Police investigate disappearance of refugee child labourers in Zakho
ZAKHO, Kurdistan Region — Police are investigating the disappearance of two sisters from a Kurdish Syrian refugee family living in the Kurdistan Region’s northern town of Zakho.
Inas, 11, and Rehef, 9, vanished from sight on Tuesday while selling tissues at a traffic light. Their sister Amina was the last relative to see them.
“My sisters were on the opposite side of the traffic light when I entered a nearby fast-food shop [to eat something]. When I came out, I didn’t see my sisters,” said Amina Bedel, who is one of the family’s four children forced to work to provide for the seven-person household. They each make approximately $8 a day.
“I asked Amina why she left her sisters to stay at the traffic light longer. She said they had not collected enough money, that’s why they stayed longer. Since then they have been missing,” said the children’s father Bedel Ahmad, who has struggled to provide for his family since fleeing their hometown of Derik in northeastern Syria in 2012.
The family has filed a missing person’s report at the district police, but nothing is known as of yet. Police note this is not the first time these children have gone missing.
“The two sisters went missing in the past two other times, but they could be found at their aunt’s home. However, this time they haven’t been found anywhere. We are still investigating,” Lt Col. Hemin Sleman, the Spokesperson for Duhok Police Directorate, told Rudaw on Sunday.
Many refugees from Syria continue to struggle to live a dignified life in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The economic circumstances of families often result in children working in perilous conditions to put food on the table.
SEE MORE: Poverty forces Kurdistan Region's kids to work on International Children’s Day
Child labour is no new phenomenon in the Kurdistan Region, but the rise in unemployment and poverty amid the coronavirus outbreak has forced more children to work in support of their struggling families.
With reporting by Yousif Musa
Inas, 11, and Rehef, 9, vanished from sight on Tuesday while selling tissues at a traffic light. Their sister Amina was the last relative to see them.
“My sisters were on the opposite side of the traffic light when I entered a nearby fast-food shop [to eat something]. When I came out, I didn’t see my sisters,” said Amina Bedel, who is one of the family’s four children forced to work to provide for the seven-person household. They each make approximately $8 a day.
“I asked Amina why she left her sisters to stay at the traffic light longer. She said they had not collected enough money, that’s why they stayed longer. Since then they have been missing,” said the children’s father Bedel Ahmad, who has struggled to provide for his family since fleeing their hometown of Derik in northeastern Syria in 2012.
The family has filed a missing person’s report at the district police, but nothing is known as of yet. Police note this is not the first time these children have gone missing.
“The two sisters went missing in the past two other times, but they could be found at their aunt’s home. However, this time they haven’t been found anywhere. We are still investigating,” Lt Col. Hemin Sleman, the Spokesperson for Duhok Police Directorate, told Rudaw on Sunday.
Many refugees from Syria continue to struggle to live a dignified life in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The economic circumstances of families often result in children working in perilous conditions to put food on the table.
SEE MORE: Poverty forces Kurdistan Region's kids to work on International Children’s Day
Child labour is no new phenomenon in the Kurdistan Region, but the rise in unemployment and poverty amid the coronavirus outbreak has forced more children to work in support of their struggling families.
With reporting by Yousif Musa