Child labour in Pakistan

Last updated

Child labour in Pakistan is the employment of children to work in Pakistan, which causes them mental, physical, moral and social harm. Child labour takes away the education from children. [1] The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimated that in the 1990s, 11 million children were working in the country, half of whom were under age ten. In 1996, the median age for a child entering the work force was seven, down from eight in 1994. It was estimated that one quarter of the country's work force was made up of children. [2] Child labor stands out as a significant issue in Pakistan, primarily driven by poverty. The prevalence of poverty in the country has compelled children to engage in labor, as it has become necessary for their families to meet their desired household income level, enabling them to afford basic necessities like butter and bread. [3]

Contents

Demographics

A Pakistani boy working as a cobbler Pathan cobbler in his workspace.jpg
A Pakistani boy working as a cobbler

As of 2005–2006, it is estimated that 37 percent of working boys were employed in the wholesale and retail industry in urban areas, followed by 22 percent in the service industry and 22 percent in manufacturing. 48 percent of girls were employed in the service industry while 39 percent were employed in manufacturing. In rural areas, 68 percent of working boys were joined by 82 percent of working girls. In the wholesale and retail industry the percentage of girls was 11 percent followed by 11 percent in manufacturing. [4]

Child labour in Pakistan is perhaps most rampant in the city of Multan, which is an important production centre for export goods. [5]

For children working at brick kilns in Punjab, a survey was conducted by the Punjab Labour Department. According to the latest figures of the survey, the department identified 10,347 brick kilns in Punjab and a total of 126,779 children were seen at these sites. Out of the total, the survey identified that 32,727 children were not attending schools. For the school-going children, a total of 71,373 children were enrolled in public schools, of whom 41,017 were males and 30,356 were females. A total of 13,125 children were attending private schools; 7,438 were males and 5,687 were females. As many as 9,554 children were enrolled in non-formal education institutes. [6]

Causes

A Pakistani child labourer Child labor in Islamabad Pakistan.jpg
A Pakistani child labourer

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) suggests that poverty is the greatest single cause behind child labour. Pakistan has a per-capita income of approximately $1900. A middle class person in Pakistan earns around $6 a day on average. The average Pakistani has to feed nine or ten people with their daily wage. There is also a high inflation rate. [7] As of 2008, 17.2% of the total population lives below the poverty line, which is the lowest figure in the history of Pakistan. [8] Poverty levels appear to necessitate that children work in order to allow families to reach their target take‐home pay. [9]

The low cost of child labor gives manufacturers a significant advantage in the Western marketplace, where they undersell their competitors from countries which are prohibiting child labor. [10]

According to research conducted by Akhtar, Fatima, & Sadaqt, the main causes of child labour in the fishing sector on the Balochistan coast were the low quality of education, lack of job prospects, and lack of progress in the region. It was found that in this particular province there are high dropout rates and low literacy rates. The researchers believe that policies focusing on bettering education will help reduce child labour. [11] Pakistan ranks among the countries with the lowest literacy rates, and in recent years, child labor has seen a disturbing rise. The primary cause for the surge in child labor is the escalating poverty levels, with low literacy rates also playing a significant role in exacerbating this issue. [12]

Government steps on child labour

A number of laws contain provisions prohibiting child labour, or regulating the working conditions of child and adolescent workers. The most important laws are:

Child labour remains one of the major problems afflicting Pakistan and its children. Pakistan has passed laws in an attempt to limit child labour and indentured servitude, but those laws are universally ignored. Some 11 million children, aged four to fourteen, keep the country's factories operating, often working in brutal and squalid conditions. [14]

In December 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor's List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor reported nine goods, six of which are produced by child labourers in Pakistan. These include the making of bricks, carpets, glass bangles, leather and surgical instruments, as well as coal mining.

Efforts to reduce child labour

NGO groups against child labour have been raising awareness of the exploitation of children in Pakistan. [15] Several organizations are working in Pakistan to reduce child labour. Factories are now registered with provincial social security programs which offer free school facilities for children of workers and free hospital treatment.

