Child Labour among Refugee Youth in Lebanon: A Way Forward

Abstract

Lebanon ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on 14 May 1991. Since this date, the country has shown its commitment towards bettering the situation of children within its territory, as well as the protection of their health and wellbeing. While this commitment is enshrined in a number of governmental initiatives, socio-economic disparities are increasingly evident amid the country’s ongoing political deadlock, escalating economic crisis and following the impacts of both COVID-19 and the 2020 Beirut blast. The unemployment rate in Lebanon reached 6.7% by the end of 2021 and is projected to double according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts’ expectations. Drivers of child labour at the national level are intersectional, complex and specific to the social, cultural, political and economic contexts in which the children in question reside. For refugees and host communities alike, lack of law enforcement, poverty and food insecurity remain consistent themes. Despite the fact that the percentages of children engaged in child labour did witness sporadic declines due to general nationwide quarantine/lockdown realities, refugee families living on the outskirts of poverty remain at risk of falling even further below the poverty line in the long-term. Most likely, this reality will lead to an increase in child labour (including the ‘worst forms’ of child labour) in the medium- to-long term.