Amman, June 11 (Petra) – The National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA) reaffirmed Jordan’s early commitment to eradicating child labour and promoting inclusive education, emphasizing that ensuring every child is in school is key to building a more advanced society.

Marking the World Day Against Child Labour on Wednesday, the NCFA's Secretary-General, Mohammad Miqdadi, said Jordan was among the first countries to ratify international conventions related to child labour, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and ILO Conventions No. 138 and 182. He noted that Jordanian legislation, particularly the Labour Law, aligns with these conventions, prohibiting employment of children under 16 and barring those under 18 from hazardous work.

Miqdadi cited key legislative milestones, such as the 2014 Juvenile Law, which identified working children as a group in need of protection, as well as regulations on child labour in agriculture, inspection guidelines introduced in 2021, and amendments to the anti-human trafficking law that toughened penalties for the organized exploitation of children in begging.

The NCFA, in collaboration with the National Task Force to Reduce Child Labour, is organizing awareness campaigns across Jordan under the slogan: "A child learning a progressing Jordan," aiming to expand community awareness and action to curb the phenomenon.

Since its founding in 2001, the Council has prioritized child labour in national child welfare planning, launching the first national framework on child labour in 2011 and updating it in 2020. The framework adopts a case management approach in partnership with relevant institutions and includes procedural manuals for training frontline staff.

In 2022, internal guidelines were developed for the Ministry of Social Development and the Family and Juvenile Protection Department to ensure coordinated responses to cases of child labour and begging.

The Council has also drafted the National Strategy to Reduce Child Labour (2022–2030), a guiding document that outlines the responsibilities of relevant entities and focuses on prevention, protection, and family empowerment. The Council oversees monitoring and evaluation of the strategy’s action plan and issues regular reports tracking progress and identifying challenges.

Miqdadi stressed the need for a new national survey on child labour to reflect recent socioeconomic changes in Jordan, noting that the last such survey was conducted in 2016. He said updated data is essential for understanding the scale and distribution of child labour and for designing more responsive national policies.

In 2022, the NCFA established the National Task Force to Reduce Child Labour, comprising representatives from ministries, civil society, and international partners, to support the strategy’s implementation, build advocacy, and integrate child labour issues across national policies.

//Petra// AF

11/06/2025 21:27:05