An on-going travesty

Around 3.3 million children engaged in child labour across Pakistan: UNICEF

Lahore: Despite having numerous laws in place for the protection of children’s rights, Pakistan has a long way to go for this practice to be completely eradicated. In 2021, the federal government, along with the provincial governments, attempted to put forth several legislations to put a stop to the worst forms of child labour. That included bills, protecting children under 14 years of age from hazardous work in Balochistan. They also aimed to ban corporal punishment and introduced special courts that were dedicated to the protection of the rights of children. Additionally, the Federal Investigative Authority initiated training programmes for police, labour and social welfare departments, and child protection bureaus both at the center and provincial levels.

The Child Protection and Welfare Bureau has saved more than 1,000 children from begging on the streets in Punjab. However, despite these new initiatives, Pakistan has, in reality made minimal advancement to completely eradicate child labour.

This reality is reflected through several cases.

Speaking to Bol News, Hamid, a 13-year-old from Lahore said with dismay, that he had been working at a brick kiln on the outskirts of Lahore, for two years. The work condition is appalling. His hands trembled after a hard day’s work, as he recalled how his father had died in a car accident when he was ten, leaving him as the only breadwinner for a family of four. Forced to work in order to put food on the table is how Hamid spends his days. The problem here is that while he is providing for his siblings’ education, nobody is providing for his, or is making sure that he has a childhood that he deserves.

photos: Mohsin Raza/Bol News

The fact that there are thousands of cases just like this one, reflects that although Pakistan has several laws and procedures in place, that aim to protect children, there is no real implementation of them.

According to a report by UNICEF, about 3.3 million children are engaged in child labour across Pakistan. They are deprived of their education, health and childhood. In some industries, like the carpet making industry, children make up as much as 90% of the workforce. Moreover, Pakistan accounts for the world’s second-highest number of out-of-school children, having an estimated 22.8 million aged 5-16.This is 44 per cent of the population of the age group. This is despite the fact that Pakistan has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, (1989), and the ILO Convention on Minimum Age for Employment, No 138 (1973).

Commenting on the issue, Ume Laila Azhar, Executive Director of HomeNet Pakistan and a Human Rights activist deemed ‘poverty’ as one of the main reasons behind the issue. She apprised that since there are thousands of citizens living below the poverty line, especially in rural areas, they send their children to find work outside. The children either work in cities or brick kilns just like Hamid. Addressing the idea of curbing the practice, she admitted that the first step should be to take measures to eradicate the real reason that leads families like Hamid’s to send their children to work. If the government can ensure citizens that their families will be taken care of, there would be no need for child labour. It would then be eliminated completely. She further stated that “even though a law was passed under the Pakistan Bonded Labour Abolition Act in 1992, that prohibited child bonded labour in brick kilns, the government also set up several district vigilance committees, and there have been several loopholes in the law.”

photos: Mohsin Raza/Bol News

One such example is of the age bracket that deems the labour as child labour. The civil society has been at odds for years while trying to come up with a solution. One side of the argument claims that due to the level of poverty in the country, children should be allowed to take part in non-hazardous work, while under the age of 18, a stance that is supported by the idea of children in the western world being allowed to do the same. However, the key term here is non-hazardous work, and as is reflected in Hamid’s case as well as several others, this is hardly ever the case.

Children are often also sent to work as domestic workers in the city where they are subjected to the worst form of torture, both physical and psychological. They are robbed of their right to safety as well as education and Ume Laila commented that this spiked recently, due to Covid-19, as there were several instances where the death of a family member prompted limited finances for the family which forced them to send their children elsewhere to earn.

photos: Mohsin Raza/Bol News

The Tayyaba case is yet another example of the worst form of child labour in Pakistan, where the child was both underage and was being paid a mere wage of Rs 5000, an amount that is below the minimum wage limit. While there was substantial hype about this case and several questions were raised about the laws in place to protect children, it also points to a much more somber reality. This was just one case out of a million that go unreported. In several cases, the child is compelled or is emotionally blackmailed into thinking that they are the family’s only source of a livelihood.

According to a study conducted by the International Labour Organization, one in every four households of Pakistan employs children for domestic labour, and these are predominantly girls between the ages of 10 and 14. Moreover other factors related to the lives of the children were also assessed such as social support, the environment at home as well as the response of both children and their parents towards the practice of child labour. This report concluded that both legal and non-legal measures were required to eradicate child labour in Pakistan.

Muhamad Umair, a 15-year-old living in Lahore, said that while he would love nothing more than to be in school and to enjoy his life with his friends, he had no choice but to work as a domestic worker as his parents had no other way of earning. Addressing a bruise on his neck, the child raised a shaking hand to cover it up before shrugging, and saying it was part of his job, and that he only wanted to help his family. This is of course again, only one example out of a thousand.

photos: Mohsin Raza/Bol News

Barrister Ahmed Pansotta, shedding light on the matter, deemed lack of awareness as the main reason for these practices as well. He clarified that people, especially in rural areas are not aware of their civil rights as provided to them through the constitution and are therefore more inclined to overlook the practice, a fact that he also linked to bonded labour. He also asserted that there is far less support from government bodies than is truly needed, a fact that was further reinforced by Ume Laila who stated that although there has been substantial work done by the Punjab government in the area, most of these initiatives are limited to Lahore only. We cannot hope to achieve any progress in eradicating child labour unless there is uniformity.

Children are the nation’s most valuable asset. It is vital to ensure that they are protected according to the law. In failing to do so, we subject them to a life that no child deserves, and rob them of the opportunity to be a productive part of society.

*All names of children have been changed to protect their identity*