In 1998, the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that 10 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 14 in Egypt were working.⁵⁵⁴ According to a 1988 national survey conducted by Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), approximately 1.47 million children between the ages of 6 and 14 worked.⁵⁵⁵ Other sources suggest that the number of working children in Egypt reached 1.5 million in 1999, making up 9 percent of the country’s total labor force.⁵⁵⁶ According to one study, nearly 65 percent of poor families in Egypt send at least one child to work.⁵⁵⁷

Government studies reveal that the concentration of working children is higher in rural than in urban areas.⁵⁵⁸ Nationally, the greatest number of working children is in agriculture, and younger children are more likely to work in agricultural areas.⁵⁵⁹ According to a report released by Human Rights Watch in 2001, over one million children between the ages of 7 and 12 are hired each year to work in agricultural cooperatives. Employed to work on pest management, these children manually remove and destroy leaves infected by cotton leaf worms.⁵⁶⁰ They do seasonal work for 11 hours per day, seven days a week, far above the number of hours permitted under Egypt’s Child Law. The children are exposed to heat and pesticides and suffer beatings from foremen who supervise their work.⁵⁶¹

While the number of working children is nearly equally divided between boys and girls in rural areas, boys account for approximately 70 percent of working children in urban areas.⁵⁶² According to a survey in urban Cairo, most girls work in clothing or textile manufacturing, while most boys work as mechanics or in the retail or service sector jobs.⁵⁶³

In Egypt’s formal economy, children work in the carpet, leather tanning, and textile industries.⁵⁶⁴ Children from economically disadvantaged families often work as apprentices, for example, as apprentices in auto repair and craft shops, in heavier industries such as construction, and in brick making and textile production.⁵⁶⁵ Children also work in hide tanneries, where they are involved in unskilled manual activities, such as cleaning hides, preparing materials, and packaging.⁵⁶⁶

In the informal economy, children commonly work as unpaid labor in family or cottage industries such as carpet weaving. Carpet making is a traditional craft in Egypt, and girls between 10 and 14 years of age often learn to make knots and follow patterns at home from older family members.⁵⁶⁷ Some child weavers attend school for half a day while others do not attend school at all.⁵⁶⁸

Many children, especially daughters from poor families, work as domestic servants in the homes of wealthy families.⁵⁶⁹ Local culture supports this role for girls.⁵⁷⁰ Girls working in domestic service are often deprived of an education, and many suffer physical and sexual abuse within the homes where they work.⁵⁷¹ In urban areas, street children sell items or resort to begging to meet their basic needs and are frequently controlled by gang leaders.⁵⁷³

Between 1995 and 1996, the primary gross attendance rate was 94.9 percent, and the primary net attendance rate was 83.3 percent. 573 In 1996, the primary gross enrollment rate was 100.5 percent, and the primary net enrollment rate was 9 4.9 percent.⁵⁷⁴

Based on findings from a 1994 study, as much as 37 percent of Egyptian children do not complete basic education.⁵⁷⁵ Poverty is the main reason cited for children dropping out of school prematurely, with poor families preferring the money children can earn at work to the benefits of schooling.⁵⁷⁶ In the case of girls, cultural and social traditions can also be a significant factor, with families choosing to keep them at home and out of school.⁵⁷⁷

Egypt’s Labor Law No. 137 prohibits children 12 years old or younger from working under any conditions.⁵⁷⁸ The Labor Law also states that all working children must have a health fitness certificate and an annual health examination, and special health insurance is compulsory for all child workers over the age of 12.⁵⁷⁹

Ministerial Decree No. 12 limits the employment of children under the age of 15 in 11 specified sectors.⁵⁸⁰ A governor has the authority to waive this decree, which occurs frequently in the case of seasonal work. Under the waiver, children between the ages of 12 and 14 must secure permission from the Ministry of Education to work under certain, predefined conditions.⁵⁸¹

