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The Right of Children Laborers to Leisure-Time
What Do We Mean With Leisure Time?
Leisure time is a time in which a person is free from responsibilities. The poor are usually forced to work every minute in factories, workshops and farms. But the children laborers under five years old need a time of leisure for playing and enjoyment. They need time to discover themselves and the world around them. They need time to draw, read and practice their own hobbies. If they don’t do this, their childhood will pass away in exhaustion and boredom. Unfortunately, our children laborers are prevented from their right to enjoy leisure-time activities only because they have to toil all day.
What Is the Solution?
The first step is to legally restrict the working hours per day for children (a maximum of six hours for children over fifteen years, and a maximum of four hours for children under fifteen), with a weekly vacation for all children.
The second step is to provide children with safe and suitable places in which they can enjoy leisure-time activities, such as libraries, parks and clubs.
The governmental and non-governmental organizations should also coordinate their efforts to achieve such demands with the participation of rural population.
How To Carry Out These Suggestions?
The above demands are such indispensable for the welfare of our children that the Egyptian law emphasizes them in Chapter 7 of the Law on the Child No.12/1996. The law provides that “the government is responsible for satisfying the cultural needs of the child," and that “every village shall contain child libraries, cultural clubs, cinema, theatre, etc. The Egyptian law, thus, admits the children right to enjoy cultural activities and entertainment. We, therefore, should cooperate with all concerned people to enforce these laws in order to secure normal life for our children.