Millions of children are forced to work as bonded labour in Pakistan simply because their parents have to clear long outstanding multiplying loans accumulated over decades bonded to their masters owing to their masters, said Society for the Protection of Rights of the Child (SPARC) Punjab Manager Sajjad Cheema.
Cheema who was in Faisalabad to attend a meeting of Child Rights Committee (CRC), the district wing of SPARC, was talking to Pakistan Today about the depth of the problem. He said the scourge of bonded labour is prevalent more or less in all South Asian societies. “However this black spot has deeper imprints on the face of Indian, Pakistani and Nepali societies,” he added.
Giving a brief introduction of his organization, Sajjad Cheema said SPARC was an independent non-governmental organisation registered as a society in Pakistan since 1992 and had been working exclusively on child-related issues. “We, as an organisation, are drawing inspiration from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,” he said.
“It was established to act as an advocacy group for child rights,” he explained. “Expanding its horizons from initial focus on protecting breastfeeding against the marketing of baby milks and foods, the NGO extended itself to more serious issues like child labour, juvenile justice, education and violence against children. SPARC has also from time to time taken up issues that ultimately affect the condition of children such as corruption, freedom of association and the myth or reality of NGOs,” said Cheema.
“SPARC has been instrumental in introducing the concept of child rights and in highlighting the issues that were previously not even a part of our national debate,” he said. “Despite a number of measures taken by the government, there is little improvement in the system to curb bonded labour,” he said and added it was because the vigilance committees remained dormant, the funds for the rehabilitation and welfare of freed bonded labourers were not utilised and there were no major arrests or convictions under the law. However, he was determined to bring about a positive change through the mass awareness campaign spearheaded by SPARC. “Under these challenging realities, SPARC is striving hard to carry out its vision for the creation of a world in which children are valued and empowered and their rights are promoted and protected by the individuals and the whole society,” he vowed.
Cheema said SPARC acts to promote and protect the rights of children to empower tem within the framework of recognised standards through advocacy, research, awareness, human development and institutional capacity building.
He termed a number of factors responsible for the slow results which included lack of implementation and enforcement of the law, a low level of awareness amongst the legal community as well as the general public, weaknesses in the legal provisions and an overall strong feudal hold over the law enforcement and bureaucratic elite of the country. “These factors have contributed to the gravity of the matter and we are focusing on these areas through a multi-pronged strategy,” he remarked.