The closing conference of the project for protecting children's rights from armed conflict

The Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, in partnership with Save the Children Sweden, held the closing conference of the project "Protecting the rights of Palestinian children from armed conflict through community-based mechanisms in the Strip", under the title "Child labour between reality and the law", in the Roots hall on the morning of Thursday 30/6/2011. The conference aimed at giving a quick presentation of the project's activities and objectives, in addition to presenting working papers by some of the participants and involving civil society organisations in discussing the phenomenon of child labour and producing a set of recommendations. The conference was opened by Mrs. Lucia Pantella, director of the Gaza office of Save the Children Sweden, who spoke about the reasons that led them to carry out this project. She said: "Children in the Gaza Strip have been exposed to many dangers and to various kinds of Israeli assaults, which has affected the children psychologically, and so the project came as a response to these children's need for the required interventions and for the provision of psychological and social support and advocacy work." On behalf of the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, Mrs. Hanan Abu Gharqoud, the project coordinator, spoke about the achievements of the project team and said: "250 children were reached over two years, with psychological and social services and remedial lessons in the core subjects provided, and recreational days organised for parents and their children. Health services were also distributed to those suffering from hearing, speech and mobility problems, in coordination with the Ministry of Education. The child protection network was also formed by civil society organisations and they were trained on advocacy and mobilisation issues, and a march entitled child labour was organised which headed to the premises of the Ministry of Labour in Gaza." After the working papers were presented, those attending produced the following set of recommendations: - A call for a national plan on child labour in which governmental and non-governmental organisations take part. - Activating the role of the Ministry of Labour and the other ministries such as education and social affairs so that they carry out their role in the best possible way. - Activating the role of the Legislative Council and the penal laws that criminalise the employment of children under the age of fifteen. - More awareness raising through pulpits and mosques. - Creating a transparent database available to everyone. - Forming local committees to engage with the ministries and the concerned parties. - Conducting studies on juvenile labour that take age and gender into account. - Focusing on vocational training for children. - Reinforcing the mechanisms of social security.