التحليل الجغرافي لظاهرة عمالة الأطفال في محافظة كركوك

Abstract

Child care is required by the social environment and development efforts. Many countries have established programs to ensure this segment of the population has a decent standard of living. In Iraq, a clear neglect of children is observed, leading to numerous problems among them. In Kirkuk Governorate, working children suffer from economic, social, health, and psychological conditions that are disproportionate to their age. This requires identifying their size and their economic, living, health, and psychological conditions in order to come up with recommendations that would alleviate the burden on this segment of the population.

This research aims to shed light on an important segment of society: children under the age of fifteen. The importance of the research lies in its revelation of facts about the spatial distribution, age, and gender composition of working children. This research also required the use of a variety of research methods and scientific approaches, including descriptive and analytical approaches. It revealed a disparity in the spatial distribution of working children across various administrative units, with working children being primarily concentrated in urban centers, particularly in the Kirkuk and Hawija districts, which ranked first in 2023. The researcher recommends the need to conduct extensive and in-depth field studies to determine the true extent and characteristics of the phenomenon, develop a national strategy to address it, and identify the economic variables that contribute to its spread.