Morocco is one African country that has made drastic changes in the last decade when it comes to the reduction of child labour.(2) Nevertheless, it is also a country with an overwhelming number of underage domestic workers. These children, mainly girls, work up to 12 hours a day, seven days a week and are considered lucky if paid US$ 11 a month.(3) Not only are their employment conditions extremely severe, but underage workers are also often subject to physical and verbal abuse from their employers, who deny them an education and, in the worst cases, even a proper bed and food.(4)
This CAI paper discusses and examines the conditions that these children face by looking at how they live and work. It also looks at legal documents such as the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) and draws a connection between this legal instrument and the status of underage Moroccan domestic workers, considering that Morocco signed the CRC on 26 January 1990.(5) Lastly, this paper looks at national law regarding the situation of children in Morocco and tries to find future solutions for this devastating problem.
The plight of the underage domestic worker
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) “66,000-88,000 children between the ages of 7 and 15, 70% of whom are under age 12, are working in Morocco today.”(6) The ILO classifies child domestic labour as one of the “worst forms of child labo[u]r.”(7) The children subjected to domestic work are primarily girls who live away from their homes and are, in some instances, as young as eight years old. These girls live in harsh conditions with little food, and are also targets of both physical and verbal abuse. They may be beaten with belts, wooden sticks or other instruments, and at times even sexually abused or harassed by their bosses.(8)
As for their salaries, these are mainly discussed prior to employment, between the girls’ parents or guardians and their future employer.(9) This usually happens because the parents are the ones who cash the wages, while the girls never actually get to see the money that they work for. Even though there is a minimum wage established in Morocco, which is 2,333 Dirham (US$ 261) a month, most of the girls make much less than that, averaging the equivalent of US$ 61 a month.(10)
So what is the main reason why these children end up becoming child domestic workers? Primarily underage employment is a consequence of poverty, a lack of access to education, and gender inequality.(11) Extreme poverty, as perhaps the major cause, means that these children are sent to work to help out with the monthly family income.(12) The lack of access to education that many of these girls suffer is an acute problem in Morocco. In rural regions, where most of these children come from, going to school is a privilege that not many girls have and, if there is a boy in the family, his education becomes the priority. Parents often fail to see the benefits of education for girls and would rather rely on the monthly income that their daughters can provide.(13) Gendered stereotypes are also related to education. Many parents believe that becoming a domestic worker prepares their daughters to become better wives and mothers in the future, while education will only lessen that possibility.(14) Therefore, they consider that it is better to invest in a son’s education than in that of a daughter. Lastly, many parents believe that their girls are safer under the watchful eyes of their employer, especially regarding early age and pre-marital pregnancy.(15) This assumption, however, is not always true as many girls get sexually abused within their field of work and in the end become pregnant at a very young age.(16)
What does Moroccan and international law have to say about child domestic labour?
When looking at Morocco from a national legal perspective, there are technically several laws that cover the issue of child labour, such as the Moroccan Labour Code, which, in Section 5, focuses on adolescent labour.(17) Moroccan labour law also specifies that no child under the age of 12 can be legally employed; however, special circumstances can be applied for in order to permit the employment of children between the ages of 12 and 16.(18) Children under the age of 16 are prohibited to work in industries with dangerous machineries, from working at night, or from working for more than 10 hours a day. As will be discussed, this does not necessarily parallel the stringent provisions of international child labour laws. The Moroccan Labour Code also states that for most workers, including adults, the maximum number of working hours a week is 44 hours.(19) It must also be noted that the Code does not specify or address the situation of domestic workers.
Another legal document that does not address child labour specifically, but delineates provisions for mandatory schooling, is the 1963 Moroccan Constitution. This document specifically states that boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 13 years are obliged by the state to go to school.(20) Even though this law is obligatory, many parents cannot afford to send their children to school and, as the 1982 census shows, half of school-aged children were not in school or have never been in school.(21)
Regarding international laws related to child labour, Morocco has had a rather mixed path of adherence. On the one hand, Morocco is a party to the United Nations (UN) CRC. By signing this convention, the Moroccan Government commits itself to protect the basic rights of the children that live within its territory. The CRC states, specifically in articles 3 to 7, that “the worst forms of child labo[u]r’’ - including domestic work - should be abolished. As discussed above, even though the government has signed and ratified the CRC, the problem of child labour still persists.
