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| Arabia |
| Child Labor Persists Around IslamÂ’s Holiest Site in Makkah |
| 2006-06-22 |
| The problem of child labor persists in the Kingdom, by day or night. It’s 3.30 a.m. in the Mesfala neighborhood of central Makkah, about a half-hour stroll from the Grand Mosque. Though it’s still an hour before Fajr prayers, hundreds of faithful of different nationalities can already be seen in the streets heading to Islam’s holiest site. On the street, a child sleeps next to a trash bin. Another stands nearby selling miswaks, the sticks commonly used by Muslims to clean their teeth. A third child is next to him and says he is nine years old and Burmese. The boys, who are brothers, say their father prepares the miswak sticks and sends them to the streets to make money. One of the boys says he arrives in the area after Isha prayers and stays until Dhuhr prayers the next day selling in the street. Afterward, he says they sleep until the next 16-hour shift. It is then that it becomes apparent why one of the kids is sleeping in the street even though he has a home. It is also apparent that all of these three children have, at the behest of their father, replaced school with labor. “The hours are too long and we do not get enough sleep at home,” says the nine-year-old, who did not want to give his name. “I take a nap every now and then while my brothers watch the goods.” The boy says they earn about SR 150a day, SR 300 on the Thursday-Friday weekends and more during Ramadan and Haj. They admit that most of the earnings are the product of charity by their customers. The youngest brother, the one sleeping next to the garbage, is still learning from his older brothers the art of selling pity and miswak sticks to passers-by. Nearby another child is seen selling miswak sticks. He says that his shift is based on how fast he can earn SR 100in a shift. The boy claims that his father physically abuses him and sends him to bed without food if he doesn’t come home with the money. “Some people give me money as charity and that helps me get money faster,” said the boy, who is also too afraid of reprisal to provide his name. “If I get one hundred riyals, then I throw the rest of the miswaks in the garbage and go home pretending that I have sold them all.” Nearby a young girl is seen crying and selling napkins. She tells Arab News that she gets pushed around a lot by the flow of pedestrians. She says her father likes the location because crowds make strategic selling locations. “I work for 12 hours, from Fajr prayer until Asr,” she said. “I sell napkins for 50 halalas.” She said that if she earns SR 30 in a shift it’s considered a good day. Like the young boys, she admits that most of the money comes from acts of charity. Dr. Sami Al-Luhayyani, a public mental health psychologist in Makkah, told Arab News that in many countries child labor laws are enforced. “We urge police to arrest these fathers and send them to prison and send their kids to social homes,” said Luhayyani. “Forcing these children to work is a crime and will have a negative effect on the children in the future. Criminals could use these children for other bad purposes like crimes.” |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 And when did the Saudis ever give up slavery?* *Trick question, when you take your Philippina maids passport and practice involuntary servitude even in Denver, the practice appears alive and unchanged. |
| Posted by: Glish Chaith1878 2006-06-22 08:29 |