Football stitching

By the late 1990s, Pakistan had come to account for 75 percent of total world production of footballs (or “soccer" balls in the US), and 71 percent of all soccer ball imports into the United States. The International Labour Rights Forum and allies called attention to rampant child labour in the soccer ball industry. According to investigations, thousands of children between the ages of 5 and 14 were putting in as many as 10 to 11 hours of stitching per day. [16] The International Labour Organization, UNICEF, Save the Children, and the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry signed the Partners' Agreement to Eliminate Child Labour in the Soccer Industry in Pakistan on February 14, 1997, in Atlanta, Georgia. [17]

Save the Children

Save the Children has also been working with some of the sporting goods manufacturers represented by the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce, and Industry and their international partner brands, represented by the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry. This joint effort is aimed at ensuring that children are not employed to stitch footballs. [18] Save the Children (UK) includes disseminating information about child labour on major networks like CBS. [19]

Save the Children has also worked on projects with the British Secretary of State for International Development to phase out child labour in Sialkot. The £750,000 donated by Britain will be spent on education and training, and also on setting up credit and savings schemes, in an attempt to provide alternatives to bonded labour. [20]

SPARC

SPARC has conducted research that goes into producing its publications, including three major books on child labour, juvenile justice and child rights. Publications include its annual report "The State of Pakistan's Children", and a large number of brochures, SPARC has also conducted a number of research studies. [21] SPARC has continued to ask successive governments to upgrade their laws to set a legal age limit for employment in Pakistan, although they have not been successful. [22]

Other NGOs

Other NGOs that have worked on the issue of child labour in Pakistan include organisations such as UNICEF. [23] UNICEF supported the NCCWD, drafting of the Child Protection Law and the Child Protection Policy, and initiated the establishment of the Child Protection Monitoring and Data Collecting System. Many other NGOs such as ROZAN, SPARC and Shaheen Welfare Trust have worked to protect children. [24]

Child labour death incidents

An eight-year-old domestic worker Zohra Shah was killed by the couple Hasan Siddiqui & his wife Umm e Kulsoom for mistakenly releasing the couple's two parrots from the cage on 1 June 2020 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. [25] The couple were arrested and charged the same day. [26]

A film also made a debut named Gunjal on the child labour.The film features on the life of Iqbal Masih, who was a Child labour activist and murdered in 1990.

See also

Punishment In Sindh Employing Children Under 12 Year Of Age

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debt bondage</span> Form of slavery

Debt bondage, also known as debt slavery, bonded labour, or peonage, is the pledge of a person's services as security for the repayment for a debt or other obligation. Where the terms of the repayment are not clearly or reasonably stated, or where the debt is excessively large the person who holds the debt has thus some control over the laborer, whose freedom depends on the undefined or excessive debt repayment. The services required to repay the debt may be undefined, and the services' duration may be undefined, thus allowing the person supposedly owed the debt to demand services indefinitely. Debt bondage can be passed on from generation to generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child labour</span> Exploitation of children through work

Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives them of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation worldwide, although these laws do not consider all work by children as child labour; exceptions include work by child artists, family duties, supervised training, and some forms of work undertaken by Amish children, as well as by Indigenous children in the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iqbal Masih</span> Pakistani activist against child labour and bonded labour

Iqbal Masih was a Pakistani Christian child labourer and activist who campaigned against abusive child labour in Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trafficking of children</span> Form of human trafficking

Trafficking of children is a form of human trafficking and is defined by the United Nations as the "recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, and/or receipt" kidnapping of a child for the purpose of slavery, forced labour, and exploitation. This definition is substantially wider than the same document's definition of "trafficking in persons". Children may also be trafficked for adoption.

Child labour in Botswana is defined as the exploitation of children through any form of work which is harmful to their physical, mental, social and moral development. Child labour in Botswana is characterised by the type of forced work at an associated age, as a result of reasons such as poverty and household-resource allocations. child labour in Botswana is not of higher percentage according to studies. The United States Department of Labor states that due to the gaps in the national frameworks, scarce economy, and lack of initiatives, “children in Botswana engage in the worst forms of child labour”. The International Labour Organization is a body of the United Nations which engages to develop labour policies and promote social justice issues. The International Labour Organization (ILO) in convention 138 states the minimum required age for employment to act as the method for "effective abolition of child labour" through establishing minimum age requirements and policies for countries when ratified. Botswana ratified the Minimum Age Convention in 1995, establishing a national policy allowing children at least fourteen-years old to work in specified conditions. Botswana further ratified the ILO's Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, convention 182, in 2000.

Child labour in Eswatini is a controversial issue that affects a large portion of the country's population. Child labour is often seen as a human rights concern because it is "work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development," as defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO). Additionally, child labour is harmful in that it restricts a child's ability to attend school or receive an education. The ILO recognizes that not all forms of children working are harmful, but this article will focus on the type of child labour that is generally accepted as harmful to the child involved.

