Some 600,000 children work in Morocco. This represents 11% of the Kingdom's 5.5 million children, according to a joint study carried out recently by the Moroccan Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) and the World Bank.
Many little girls work as housemaids instead of going to school.
In a seminar initiated, Tuesday, by the Ministry of Employment on "ways to better integrate the fight against child labour in social development", Employment Minister Mustapha Mansouri underscored the importance that Morocco's government places on eliminating child labour. He pointed out that since the signing of relevant international conventions, efforts have been made to raise school attendance, access to health services, and that amendments have been introduced in the Family, penal and civil procedures codes to benefit children.
The State Secretary in charge of Family, Children and the Disabled, Yasmina Baddou, highlighted the 2005-2015 action plan that her department had written to carry out the government's 2002 commitment made in New York, during the UN Special Session on Children.
Representatives of international bodies, mainly UNICEF, IPEC and the World Bank, praised Morocco's efforts to protect children against all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse.
For Maie Ayoub Von Kohl, a UNICEF representative, eliminating child labour can only be fruitful through integrated actions at the political, economic, legal and social levels.