Egypt’s Child Law of 1996 raised the minimum work age from 12 to 14, but allowed for provincial governors, with the consent of the Ministry of Education, to allow children between the ages of 12 and 14 to be employed in seasonal agricultural work that is not hazardous and does not interfere with their education.⁵⁸² Children in the 12 to 14 age group may also participate in vocational training provided by employers.⁵⁸³ Article 66 of the law prohibits children from working over six hours a day or more than four consecutive hours. Children are required to take one or more breaks totaling at least one hour during a work shift and may not work overtime or at night (between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m.).⁵⁸⁴ Articles 67–69 require employers to issue each child employee (aged 15 or younger) an identification card that has a Ministry of Manpower and Migration (MOMM) stamp, and to display the child’s name on a board in the workplace.⁵⁸⁵

In April 2001, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Affairs issued Ministerial Decree No. 1454, making it illegal to employ children below the age of 14 in agriculture, as specified by the Child Labor Law No. 12.⁵⁸⁶

The Child Law No. 12 of 1996 recognizes all children under the age of 18 as juveniles.⁵⁸⁷ Employers are prohibited from hiring a juvenile without first obtaining a medical certificate guaranteeing that he or she is physically capable of work and free from any diseases.⁵⁸⁸ MOMM Decree 14 modified the Child Law to require that a juvenile’s wages be paid only to the juvenile.⁵⁸⁹

In 1997, Egypt’s MOMM issued two decrees restricting the employment of children in hazardous work. According to these decrees, children under the age of 15 are prohibited from work involving furnaces or ovens in bakeries, freezing and refrigeration units, fertilizers, acids, or chemicals; work in cement factories, petroleum and distillation labs, or pressurized gas industries; cotton bailing; work involving bleaching, dyeing, and textile printing; or jobs requiring heavy lifting. Children under the age of 17 are prohibited from employment in a number of areas, including mining, smelting of metals, working with explosives, welding, tanneries, fertilizer industries, or butchering of animals.⁵⁹⁰

According to the Penal Code, prostitution and sex tourism are prohibited in Egypt. Penalties are more severe for child prostitution or child pornography involving children under the age of 16.⁵⁹¹

The MOMM is responsible for labor inspections, and maintains approximately 2,000 inspectors who are charged with investigating safety, health, and age violations. Inspectors work out of 450 different MOMM offices in Egypt’s 26 governorates.⁵⁹² In 2000, the MOMM issued Decree No. 117 which established a specialized Child Labor Unit within the labor inspection department. The MOMM is currently working with the International Labor Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) and the Arab Labor Organization to train and educate inspectors in the Unit.⁵⁹³

Local trade unions have reported that the MOMM adequately enforces child labor laws in state-owned enterprises, but there has been much criticism that the MOMM has not enforced the restrictions of the 1996 Child Law in the informal sector. Article 74 of the Child Law calls for the owners of establishments where working children are found to pay a fine of between US$27 and US$133 per illegal child worker. Fines are doubled in the case of repeat offenders.⁵⁹⁴ In addition, governors at the provincial level have the power to rescind the license of a workshop that hires children under the age of 14. Finally, parents and employers can be fined from US$59 to $147 for forcing their children to work and not allowing them to go to school, or they can be sent to prison for up to one month.⁵⁹⁵ In 1999, two cases of illegal child labor were reported.⁵⁹⁶

Egypt ratified ILO Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age for Employment on June 9, 1999, and ratified ILO Convention No. 182 on May 6, 2002.⁵⁹⁷

4. Addressing Child Labor and Promoting Schooling

In 1988, Presidential Decree No. 54 created the National Council for Children and Motherhood. The Council’s principal responsibility is to formulate a national plan for the protection of mothers and children, focusing in particular on the areas of social welfare, health, education and social protection. The Council includes active participation by the Ministers of Social Affairs, Health, Culture, Education, Manpower and Vocational Training, Planning, Information, the chairman of the High Council for Youth and Sports, and the First Lady.⁵⁹⁸

Various initiatives have targeted child welfare and child labor in Egypt. UNICEF has been working in urban slums and other impoverished regions of rural Egypt supporting micro- credit schemes since 1993. It makes small loans to women under the condition that they ensure that their children attend classes.⁵⁹⁹ Other efforts have targeted specific sectors. USAID, for example, is working with the Alexandria Cotton Exporters Association to develop a logo that publicizes a child-free certification.⁶⁰⁰ In addition, the ILO in Cairo is currently implementing a rapid assessment survey that will provide updated estimates on the number of working children in Egypt.⁶⁰¹

