Societies flourish when all human beings including children get their social, moral, religious and educational rights but it seems next to impossible in our part of the world where at every step we take out of our homes or sometimes in our homes, we behold a child in an extremely miserable condition doing laborious work which ought to be done by an adult. Child labour is one of the worst forms of modern-day slavery and a major issue threatening the young ones in Pakistan. It is a prerogative of every child across the world to celebrate life in its entirety, to enjoy childhood, to get the protection of parents and to have access to healthcare and to at least basic education which child labour denies and even crushes brutally.
In Pakistan more than 12.5 million children are engaged in child labour that results in exploitation. A heart-wrenching sight awaits a sensitive human being when he or she visits a tea shop, a flower shop, an auto repair shop. Even at signals a pathetic figure of a minor clutching a wiper in tiny hands can be seen. Every shopkeeper has employed ‘minor workforce’ for his business. With the passing of every year, children are being more and more involved in forced labour. Many children under the age of 10 are forced in domestic labour, mostly the girls are the main target. It is very common to hire a child for domestic help in Pakistan. They are considered to provide cheaper labour, easily bullied and domiciled, pose less threat to privacy and consume less and also satisfy the mindset of the people who think themselves as ‘saviours’ of these innocent children.
More interestingly when someone questions them for hiring a minor they have their own set of lame excuses and hold forth a counter-argument for every argument. These children face deprivation in every aspect of life, are exposed to oppression, depression, exploitation and violence of both physical and mental nature. Many times they end up facing physical and sexual abuse. They are often not allowed to spend vacation, Eid holidays, Christmas and even weekends with parents and siblings.
Child labour is mainly a product of acute poverty that leads to economic exploitation of parents who agree to send their children away, in a hostile environment that hinders a child’s physical, mental, social and moral development and sometimes also results in human trafficking.
Employing a minor is not only harmful for the overall development of a child but can also pose many problems for the employer. Sometimes people hire children of very young age to take care of their own small children – an act which begs the question how can a child who cannot properly look after himself or herself can handle a young one. The disastrous consequences of such an act are bound to come.
Domestic servitude puts children’s wellbeing and safety at risk. Every now and then there surfaces a case of a child being tortured and brutally beaten to death like the case of Zohra Shah, Uzma Bibi and many others. It is not that all domestic workers are treated badly but mostly, the treatment meted out to them is not considered fair because it is inhuman in the first place to hire a child for work when you should hire an adult.
The ongoing pandemic has worsened the crisis. It has resulted in more poverty and made a majority of population more vulnerable to exploitation. With the rapid increase in unemployment, parents from underprivileged sections of society are forced to send their children to cities for domestic work. Health crisis thus converts into a child-right crisis.
There are laws in Pakistan to ban child labour especially domestic labour but the implementation of these laws seems impossible. Despite these laws, millions of children are pining away in domestic slavery. Just as it is the duty of the state to ensure strict implementation of legislations, likewise it is our moral, social and ethical responsibility to help the government in the eradication of this evil from our society. When developed countries can get rid of this nuisance, why we cannot. The abolition of such insidious practices is indeed a Herculean task but there are ways we can at least reduce our contribution to child labour. First we should educate ourselves and raise awareness among people. Always check the age of your employee, stop hiring children, and employ adults so they do not expose their children to hazardous domestic labour which will also help in solving the problem of unemployment.
There should be no place of child labour in our society. If someone finds a child in brutal and squalid condition, he or she must inform the authorities to take appropriate action against the violators. Last but not the least, if we afford we should help those who are in desperate need and funnel our money and resources toward supporting NGOs and groups which work against child labour. As someone has rightly said: ‘Into every life, a little rain must fall.’
The writer is a freelancer based in Lahore.
Nicely written. The article aptly describes the menace of Child Labour in our country. It is with immense sorrow, one has to admit that we, as a society, have failed to protect our children.
The issue underhand is of paramount importance. But the question is: Is anyone in the corridors of power listening?
Child Labor, in my view, is a symptom of a disease called poverty. There is a strong positive correlation between Child Labor and Poverty. We can only eradicate child labor in the long term if we are able to address its root cause i.e. poverty. The efforts, therefore, to tackle child labor and poverty should go hand-in-hand.
The issue at hand is of paramount importance. But the question is: Is anyone in the corridors of power listening?
Child Labor, in my view, is a symptom of a disease called poverty. There is a strong positive correlation between Child Labor and Poverty. We can only eradicate child labor in the long term if we are able to address its root cause i.e. poverty. The efforts, therefore, to tackle child labor and poverty should go hand-in-hand.
Your article is very revealing and well described. I had never read the issue regarding child labor presented in that light.
A well written article. Child labor is plague for this society that exposes a significant chunk of our future generation to the world of slavery, it forces a mindset onto their psyche that physical labor at such an age is perfectly fine and quite possibly the only option they have, which in turn, severally limits their potential and when they grow up and face the brutal nature of poverty, they complete this vicious circle by forcing their own offsprings to follow their footsteps.
It is indeed, as the author described, a herculean task to eradicate this evil from the society. I believe that education, for both adults and children, is the key to get a grip on the situation make a lasting effect in this regard.