out some agricultural operations such as harvesting, seeding and land cleaning for trivial wages. The statistics reveal that there is more than 1.5 million child labourers in the agricultural sector in Egypt. Children are usually collected along the roads and transported in the back boxes of huge lorries. They work in farms for long hours with neither contracts nor any legal guarantees. They also have to endure reckless drivers, who have no driving licenses leading to tragic accidents.
Indeed, these children are often working up to 12 hours a day, 6 days per week, and with only one meal per day. Their average salary is reported to amount, in general, to approximately 9 US dollars per day, on which the labourers’ contractors retain a commission of 6 US dollars. Exposure to pesticides, causing diarrhoea, vomiting, faintness or difficulty to breathe is frequent. Contact with pesticides can either be direct, i.e. children continue to work in the fields while pesticides are sprayed, or indirect, i.e. children are transferred to another location while the crops are sprinkled. While in that case child labourers return to work in the fields 24 to 48 hours after the operation, this period is reported to be insufficient to protect them against poisoning. It is also reported that sometimes children participate in the preparation of the operation, as well as in the spraying of the pesticides. In this regard, long-term exposure to pesticides can lead to disorder in the nervous system, in the genital system or in the endocrine glands, to convulsions, or even to death.
The same source of information also reported the deaths of 21 farm labourers and injury of another 68 on 16 June 2002, due to a crash accident in El-Behira province. According to the information received, the two lorries crashed on the 71 kilometre on Cairo-Alexandria runway. One of these lorries was crowded with more than 70 farm labourers, most of them children, less than 18 years old, who were returning from their work “harvesting apricots” in El-Fayom province. The accident led to the deaths of 19 children and injury of another 48, most of them being from Manshia Safer, Elfark Elbahery and Attlasa villages in El-Fayom province. At the same time, in Kom Saadon village, another lorry crowded with a huge number of child labourers aged between 12 to 18 years old allegedly crashed, leading to the deaths of 2 girls and to the injury of 19others. The children were used to work in vegetable farms.
According to the information received, this type of accidents is common and tends to increase during harvesting seasons (May to October) when children are transported to the farms that are hundreds of kilometers away from their houses. Accordingly, in 2001, more than 27 children died and 40 were injured in Damita village, Gharbia province, Mohamed Afandi village, El-Fayom province, Alkam village, Monofia province and Bees village in El-Behira province due to road accidents.
Despite the repeated occurrence of these accident, the government does nothing but present trivial amounts of money to victims’ families and charge the drivers for their rushed speed and lack of driving license. On the other hand, the farmowners have no legal responsibility towards these children whom they employ and these children are not covered by any social or health insurance.
OMCT recalls that Egypt adopted the Child Law No. 12 in 1996, which, in article 64, prohibits the employment of children below the age of fourteen, but allows children between twelve and fourteen to receive vocational training from employers and to take part in seasonal agricultural work, provided that the work "is not hazardous to their health and growth, and does not interfere with their studies". Article 66 further limits the work day to six hours, only four of which may be consecutive, with one or more breaks totalling no less than one hour per day.
The international secretariat of OMCT is extremely concerned about the situation of farm labourers and especially that of children, and recalls that Egypt is party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and therefore bound to the compliance to article 32 which states that “States Parties 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”. Furthermore, article 39 calls upon States Parties to “take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of a child victim of: any form of neglect, exploitation, or abuse; torture or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. In addition, article 10 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recalls that “children and young persons should be protected from economic and social exploitation”.
In May 2000, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in its concluding observations to Egypt, expressed its deep concern about the fact that children under 12 work more than 6 hours daily in the agricultural sector. In this respect, it urged the government to “take steps towards establishing stronger labour laws in order to protect children from abusive working conditions and to undertake immediate measures towards the eradication of illegal child labour”.
Similarly, in February 2001, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its concluding observations to Egypt, expressed its concern about the conditions of child labourers in Egypt, and especially those employed in the agricultural sector. It especially called on the government “to ensure that the minimum age for admission to employment is enforced. (…) The labour inspectorate should be strengthened to ensure effective monitoring and implementation of child labour standards in the private sector, family enterprises, agricultural activities and domestic labour (…)”.
Action requested
Please write to the authorities in Egypt urging them to:
i. put an immediate end to the illegal recruitment of farm labourers and especially children below the age of admission to employment according to national and international legislation;
ii. guarantee respect for the economic, social and cultural rights of Egyptian children and notably 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, the right to education, to physical and mental health and to an adequate standard of living;
iii. guarantee an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the deaths and injuries in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iv. guarantee adequate reparation to the families of the death victims and also physical and psychological recovery to the injured persons;
v. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards, and in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Addresses
· H.E. President Mohammad Hosni Mubarak, Abedine Palace, Cairo, Egypt, Email : Webmaster@presidency.gov.eg
· H.E. Faruq Sayf al-Nasr, Minister of Justice, Ministry of Justice, Midan Lazoghly, Cairo, Egypt, Fax: +202 795 8103, E-mail: mojeb@idsc.gov.eg
· H.E. General Habib Ibrahim El Adly, Minister of the Interior, Al – Sheik Rihan Street, Bab al-Louk, Cairo, Egypt, Fax: + 202 579 2031, e-mail: moi@idsc.gov.eg.
Please also write to the embassies of Egypt in your respective country.
Geneva, 25 June 2002
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.