Egypt’s Constitution mandates that education should be free for all children.⁶⁰² The Education Law No. 139 (1981) calls for compulsory primary education through eighth grade and requires children to attend school until they reach the age of 15.⁶⁰³

In February 1996, the Ministry of Education established the Mubarak Program for Social Cooperation to offset school fees and indirect costs of schooling. School grants are provided through the Ministry of Social Affairs to school children whose families earn less than 100 Egyptian pounds (US$29.41) per month. During 1996-1997, about 169,000 children received grants, either in-kind or cash, to cover the costs of school uniforms, books, supplies, and school fees. The average annual grant per child was equal to US$4.17.⁶⁰⁴

The Ministry of Education has been encouraging working children and school dropouts in rural areas to attend school by increasing the number of one-classroom schools being built.⁶⁰⁵ In the last five years, nearly 8,500 new schools have been built in poor rural communities under this program.⁶⁰⁶ The location of these new school buildings are within walking distance of many of the community homes, and an increase in the number of female teachers adds incentive for girls to continue their schooling. In addition, the Egyptian Ministry of Education provides a meal to children during the school day as an additional incentive to attend classes.⁶⁰⁷

UNICEF is building Community Schools in Egypt and over 300 are already in operation. In some communities in the north where the program is operating, girls’ enrollment has increased from 30 percent to 70 percent. Attendance rates have remained consistently high (between 95 and 100 percent), and students have performed well on national exams.⁶⁰⁸

Spending by the Government of Egypt on education ranged from between 4.4 and 4.8 percent of gross national product (GNP) from 1991 to 1995.⁶⁰⁹ According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s Statistical Yearbook for 1997 , the government dedicated 15 percent of its total expenditures to education (1990 to 1997) and the largest percentage of education spending to primary education (67 percent from 1993 to 1997).⁶¹⁰

The following bar chart presents selected government expenditures expressed as a percentage of GNP. The chart considers government expenditures on education, the military, health care, and debt service. Where figures are available, the portion of government spending on education that is specifically dedicated to primary education is also shown.⁶¹¹

While it is difficult to draw conclusions or discern clear correlations between areas of government expenditure as a percentage of GNP and the incidence of child labor in a country, this chart and the related tables presented in Appendix B (Tables 14 through 19) offer the reader a basis for considering the relative emphasis placed on each spending area by the governments in each of the 33 countries profiled in the report.

⁵⁵⁴ World Development Indicators 2000 .

⁵⁵⁵ The total population in 1988 was estimated to be 48.3 million. The latest census in Egypt (1996) found the population to be 61.4 million. Consecutive CAPMAS studies indicate that between 1979 and 1988, there was an increasing trend in the employment of 6- to 12-year-olds. CAPMAS. Labor Force Sample Survey (LFSS). Cairo: The Central Agency for Public Mobilizationa nd Statistics (CAPMAS), 1988, as cited in Philip L. Graitcer and Leonard B. Lerer, The Impact of Child Labor on Health: Report of a Field Investigation in Egypt , July 2000, 33 [hereinafter The Impact of Child Labor on Health ]. A UNICEF-funded survey published in 1992 found that 20 percent of all Egyptian children between the ages of 6 and 14 work. F., Nassar, Economic Aspects of Children’s Vulnerability in Egypt (Cairo: UNICEF, 1995), as cited in The Impact of Child Labor on Health at 33.

⁵⁵⁶ Al-Wafd (Egypt), issue no. 3807, 1999, as quoted in Land Center for Human Rights, Series of Reports on the Economic and Social Rights, no. 13, March 2000; Children-Labors of the Stone Crashers in Egypt at 5. Estimates from some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also indicate that up to 1.5 million children are working throughout the country. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2000 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 2000), Section 6d, 20 [hereinafter Country Reports 2000—Egypt ].

