Child labour doubles in Iraq as violence, displacement hit incomes

Displaced Iraqi children, who fled from Mosul because of Islamic State violence, poses for a photograph at a refugee camp in the Makhmour area near Mosul, Iraq, June 15, 2016. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - More than half a million Iraqi children are estimated to be at work rather than at school as violence and displacement hurt the income of millions of families, according to the United Nations childrens' agency UNICEF.

The number of children currently working, more than 575,000, has doubled since 1990, the year when Iraq attacked Kuwait, setting off a chain of events that led to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and the sectarian strife that continues to this day.