Lebanon: 180,000 Syrian refugees are forced into child labour, suffering precarious conditions and low pay
"Special report: 180,000 young Syrian refugees are being forced into child labor in Lebanon", 26 July 2017
... [A]bout 180,000 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon have been forced into child labor, according to UNICEF (the UN agency initially said the number was 280,000; after this article was first published, a UNICEF spokesperson provided a newer, and lower, estimate). Many of these kids lost their loved ones and homes in their country’s brutal civil war... Syrian refugees as young as 5 years old are working long hours, often in hazardous conditions — using dangerous machinery in factories, being abused by employers, and working under the hot sun in agricultural fields. They're missing out on the chance for an education, and the grueling nature of the work leaves them little time to process, or heal from, the emotional and psychological wounds they’ve suffered... To avoid having foreigners take jobs away from its own citizens, the Lebanese government has created a restriction: Syrians can work in agriculture, construction, and cleaning — all low-paying, temporary jobs. Otherwise, they need a work permit. For well-educated Syrians, like doctors and engineers, that’s often impossible to get. So it’s no surprise that 71 percent of the 1.1 million Syrians registered with the United Nations in Lebanon live below the poverty line...