H.E. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK addressed the High-level Arab Conference on "Child Labor and Social Protection Policies in Arab States", held in Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt on 3-4 December 2025.

The Conference was organised by the Arab Labor Organization (ALO), in cooperation with the League of Arab States (Social Affairs Sector, Family and Childhood Department), the Arab Council for Children and Development and the Arab Gulf Development Program (AGFUND), bringing together high-level participants from the Ministries of Social Development and relevant national, regional and international institutions responsible for children’s affairs.

During her video-recorded message, H.E. SELÇUK shared valuable insights on the difficulties facing children in OIC countries with special emphasis on child labour as one of the most pressing challenges. She highlighted the multidimensional factors including poverty, access to inclusive and quality education, demographic pressures, limited access to social protection, the absence of targeted and comprehensive support for families in need and humanitarian crises.

H.E. SELÇUK also shed light on the current situation in the OIC countries in the education sector with primary enrolment as high as 95%, while secondary enrolment at 66%, which means 34% of secondary-school-age children are out of school. In a similar vein, health challenges also weigh heavily on the children in the OIC region. She shared relevant statistics on the matter where mortality rate for under-5 fell from 63 to 52 deaths per 1,000 live births in the last decade. H.E. SELÇUK underscored the progress and the need for doing more for catching the global target of 25. Similarly, youth face another challenge which is being not in education, employment, or training (NEET). The rate of young people NEET has remained at 26% across OIC countries in the last decade while this rate is 20% globally.

Furthermore, H.E. SELÇUK stressed that at the heart of all these issues lies a critical factor that is essential to break the cycle of poverty, which is social protection. The OIC Programme of Action (PoA) 2025 called for stronger social protection systems, reliable social services, and improved policy frameworks to address the needs of children, families, women and persons with disabilities. Moreover, she underlined that the upcoming OIC PoA for 2026–2035 will reinforce these commitments with a stronger focus on child labour, child online protection, social protection, and holistic family well-being.

The discussions over the two-day Conference aimed at strengthening social protection systems for children, combat the worst forms of child labour and respond to the growing challenges resulting from the economic, social and climate crises, in order to promote the building of integrated and effective social protection policies capable of addressing these challenges and safeguarding the rights of children. The Conference concluded with a declaration that reflects a unified Arab vision on promoting “Social Protection Policies to Reduce Child Labor”. 

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