The Atlanta Agreement is an agreement which was formed between the International Labour Organization, the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry and UNICEF on February 14, 1997. It was announced at the Sports Super Show in Atlanta, United States. Its goal was to combat high rates of child labour in the Pakistani football making industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child labour in Bangladesh</span> Overview of child labour in Bangladesh

Child labour in Bangladesh is significant, with 4.7 million children aged 5 to 14 in the work force in 2002-03. Out of the child labourers engaged in the work force, 83% are employed in rural areas and 17% are employed in urban areas. Child labour can be found in agriculture, poultry breeding, fish processing, the garment sector and the leather industry, as well as in shoe production. Children are involved in jute processing, the production of candles, soap and furniture. They work in the salt industry, the production of asbestos, bitumen, tiles and ship breaking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child labour in India</span> Child labour

A significant proportion of children in India are engaged in child labour. In 2011, the national census of India found that the total number of child labourers, aged [5–14], to be at 10.12 million, out of the total of 259.64 million children in that age group. The child labour problem is not unique to India; worldwide, about 217 million children work, many full-time.

The "Faces of Freedom" photo exhibition is a collection of photographs captured by photo-journalist, filmmaker and human rights educator U. Roberto (Robin) Romano, during his travels to India, Nepal and Pakistan. Romano explores the exploitation of child labor in the production of handmade rugs in coordination with multiple international organizations, such as the World Bank, UNICEF, International Labour Organization and others to reduce the number of child laborers in that industry. The exhibit has been shown in many United States cities since its first exhibit in 2009. Faces of Freedom has been included in CNN Freedom Projects of modern slavery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child labour in Cambodia</span>

Child labour refers to the full-time employment of children under a minimum legal age. In 2003, an International Labour Organization (ILO) survey reported that one in every ten children in the capital above the age of seven was engaged in child domestic labour. Children who are too young to work in the fields work as scavengers. They spend their days rummaging in dumps looking for items that can be sold for money. Children also often work in the garment and textile industry, in prostitution, and in the military.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debt bondage in India</span> Social issue in India

Debt bondage in India or Bandhua Mazdoori was legally abolished in 1976 but remains prevalent due to weak enforcement by the government. Bonded labour is a system in which lenders force their borrowers to repay loans through labor. Additionally, these debts often take a large amount of time to pay off and are unreasonably high, propagating a cycle of generational inequality. This is due to the typically high interest rates on the loans given out by employers. Although debt bondage is considered to be a voluntary form of labor, people are forced into this system by social situations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child labour in Africa</span> Overview of child labour in Africa

Child labour in Africa is generally defined based on two factors: type of work and minimum appropriate age of the work. If a child is involved in an activity that is harmful to his/her physical and mental development, he/she is generally considered as a child labourer. That is, any work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children, and interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work. Appropriate minimum age for each work depends on the effects of the work on the physical health and mental development of children. ILO Convention No. 138 suggests the following minimum age for admission to employment under which, if a child works, he/she is considered as a child laborer: 18 years old for hazardous works, and 13–15 years old for light works, although 12–14 years old may be permitted for light works under strict conditions in very poor countries. Another definition proposed by ILO's Statistical Information and Monitoring Program on Child Labor (SIMPOC) defines a child as a child labourer if he/she is involved in an economic activity, and is under 12 years old and works one or more hours per week, or is 14 years old or under and works at least 14 hours per week, or is 14 years old or under and works at least one hour per week in activities that are hazardous, or is 17 or under and works in an "unconditional worst form of child labor".

Child labor in the Philippines is the employment of children in hazardous occupations below the age of fifteen (15), or without the proper conditions and requirements below the age of fifteen (15), where children are compelled to work on a regular basis to earn a living for themselves and their families, and as a result are disadvantaged educationally and socially. So to make it short, it is called child labor when it is forced.

Child labour laws are statutes placing restrictions and regulations on the work of minors.

Child labor in Bolivia is a widespread phenomenon. A 2014 document on the worst forms of child labor released by the U.S. Department of Labor estimated that approximately 20.2% of children between the ages of 7 and 14, or 388,541 children make up the labor force in Bolivia. Indigenous children are more likely to be engaged in labor than children who reside in urban areas. The activities of child laborers are diverse, however the majority of child laborers are involved in agricultural labor, and this activity varies between urban and rural areas. Bolivia has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990. Bolivia has also ratified the International Labour Organization’s Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (138) and the ILO’s worst forms of child labor convention (182). In July 2014, the Bolivian government passed the new child and adolescent code, which lowered the minimum working age to ten years old given certain working conditions The new code stipulates that children between the ages of ten and twelve can legally work given they are self-employed while children between 12 and 14 may work as contracted laborers as long as their work does not interfere with their education and they work under parental supervision.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenia and the United Nations</span> Armenia at the United Nations

Armenia was admitted into the United Nations on 2 March 1992, following its independence from the Soviet Union. In December 1992, the UN opened its first office in Yerevan. Since then, Armenia has signed and ratified several international treaties. There are 20 specialized agencies, programs, and funds operating in the country under the supervision of the UN Resident Coordinator. Armenia strengthened its relations with the UN by cooperating with various UN agencies and bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Food Programme, and with the financial institutions of the UN. Armenia is a candidate to preside as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2031.