In addition to a lack of practical adherence to the CRC, the Moroccan Government has not ratified the ILO Convention No. 138 regarding the minimum age for admission for employment. The government has also not ratified Convention No. 59 regarding the minimum age for admission to employment for industry.(22)
Morocco’s efforts to reduce child labour: An uncertain future
Morocco has tried to manage the fight against child labour by introducing Labour Inspectors through the Ministry of Labour. These individuals are responsible for checks on different establishments and the enforcement of child labour regulations as necessary.(23) The problem with these inspectors is that there are not many of them, particularly when compared with the number of households and businesses that they are obligated to check. Not only that, but they are limited when it comes to access to private houses, where domestic workers are active. Even with the imposition of Labour Inspectors, if criminal prosecutions are not pursued, then their role becomes obsolete.(24) In the past, employers that physically abused child domestic workers were rarely criminally prosecuted and, if they were, fines imposed on them were either non-existent or so low that they held no deterrent effect.(25) For the child domestic worker, she is forced to live a life distant from the outside world and therefore largely unaware of mechanisms and legislation that would help her to pursue escape and legal recourse.(26)
However, if government statistics are taken into consideration, child labour has decreased in recent years and the number of children attending school has increased.(27) This, according to local groups, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and several UN agencies, has to do with public campaigns and media coverage that both promotes the importance of education and emphasises the hazardous conditions regarding child labour.(28) Nevertheless, these statistics many times only look at child labour from a corporate perspective, where numbers might have been reduced because of the lack of access to private homes. Many times, private domestic workers are not counted within these statistics.(29)
So what can be done? One of the organisations that have addressed this issue concretely is Human Rights Watch (HRW); they have come up with a list of recommendations for the Moroccan Government in working to improve current conditions. Their main arguments are:(30)
- Strictly enforcing the age of 15 as the minimum age for all employment
- Imposing penalties on employers/recruiters who employ children under the above age
- Expanding public awareness campaigns regarding child domestic labour
- Prosecuting under the Criminal Code people who are responsible for violence against child domestic workers
Even though these are all effective recommendations, there is still a lot to be done. Specifically, the Moroccan Government must look into how to gain access to a greater number of private employers, and therefore obtain more reliable information on the situation of domestic workers. Once this information is obtained and clearer statistics are assessed, it is important to find a way to deal with the problem of underage domestic workers without violating privacy laws. But momentum must first be achieved through a signalling of commitment, specifically through the signing of the above-mentioned ILO Conventions. It is through small steps and incremental development, such as this, that long-term and comprehensive change will be achieved.
(1) Contact Emilia Schiefthaler through Consultancy Africa Intelligence’s Rights in Focus Unit (
). This CAI discussion paper was developed with the assistance of Laura Clarke and was edited by Kate Morgan.
(2) ‘Morocco: Abuse of child domestic workers’, Human Rights Watch (HRW), 15 November 2012, http://www.hrw.org.
(5) ‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’, 20 November 1989, United Nations: New York, http://treaties.un.org.
(6) Miller, J., ‘The abuse of child domestic workers: Petites bonnes in Morocco’, Topical Review Digest: Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa, 2009, http://www.du.edu.
(8) ‘Morocco: Abuse of child domestic workers’, Human Rights Watch (HRW), 15 November 2012, http://www.hrw.org.
(11) Miller, J., ‘The abuse of child domestic workers: Petites bonnes in Morocco’, Topical Review Digest: Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa, 2009, http://www.du.edu.
(17) ‘Labour Code No. 262/2006’, 2006, Government of Morocco: Morocco, http://www.mpsv.cz.
(18) ‘Morocco’, United States Department of Labour, http://www.dol.gov.
(19) ‘Morocco: Abuse of child domestic workers’, Human Rights Watch (HRW), 15 November 2012, http://www.hrw.org.
(20) ‘Morocco’, United States Department of Labour, http://www.dol.gov.
(24) ‘Morocco: Abuse of child domestic workers’, Human Rights Watch (HRW), 15 November 2012, http://www.hrw.org.