In a hosting by Al-Hurra Iraq TV for the former member of High Commission for Human Rights, Dr. Ali Al-Bayati to speak about child labor in the liberated territories in Iraq, Al-Bayati indicated that “the survey conducted by Iraqi government with international organizations indicate that 4.8% of Iraqi children are in the labor market.”  .

In his conversation with Al-Hurra, the former member of the Commission stressed that “the risk of child labor lies in its direct relationship with human trafficking crimes, such as forced labor, forced begging, sexual exploitation and prostitution.”

Al-Bayati also mentioned in the context of his speech, “The most important cause of child labor is the economic factor, as the poverty rate in some governorates has reached 50%, displacement, where more than a million people are still displaced and they are still living outside thier toriginal residence, and there are approximately 2.6 million children in need of humanitarian assistance, family’s loss of the breadwinner, especially in the liberated areas, and non attendance to schools due to displacement as well, or the poor performance of the educational institution or its unavailability, where 1.3 million children are out of education system.”

Regarding possible solutions, Dr. Ali Al-Bayati explained in the interview, “There is a need to activate laws, not be satisfied with only committees, and arrange special programs to monitor the labor market, prevent exploitation, punish perpetrators, address the problem of poverty, prepare an alternative for families on the economic problem, and social programs to rehabilitate and protect children, follow up on their commitment to schools and encourage this and provide all  requirements while addressing the problem of poor performance of the educational institution.