⁵⁵⁷ Nadia Ramsis Farah, Child Labour in Egypt within the Context of the CRC (Cairo: Center for Development Studies, UNICEF, June 1997), 29 [hereinafter Child Labour in Egypt within the Context of the CRC ], as cited in By the Sweat and Toil of Children, vol. 5, at 42.

⁵⁵⁸ Country Reports 2000—Egypt at Section 6d.

⁵⁵⁹ The CAPMAS surveys indicate that among rural working children, 41.9 percent are 6 to 11 years old and 58.1 percent are between the ages of 12 and 14. In urban areas, however, only 32.8 percent are in the 6-11 age group, and 67.2 percent are 12-14 years old. See The Impact of Child Labor on Health at 34.

⁵⁶⁰ According to an agricultural engineer assigned to a cooperative, children are hired because they are cheaper, more obedient, and are the appropriate height for inspecting cotton plants. Human Rights Watch. Underage and Unprotected: Child Labor in Egypt’s Cotton Fields . Vol. 13, No. 1 (E) (New York: Human Rights Watch, January 2001), 10-12 [hereinafter Underage and Unprotected ]. In November of 1999, the Ministry of Social Affairs reported that 1 million children worked in this sector. Country Reports 2000—Egypt at Section 6d. See also Anthony Shadid, “Year After Tragic Deaths, Egypt’s Young Return to Cotton Fields,” Associated Press, September 24, 1998, as cited in U.S. Department of Labor, International Child Labor Program, By the Sweat and Toil of Children: Efforts to Eliminate Child Labor, vol. 5 (Washington, D.C., 1998), 18 [hereinafter By the Sweat and Toil of Children , vol. 5].

⁵⁶¹ Underage and Unprotected at 2.

⁵⁶² The Impact of Child Labor on Health at 34.

⁵⁶³ Ibid. at 51.

⁵⁶⁴ Bjorne Grimsrud and Liv Jorunn Stokke, Child Labour in Africa: Poverty or Institutional Failures? The Cases of Egypt and Zimbabwe (Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science, Report No. 233, 1997), 35 [hereinafter Child Labour in Africa ].

⁵⁶⁵ Ibid. at 35. See also Country Reports 2000—Egypt at Section 6d, 20.

⁵⁶⁶ Child Labour in Africa at 34.

⁵⁶⁷ Carpets made in family or cottage industries are generally sold to local factories. Child Labour in Africa at 33.

⁵⁶⁸ Ibid.

⁵⁶⁹ Country Reports 2000—Egypt at Section 6d.

⁵⁷⁰ Child Labour in Africa at10.

⁵⁷¹ Salah Nasrawi, “Activists Denounce Child Labor in Egypt,” Associated Press, April 14, 2001 (http:// rmedia.boston.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.boston.com/news/default/27887/TILE1/h_boscom_).

⁵⁷² Child Labor News Service, “News Brief: About Ten Million Street Children in Arab World” (www.globalmarch.org/clns/clns-15-06-2001.htm).

⁵⁷³ USAID, GED 2000: Global Education Database [CD-ROM], Washington, D.C., 2000.

⁵⁷⁴ World Development Indicators 2000 .

⁵⁷⁵ Mona El Baradei, The Impact of Structural Adjustment and Stabilisation Policies on Educationand Health in Egypt (1994), as cited in Child Labour in Africa at 29.

⁵⁷⁶ Child Labour in Africa at 29.

⁵⁷⁷ Ibid. at 32

⁵⁷⁸ The Impact of Child Labor on Health at 38.

⁵⁷⁹ Ibid. at 39.

⁵⁸⁰ J. L. Guirguis, “Children Work in Hazardous Jobs” (1998) [on file from International Child Labor Program, Report 5].

⁵⁸¹ Child Labour in Egypt within the Context of the CRC.

⁵⁸² U.S. Embassy Cairo, Unclassified telegram no. 006469, October 11, 2001, [hereinafter unclassified telegram 006469]. See also Underage and Unprotected at 8.

⁵⁸³ Underage and Unprotected at 8.

