This report is issue no. 35 of the economic and social rights series issued by LCHR. It reviews through its different parts, the definition of violence and exploitation committed against children. Moreover, it reviews children conditions in Egypt and the whole world highlighting the outcomes of the last conference of the United Nations Organization around conditions of children education; in addition, it examines the forms of violence and societal and governmental exploitation committed against children in Egypt.
The report presents an analysis for the perceptions of the different Egyptian newspapers (governmental – party - independent) regards rights and problems of children. The report comprises a case study for an accident that children in el Sharkeya province faced resulted in death and injury of 45 child labourers working in the agrarian sector.
The report asserts that violence against children is considered as a phenomenon appeared in the Egyptian community for which the state is responsible because of either absence of protection of child rights to care and security or the collude of the state’s employees represented in their silence about crimes committed against children. Moreover, the report doesn’t ignore the society responsibility that it calls all the governmental and nongovernmental foundations for solidarity to protect the future butterflies that are our present and future.
The initiative part “definition of violence and exploitation committed against children” mentions that violence means exploiting and harming children physically and psychologically or threatening and violating child rights to life, security, healthy bringing up, health, social and cultural care, education and stable and safe housing.
The part mentions that violence against children comprises negligence and inattention that children suffer from inside formal and informal shelters.
The first part “children conditions in the world” refers to the death of the two million children and the injury of the other six million children occurred because of the dangerous accidents throughout the wars since 1990 and till now. It highlights that there are 14 million children lose one of their parents or both of them with the virtue of AIDS infection.
The part states that there are 104 million children in the world deprived from education [another statistics estimates their number with 115 million while the UNECIF estimates them with more than 120 million children]. About 53% of those children are girls. The report mentions to the 150 million children in the developing countries that suffer from poverty and physical and psychological problems.
The report reveals the disparity between the two genders concerning education, of the poor people we will find the disparity percentages [12% boys – 17% girls] and the non-poor [3% boys – 5% girls] which mean that girls suffer from double danger (because of both gender and poverty).
About the number and percentage of girls deprived from education, they are either undeclared, inaccurate or declared in a non-specific way. Many countries especially poor ones suffer from serious educational problems represented in deficiency of schools and facilities that lead for more violations committed against the humanistic rights of children.
The second part “forms of violence and exploitation committed against children in Egypt” mentions to the forms of the formal violence committed against children represented in the physical offence and violation of humanistic rights of children directed by the governmental employees in police stations and social shelters of juvenals. Moreover, the report highlights the violence committed against handicapped children.
It also mentions to the forms of informal violence committed against child labourers working in the agrarian sector as deteriorated work conditions, using toxic pesticides and road accidents occurred through their coming and going to work. It reviews violence against children working in the industrial field (in quarries, marble crashers and cotton miles) in addition to violence committed against children in schools and inside the family.
The third part “an analysis for the press message published around violence and offence against children” analyse what are published in the Egyptian newspapers about cases and rights of children throughout March and April 2004. The report reveals that in March about 26 articles that are published as (reportage, investigation, promotional news, presentation, opinion article) with different percentage in newspapers as el Wafed was the most to publish about children rights with (30.7%) of the total of the published news during the recorded period, el Ahrar (15.3%), el Haya el Masreya and el Ahram (11.5), el Arabi and el Haqiqa (7.6%), el Seyasi el Masry, el Aamel el Masry, Akhbar el Youm and el Naba’a (3.8%).
The press coverage of children problems, about 66 articles are published in various newspapers with different percentage during April as follows; el Wafed was the most to publish about children rights with (37.8%) of the total of the published news during the recorded period, el Ahrar (15%), el Ahram (9%), el Gomhoreya and el Maydan (7.5%), Akhbar el Youm (4.5%), el Arabi, el Ahaly and el Haya el Masreya (3%) and el Khamees, Sout el Omma, el Seyasi el Masry, el Tagammo’a, el Osboo’a and el Haqiqa (1.5).
It is revealed that all articles concerned with cases of violence from and against children are issued in the accidents page, which asserts the inattention of the Egyptian press with the different dimensions of such cases and problems, in their harmful effects on the fouture of the country.
The forth part “case study for an accident through which 45 child labourers working in the agrarian sector died and injured”; it reveals the different social and economic conditions of the victims’ families in addition to the surrounding conditions of the village where children live. This part mentions that between the injured children there are 21 girls (12-16 years old) most of them got out of school from the primary stage and a few of them got out from the first year of prep school and the rest are not educated, while the rest of the injured or dead children were 18 boys, most of them were students in prep and secondary schools, and they work on Fridays only to help their families, and a few of them got out of school from the prep stage.
The report states that girls usually work for assisting their parents for affording the tuitions of their brothers. As when the family decides to cut down the tuition expenses, the girls are the first to be sacrificed. It means that rural girls suffer from more deteriorated conditions comparing with boys that girls are considered as burdens over the families in the countryside that pushes most of those families to get rid of such burdens through the first proposal for marriage. By the way, girls are considered as victims inside the countryside especially that this makes the poor girls face double violence. This part also shows the lost roles of the states’ foundations in handling the accidents’ effects on the victims’ rights.
The fifth part; final remarks and recommendations as:
-Improving and paving the roads that connect the deferent villages in the countryside, and putting them under supervision, and make periodical maintenance on them, especially the narrow roads that cars drive through both ways and the wooden bridges over the Nile.
-Providing hospitals and instant health units equipped with modern medical equipments in the rural areas, for the immediate action in case of accidents and considering the time essence, which causes extreme losses if neglected.
-Supply the village hospitals with the necessary machines and equipments to achieve more protection for the injured.
-Put cars and agrarian trailers in the villages under supervision and periodical check ups, and monitor the drivers, by seeing if they have the necessary license and papers for driving.
-Pay a sum that is no less than 20 thousand pounds for the families of the deceased children, and 10 thousand pounds for the families of the injured children, these sums are just temporarily given, directly after each accident, paid by the specialized state foundations, they can take it back from the work owners afterwards.
-Issue instructions to prosecutions and police stations to quicken the procedures of the compensation cases for the families of the victims, so that they could get their rights in a way with less negative effects.
-Expand the investigations and interrogations with all of those responsible for children accidents, starting with the work owner through the individual contractor and drivers, and make strict rules that protect working children in the agrarian sector from facing these accidents.
The center calls all governmental institutions, civil society associations and national and democratic forces for working towards the implementation of the reports’ recommendations in order to examine all of the children cases that contributes to stop violence and exploitation committed against children and create a better future for our children represented in living in safe and free home.