Organizations release statistics on child labor, claim 50,000 children working

TIRANA, June.11- As part of the fight against informality, serious measures are being taken to address one of the most tragic social and economic problems of the country, child labor. It is believed there are some 50,000 children working in Albania. That estimate is based on studies made public by the Education and Science Federation (FSASH) of Albania, the ILO-IPEC and by NGOs. These studies claim 5,000 or more children are trafficked for work in Italy and 3,000 children are trafficked to work in Greece. Most child workers in Albania are street workers, involved in small-scale selling, begging, etc. There are also some working in agriculture, light industry (such as the shoe and textile sectors), construction and other sectors. Some of the causes are economic, including the unemployment rate being very high, the effects of the large, informal economy and wages are very low, placed at 200 euros per month, on average. Some families earn just 100 euros per month, though a four-person household needs 500 euros just for food. A second set of reasons for child labor is related to mobility. There continues to be considerable internal migration in Albania, with families leaving rural regions for the outskirts of big cities. These internal migrants are unable to find accommodation or jobs in the city, so they find it very hard to survive and, as a last resort, ask their children to contribute to the family income by working. Other causes are linked to family or cultural situations as some of the children working have parents who have gone abroad while the parents of others have died or are having relationship problems. In certain remote areas, some parents maintain that girls who have passed the stage of puberty should no longer go to school. However, the main causes of child labor are linked to the educational situation and attitudes found in parts of society. Civil organizations have been implementing programs to encourage children to remain in school and influence their families to help in this. A recent successful project of FSASH has encouraged some 450 children to return to school and prevented some 950 others from dropping out.