Children’s Day: forced labor and trafficking has robbed them of their future in the Kurdistan Region

01-06-2022 11:16
The arrest of several beggars in Erbil, some of whom used children for begging.

Peregraf – Ghamgin Mohammed

Mina was fast asleep in the noisy and crowded bazaar in her mother’s arms, burn scars showing on her neck and chest through the tattered clothes she was wearing as her mother held out her hand, begging for money.

Her mother puts four-year-old Mina on the streets from dusk till down without her consent, in order to earn a few thousand Iraqi dinars.

"I have to do this. I'll put some of the money I get aside do surgery for my daughter," Mina's mother told Peregraf when asked why she was using her child’s burn marks to make money.

"I am forced to do this. This money is my family’s livelihood, and I make 5 to 20,000 dinars a day," she added.

The mother noted that she had rented a house on the outskirts of Sulaimaniyah where she lives with her husband who’s sick at home, a son, and Mina, claiming that hot water was poured over her daughter two years ago, which burnt her body.

The woman didn’t say where she is from. But her accent said she is not from the provinces of the Kurdistan Region, noting that she doesn’t permanently stay in one place. She is always in a different spot, showcasing her daughter’s burn marks while begging for money.

According to Iraq and Kurdistan Region’s laws, the use of children for begging is considered human trafficking and its charges are punished severely.​​

"Children are also seen on the streets and at traffic lights used for begging," lawyer Vena Bakir said. "Sometimes the child is deliberately burned or made sick to make people emotional and give them money,” she added.

According to Iraq’s Law No. 28 of 2012Combating Trafficking in Persons, and the Kurdistan Region’s Law No. 6 of 2018, the act of human trafficking could be punishable by life imprisonment and a fine of up to 25 million Iraqi dinars, depending on the type and manner of the trafficking.

"In the Kurdistan Region, the most common type of human trafficking is using children for begging and trafficking foreign workers," says Bakir.

Child labor is also seen on the public and main roads throughout the Kurdistan Region. Children are sent out to sell various things for a small amount of money. While according to the Children's Rights Convention, every child has the right not to work and to have a safe and secure life.

"In April alone, we arrested seven people who used children for begging in traffic lights, some of them are their fathers and uncles, and others had no relations to the children," Sherzad Hirori, head of the Social Welfare and Development Directorate, said.

This is when the minimum working age is fifteen in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, provided that their work is not difficult and that their morals, behavior, and education are not at risk.

"So far, no complaints or cases have been filed concerning trafficking children," said Dara Farouk, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government's Directorate of Combating Human Trafficking, an administration that is only five years old.

Farouk added that other cases filed before were not considered human trafficking following investigations and that they were re-directed to relevant parties to be resolved.

Duhok’s Social Welfare and Development Directorate head, Hirori, said they had arrested several people who were accused of child trafficking. "The children were between the ages of 8 and 15, and some of their parents know that their children were being used for begging and they kept quiet so they earn money," said Hirori.

"There have been similar situations in the past years, especially when the number of refugees in the province increased, and the rate of children begging increased," he added.

According to the Iraqi constitution’s Article 37, “forced labor, slavery, slave trade, trafficking in women or children, and sex trade shall be prohibited.”

Police occasionally report the arrest of children begging on the streets but are not ready to comment on the fate of the children.

According to a report on human trafficking in Iraq published by the US State Department in 2021, Iraq was on Tier 2, yet both the Iraqi and Kurdistan regional governments have not provided proper protection for the victims of trafficking or witnesses to encourage them to cooperate with investigations to prosecute human traffickers.