Child Workers Maintain Gaza's Cemeteries
Child workers in Gaza's cemeteries struggle to provide for their impoverished families.
![A Palestinian boy looks from behind a tombstone at the El Sohada cemetary (martyrs' cemetery) outside Gaza city after the last prayer of Ramadan November 25, 2003. [Palestinians like Muslims all over the world today celebrate the first day of the Muslim's holiday of Eid El-Fitr folowing the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.] - RTXMB3X](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_large/public/almpics/2013/07/Gaza-Cemetary.jpg/Gaza-Cemetary.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=PMMApiNv "MIDEAST")
Mahmoud, a 12-year-old Gazan boy, spends more than nine hours a day between the graves of the Sheikh Radwan cemetery in the center of Gaza City. He stares at the cemetery gate, waiting for a grave visitor or funeral procession.
Mahmoud offers to keep the tombs of the deceased clean and planted with flowers in exchange for a small sum. He does this to avoid problems with his father, who beats him and threatens to kick him out of the house if he doesn’t collect enough money by the end of the day.
According to data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), “There are about 65,000 working children in the Palestinian territories, accounting for 6% of all children in the 5-14 age range. Some are paid, others are not.”
In its annual report issued in 2012, the PCBS said that 8% of children aged 5-14 work in the West Bank, while 3.1% of the same age group work in the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, 7.7% of male children (aged 5-14) in the Palestinian territories work, while among females this rate is 4.2%.