⁵⁸⁴ Unclassified telegram 006469. See also Country Reports 2000—Egypt at Section 6d and Underage and Unprotected at 8.

⁵⁸⁵ These articles also require that the employer supply the same information to the Office of Work and Insurance. Land Center for Human Rights (LCHR), Child Workers in Egyptian Rural Areas are Victims with No Means of Redress, no. 1 (December 1997), 11 [hereinafter Child Workers in Egyptian Rural Areas ].

⁵⁸⁶ “USAID/Egypt’s Actions/Follow-up on Child Labor” [facsimile], May 7, 2001. See also unclassified telegram, 10/11/01.

⁵⁸⁷ Child Workers in Egyptian Rural Areas at 10-11.

⁵⁸⁸ Mohamed Abd-Elkader El-Hussainy, “Child Labor: A Case Study for Greater Cairo on Car Workshops, Glass- Making and Foundries,” The Arab Republic of Egypt’s Cairo Demographic Center, March 1998, 16.

⁵⁸⁹ Ibid.

⁵⁹⁰ Unclassified telegram 006469.

⁵⁹¹ Law No. 10 and Chapter 4 of the Penal Code of 1964. See unclassified telegram 006469, and Country Reports 2000—Egypt at Section 6f.

⁵⁹² Unclassified telegram 006469.

⁵⁹³ Ibid.

⁵⁹⁴ Country Reports 2000—Egypt at Section 6d.

⁵⁹⁵ Interview with Sallama Shaker, deputy assistant minister, North American Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by U.S. Department of Labor officials, May 9, 1998, as cited in By the Sweat and Toil of Children, vol. 5, at 45.

⁵⁹⁶ Country Reports 2000—Egypt at Section 6d.

⁵⁹⁷ For a list of which countries profiled in Chapter 3 have ratified ILO Conventions No. 138 and No. 182, see Appendix C.

⁵⁹⁸ Country Reports 2000—Egypt at Section 6d.

⁵⁹⁹ UNICEF, Family Development Fund Project [online], Cairo, 1996 (www.unicef.org/credit/ creegypt.htm), August 1, 2001.

⁶⁰⁰ Child Labor Coalition Notes, March 14, 2001, Washington, D.C.

⁶⁰¹ The National Council on Childhood and Motherhood is implementing a yearlong child labor awareness-raising campaign and the rapid assessment with support from ILO-IPEC. See Agence France-Presse, “ILO Asks Egypt to Set Deadline for End of Child Labour,” April 10, 2001.

⁶⁰² UNICEF reports, however, that the Egyptian Ministry of Education imposes school fees as high as 15.85 pounds (US$4.66) for primary education. Child Labour in Egypt within the Context of the CRC at 59.

⁶⁰³ Article 59 of the 1996 Child Law, 12. UNESCO Statistical Yearbook 1997 (Paris: UNESCO, 1997), Table 3.1 at 3-7.

⁶⁰⁴ Nadia Ramsis Farah, Child Labour in Egypt Within the Context of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (Cairo: Cairo Center for Development Studies/UNICEF, June 1997), 27. Grants fall short of the estimated costs of sending children to school, where average primary school fees range from 11.35 to 15.85 pounds (US$3.33 to $4.66), and the Ministry of Education estimates that average annual cost paid by poor families for primary school education amounts to 348 pounds (US$102.35) per child.

⁶⁰⁵ Interview with Hussein Kamel Bahaa El-Din, Minister of Education, by U.S. Department of Labor official, May 12, 1998.

⁶⁰⁶ Ibid.

⁶⁰⁷ Ibid.

⁶⁰⁸ UNICEF, Global Girls’ Education Programme: Country Highlights , World Education Forum: Dakar, 2000, at www.unicef.org/efa/firlsed.htm.

⁶⁰⁹ World Development Indicators 2000 .

⁶¹⁰ UNESCO Statistical Yearbook 1997 and 1998 (Paris: UNESCO, 1997, 1998).

⁶¹¹ See Chapter 1, Section C, 5, for a fuller discussion of the information presented in the box. See also Appendix B for further discussion, and Tables 14 through 19 for figures on government expenditure over a range of years.