Govt, civil society agree to amend laws to prohibit child domestic labour

• Civil society organizations agreed on legislative reforms to outlaw child domestic labour
• The 1st meeting of Provincial Coordination Forum was held
• It was mentioned that no case was registered against for employing child domestic labour

Search for Justice, Children Advocacy Network (CAN) Pakistan, National Commission for Human Rights (Punjab) and Child Protection & Welfare Bureau Government of Punjab have jointly agreed on moving ahead with legislative reform to outlaw child domestic labour in Punjab by amending child protection laws.

This was agreed during the 1st meeting of the Provincial Coordination Forum jointly established by Search for Justice and National Commission for Human Rights, Punjab.

The PCF was established with the aim to review the current legal and administrative framework for dealing with the issues of child domestic labour in Punjab and recommend to the provincial government for legislative and administrative measures required to effectively prohibit child domestic labour.

Executive Director Search for Justice Iftikhar Mubarik mentioned that since the enactment of The Punjab Domestic Workers Act in 2019, not even a single case has been registered against anyone who contravenes Section 3 of Domestic Workers Act.

Over a period of four years 2019-22 the government is still not able to establish clear mechanisms to receive complaints if someone employs a child under the age of 15 years in accordance with the Domestic Workers Act.

This is evident to establish that there is dire need to review the legal instruments with primary consideration to secure the best interest of the child, he added.

Coordinator Children Advocacy Network (CAN) Pakistan Rashida Qureshi shared that child domestic labour is a clear violation of multiple rights of children especially right to protection from all forms of violence, abuse and exploitation.

She added that the children involved in domestic labour are potential victims of acute psychosocial and personality disorders as they suffer with neglect and discrimination.

Syed Miqdad Mehdi, legal expert on Child Rights shared that the legislatures and executives must see the issue of child domestic labour with the lense of child protection, not the labour lens.

He added that in the current legal environment the police register FIR under section 328-A of Pakistan Penal Code where a child domestic laborer faces physical violence by their employers.

In that case beside all the efforts by the Police, Child Protection & Welfare Bureau and Civil Society Organization the culprit immediately gets relief as the offense “Cruelty to Child” is bailable and compoundable. The offense of cruelty to a child must be non-bailable and non-compoundable for setting deterrence through law.

Nadeem Ashraf, Member/Commissioner National Commission for Human Rights (Punjab), highlighted the need to strengthen interdepartmental coordination among relevant government departments and Civil Society Organizations for robust and efficient response to rescue and recovery of child domestic labourers, victims of violence and abuse.

“The commission is committed to safeguarding the rights of vulnerable segments of society and thus with this view will take all possible measures to outlaw child domestic labour in an effective manner,” Ashraf said.

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Sarah Ahmad, Chairperson Child Protection & Welfare Bureau Punjab, shared that her bureau is primarily responsible to provide protection services to destitute and neglected children under ‘The Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act’ and currently has a geographical presence at nine different locations in Punjab.

She fully endorsed the suggestion of the participants to bring the issue of Child Domestic Labour under the purview of “The Punjab Destitute and Neglected Children Act”.

She mentioned that CPWB with the support of Search for Justice will initiate the drafting of legal amendments which will be introduced in assembly after due course of consultative process with relevant stakeholders such as government, domestic workers union, civil society organization and parliamentarians.

The Meeting of Provincial Coordination Forum was attended by representatives of Social Welfare Department, Human Rights and Minority Affairs Department, Literacy, Non Formal and Basic Education Department, Planning & Development Department, Public Prosecution Department, School Education Departments, Treaty Implementation Cell, Labour and Human Resource Department, members of Children Advocacy Network from 18 districts of Punjab, representatives of Domestic Workers Union, legal and psychosocial experts.