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LEBANON / FORMER CHILD LABOURERS
STORY: LEBANON / FORMER CHILD LABOURERS
TRT: 02:43
SOURCE: ILO
RESTRICTION: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 15 MARCH 2018, AKKAR - 20 MARCH 2018, BEIRUT, LEBANON
1.Establishing shot, refugee settlement, Akkar, Northern Lebanon
2.Med shot, girls walking towards tent entrance
3. Wide shot, choirmaster and conductor Selim Sahab seated at piano auditioning child
4. Med shot, Maestro Sahab seated at piano auditioning young girl singing
5. Close up, young girl singing
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Omar, former child labourer:
“Music is an essential thing in my life. It makes me express what's in my heart, things that are paining me. When I sit alone and I sing, I feel that everything in my heart that's bothering me comes out.”
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Selim Sahab , choirmaster and conductor:
“I believe that music is one of the most powerful of the so-called soft forces – even though music is very strong, and not soft at all - as it has a huge emotional impact on the children's psychological state.”
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Frank Hagemann, Deputy Regional Director for Arab States, International Labour Organization (ILO):
“This is not about entertainment, it’s about empowering, empowering children through music, giving them back their dignity.”
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Leila Assi, Head of Child Labour Unit at Beyond Association:
“These are children who used to work or still work and who are enrolled in the centre. Through the choir, we are trying as much as we can to raise their voices as high as possible so that they can advocate for this cause.”
10. Wide shot, children from the choir at Presidential Palace in Baabda, on outskirts of Beirut
11. Med shot, girl putting on their gowns at the Presidential Palace
12. Med shot, children from choir entering concert venue
13. Wide shot, President of Lebanon Michel Aoun walking in and audience applauding
14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Michel Aoun, President of Lebanon:
“Today’s children are tomorrow’s men and women. They may need our support and protection today, but we and our nation and our society will need their support and protection tomorrow.”
15. Various shots, choir singing and concert venue
16. Med shot, audience applause and President Michel Aoun applauding
Lebanon has a new children’s choir – but this is a choir with a difference. All its members have, at some point in their lives, engaged in child labour – some in its worst and most hazardous forms. The choir is made up of Lebanese as well as Syrian and Palestinian refugee children.
Late last year, the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) and Lebanon’s Ministry of Labour teamed up with Maestro Sahab, together setting up the National Choir against Child Labour, to empower children and give them a voice through music. The Ministry of Culture and the National Higher Conservatory of Music also support the initiative as part of efforts to implement Lebanon’s National Action Plan to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour.
The choir’s first performance at the Presidential Palace in Baabda on the outskirts of the capital Beirut was attended by the President of Lebanon Michel Aoun, cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, international diplomats, UN agency representatives, and members of civil society organizations.
Globally, ILO figures estimate that between the years 2000 and 2016, the world saw a net reduction of 94 million children in child labour. Some 152 million girls and boys were engaged in child labour in 2016, accounting for almost 1 in 10 of all children worldwide. Nearly half of them are engaged in hazardous work: work that directly endangers their health, safety and moral development.
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