The Islamic Republic of Iran signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991 and ratified it in 1994. Upon ratification, Iran made the following reservation: "If the text of the Convention is or becomes incompatible with the domestic laws and Islamic standards at any time or in any case, the Government of the Islamic Republic shall not abide by it."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zafarullah Khan (lawyer)</span> Pakistani politician

Zafarullah Khan is a Pakistani Politician, Barrister-at-Law and Writer/Author. He served as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Law/Federal Minister, Government of Pakistan (2016-2018); Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Human Rights, Minister of State, Government of Pakistan (2014–15); Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Economic Affairs/ Minister of State Government of Pakistan (2014–15); Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Cabinet Division/ Minister of State Government of Pakistan (2014–15); Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs/Minister of State Government of Pakistan (2014); Secretary, Law, Justice and Human Rights, Government of Pakistan. He Joined District Management Group of Civil Service of Pakistan (1987); served in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh in various Administrative, judicial and local Government positions from 1989 to 1995 and from 1998 to 2002.

Child Labor in Saudi Arabia is the employing of children for work that deprives children of their childhood, dignity, potential, and that is harmful to a child’s physical and mental development.

References

  1. ↑ "What is child labour (IPEC)". www.ilo.org.
  2. ↑ "Child Labour in Pakistan". Fair Trade Sports. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
  3. ↑ Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (16 January 2016). "Child labour increases in Pakistan while numbers drop internationally". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  4. ↑ Xiaohui, Hou (2010). Wealth: Crucial but Not Sufficient - Evidence from Pakistan on Economic Growth, Child Labour and Schooling.
  5. ↑ "Pakistan". Save the children. Archived from the original on 3 January 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
  6. ↑ Sheikh, Ammar (22 July 2017). "Govt orders digitising data of brick kiln school-going children". The Express Tribune. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  7. ↑ "Child Labour in Pakistan". Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  8. ↑ "UNDP Reports Pakistan Poverty Declined to 17%, Under Musharraf". Pakistan Daily. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
  9. ↑ S. Denice, Doreen. "Towards the Eradication of Child Labour in Pakistan". The Fletcher School Online Journal.
  10. ↑ Silvers, Jonathan (February 1996). "Child in Pakistan". The Atlantic.
  11. ↑ "Socio‐economic conditions of child labor: A case study for the fishing sector on Balochistan coast". International Journal of Social Economics. 37 (4): 316–338. 16 March 2010. doi:10.1108/03068291011025273. ISSN   0306-8293.
  12. ↑ Newspaper, the (15 March 2011). "Child labour and its implications". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  13. ↑ Madslien, Jorn (4 February 2004). "ILO: 'Child labour prevents • The Pilgram official policy of Food Act 1998 development'". BBC News. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
  14. ↑ "Child Labour affect Human Capital Development - Chief Justice". Ghana News Agency.
  15. ↑ "Sub Group on Child Labour". Child Rights Information Network.
  16. ↑ "Child Labour". International Labour Rights Forum. Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  17. ↑ "Atlanta Agreement" . Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  18. ↑ Husselbee, David (2000). NGOs as development partners to the corporates: Child football Stichers in Pakistan. pp. 377–389.
  19. ↑ Khan, Munir, Willmott (2007). A Dark Side of Institutional Entrepreneurship: Soccer Balls, Child Laboour and Postcolonial Impoverishment.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. ↑ "Pakistan Flood 2010 - Six Months On" (PDF). Save the Children.[ permanent dead link ]
  21. ↑ "Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), Pakistan". Childwatch International Research Network.
  22. ↑ Denice, Doreen. "Towards the Eradication of Child Labour in Pakistan". The Fletcher School Online Journal.
  23. ↑ Silvers, Jonathan. "Child Labour in Pakistan". The Atlantic.
  24. ↑ "Child Protection". UNICEF. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
  25. ↑ "Zohra Shah killed for mistakenly releasing parrots from the cage". Europe, Africa, Middle East, Tribune, Breaking News, World News. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  26. ↑ Naseer, Tahir (3 June 2020). "8-year-old girl 'beaten, killed' by employers in Rawalpindi over setting free their parrots: FIR". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.