The plight of child labour in Morocco has come into sharp focus with the release of a report by the High Commission for Planning (HCP) on World Day Against Child Labour. The report revealed that around 127,000 Moroccan children, or 1.6% of those aged 7 to 17, are engaged in work, a situation exacerbated in rural regions where 82% of these children reside.
According to the HCP’s findings, the issue is heavily gendered and age-specific, with 81.5% of these working children being male and 91% aged between 15 to 17 years. Alarmingly, the report also highlighted a stark decline in school attendance among these children, with only 12.2% of working children still receiving an education.
The report brings to light the widespread presence of child labour across a total of 89,000 households, representing 1% of Moroccan households, predominantly in rural areas. The HCP emphasised that larger families bear the brunt of this problem. In households with three members, only 0.4% had at least one working child, but this figure progressively increases to 3.2% among households comprising six or more members.
The HCP’s report comes as the world marks World Day Against Child Labour, a day dedicated to raising awareness about the extent and horrors of child labour.
