By: Ayyan Shaikh
Child labor is a problem Pakistan has been dealing with for a very long time. It already existed before the formation of Pakistan in the subcontinent, but got a whole lot worse after the independence of the country. The reason behind this being the low living standard of the majority of the country’s population and poverty. These two along with illiteracy, which is very prevalent, and lack of awareness have led to child labor being a major concern for the country. It has been estimated by the human rights commission in Pakistan that in the 1990s, 11 million children were working in the country, half of whom were under the age of 10. In 1996, the median for a child entering the workforce was 7, down from 8 in 1994. It was estimated that one-quarter of the country’s workforce was made up of children.
Due to the very low income-per-capita, the people living near the poverty line prefer to send their children to work rather than spend money on education. The high inflation rate also adds to this issue. Although child labor is a problem a lot of countries deal with, in Pakistan specifically this is a huge issue due to forced domestic work and in bonded labor in various sectors of the industry. Bonded child labor is when children are made to work to pay off a family debt. Usually, due to the debts being huge, children work for 10-11 hours a day in inhumane conditions. A lot of bonded labor can be found in brick kilns, fishing industry, mining, surgical industry, and farms. Domestic labor is perhaps the kind of labor whose downsides are underestimated the most. As everything is behind a veil hidden from the government, regulation of law and its implementation is very hard. An example can be seen in the recent case of Zohra shah, an 8-year old girl who accidentally set expensive parrots free and had to pay their price with her life. Such cases make us all think; if child labor is such a huge problem that it leads to psychological, physical, and sexual abuse, then why does it still exist? Sure, the socio-economic factors play an important role in this, but why isn’t the government doing anything? Have any steps been taken by the government?
The answer is yes. Several laws have been introduced or contain some provisions that regulate the working conditions and hours of child workers. Most prominent of them include The Factories Acts 1934, The West Pakistan Shops and Establishment Ordinance1969, The Punjab Compulsory Education Act 1994, The Employment of Children Act 1991, and The Bonded Labor System Abolition Act 1992. Recently in 2018, the federal government also enacted the Islamabad Capital Territory Child Protection System Act, which mandates the establishment of a Child Protection Advisory Board. There are various coordinating bodies made by the government to check child labor in various provinces as well. However, policy gaps hinder efforts to address child labor, including mainstreaming child labor issues into relevant policies. You can find further information on the legal framework for child labor and other government policies here. There also many social programs trying to raise awareness of the disadvantages of child labor. The International Labor Organization, Unicef, Save the children, and many NGOs have been actively working to reduce, if not eliminate, the problem of child labor.
Children are the future of a country. They are the future leaders, future change, and the generation that can take a country to levels unimagined and out of reach. But what happens when their childhood is stripped away from them? When they are deprived of education and necessities? The country housing the children suffers and so, that is the tale of Pakistan.
(Photo from here.)
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