VII. CONCLUSION

Egypt's adoption of the Child Law in 1996 represented an important step toward the fulfillment of its obligations as a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. But the government of Egypt has undermined its commitment to the Child Law's enforcement by permitting cooperatives to employ children well below the minimum age for seasonal agricultural employment and without regard for the law's provisions governing the days and hours of children's work. The cooperatives have further subjected children in their employ to routine ill-treatment and failed to provide them adequate protection from occupational hazards, in violation of both the Convention and the Child Law. Our research also indicates that the poorest rural children now account for a disproportionate share of the workforce for leafworm control operations, a development that may be related to the government's implementation of the 1992 Land Law without concurrent measures to forestall the entry of children into the wage labor force. While Egypt's recent commencement of farmer learning programs may in time significantly reduce the health hazards faced by children, additional measures addressing both the cooperative's employment practices and the underlying economic factors contributing to the children's employment are necessary if these children are to enjoy their rights under the Child Law and the Convention.