Child Labour- An issue needs to be addressed

In Pakistan, we are facing the worst form of abuse in shape of child labour. In the name of domestic work, children face abuse and mistreatment within closed doors. While a majority of households in posh areas have employed children as domestic workers, there is no or little that has been done to ensure their safety and their physical and psychological and emotional well-being.

Every month, we hear a case of domestic child worker abused by the hands of the people who employ them. It is unfortunate that every event calls the attention of the concerned authorities after the debate on social and mainstream media but we don’t see strict actions taken against the culprits. Recently, there was an outcry after the incident involving Zohra, a child domestic worker who was mistreated within the walls of the house. The incident came into the limelight during the lockdown in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zohra Shah was a seven years old girl who was employed at a fancy house in Rawalpindi to take care of a child probably of her age. She was murdered brutally because she accidentally set free expensive parrots belonging to her employers.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), around 8.5 million people, including many children work as domestic workers in Pakistan. The fancy houses in which these children work are no more than prison cells for them. Children who get employed have minimum chances of getting formal education, which means they shall serve one employer or the other their entire lives. These are not just children who belong to poor families, they are future of this country, a future that is being wasted in the rattling sounds of utensils they are supposed to wash for the rest of their lives or they get the fate of Zohra. Similar to Zohra’s case there was another case which also caused a huge outcry on social media in 2018. A ten years old girl Tayyaba was working a maid in a judge’s house. Pictures of her bruised face and hands circulated, the judge and his wife were cleared of assault allegations but convicted of neglecting an injured child and sentenced to one year in jail.

Theoretically, it is illegal to employ anyone below the age of 15, but unfortunately, it remains a common practice in Pakistan. After much hue and cry, last year, after 8 years of debate, Punjab passed a law called, The Punjab Domestic Workers Act 2019. The law expressly states in Section 3 that ‘No child under the age of 15 years shall be allowed to work in a household in any capacity’. However, after a-year-and-a-half of the enactment of this particular legislation, it still requires efforts of the law enforcement agencies for the implementation of these laws.

Millions of children continue to suffer due to ignorance by the enforcement agencies to see children as a human resource and the future of this country, or maybe there is a general lack of humanity. Millions of children today become victims of sexual assault, human trafficking, slavery, drug abuse, child labour, begging and as domestic workers. Like anyone else, these children have the fundamental right to life and protection, which is the responsibility of the state to ensure. Moreover, the state institutions dealing with children need to make sure the provision of proper emotional and psychological support for these children. So that they can get an environment where they can thrive as responsible citizens and later on contribute to the society in a positive way.

 

by: Abeer Arshad 

 

Share it.