Saafan added that the government reviewed all laws and resolutions it issued to combat child labour in light of Egypt’s commitments to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Egypt 2030 Vision.

According to CAPMAS, around 41 million children below the age of 18 were working in 2021.

The minister stressed that a national system for monitoring child labour is being built to implement relevant laws and provide protection and support for children and their families.

He affirmed that Egypt launched a national plan to combat the worst forms of child labour in June 2018, adding that his ministry set up a specialised unit to follow up on the implementation of this plan.

For his part, Eric Ochlan, director of the ILO’s office in Egypt, praised the progress made by Egypt’s government in combating the phenomenon.

In February 2022, the Senate — Egypt’s consultative upper house of Parliament — finally approved the country’s new government-drafted Labour Law.

A report by the Senate’s Energy, Environment, and Labour Force Committee explained that the new 267-article law covers various major issues, including child labour, women in the workplace, maternity leaves, strikes, working hours, minimum and maximum wages, automatic dismissal of workers, and labour lawsuits.

The Senate also approved Article 58, which bans the employment of children below the age of 18, and Article 60, which allows children within the same age bracket to receive training for a maximum of six hours a day.