His Excellency the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development – Chairman of the Family Affairs Council – Engineer Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi praised the decision of the Council of Ministers headed by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques – may God protect him – to adopt the national policy to prevent child labor in the Kingdom, which aims to provide a safe environment that supports childhood to reach a society where children enjoy all their rights guaranteed by the Islamic Sharia and the legislative system in the Kingdom. His Excellency expressed his thanks and appreciation to the wise leadership for its continuous efforts in the field of protecting children’s rights by adopting legislative and executive means to support children, pointing out that children constitute a high value for any society and are the basis of human wealth for the future.
His Excellency stated that the declaration attached to the Kingdom’s instrument of ratification of Convention No. 138, which stipulates that the minimum age for employment in the Kingdom’s labor system – or on means of transportation registered on its territory – is 15 years old, represents a gain for the family and society and will prevent child labor, This is consistent with Saudi Arabia’s international commitments, as the Kingdom ratified in 2001 the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. (182) on the Worst Forms of Child Labor (1999), and in 2014 it ratified ILO Convention No. (138) on Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, in addition to the Kingdom’s commitment to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Kingdom has also approved the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Protection of Children in Armed Conflict, in addition to establishing an institutional framework related to child labor and protection, and establishing the Council for Family Affairs, which includes a specialized committee concerned with children’s issues in the Kingdom, in order to support and strengthen the status and role of the family in society and preserve its strength and cohesion to take care of its members. The national policy to prevent child labor includes a number of elements, most notably expanding the knowledge base on child labor by establishing a database on child labor with the support of the International Labor Organization, adopting a list of hazardous jobs prohibited for persons under the age of 18, promoting decent work for youth who have reached the legal working age, improving social work and social protection mechanisms, building the capacity of specialists in this field, promoting quality education opportunities for all children, as well as raising awareness about child labor by organizing a number of awareness activities in this regard.
