There is an urgent need to put an immediate ban on child labour, specifically domestic child labour, by adding it to the schedule of banned occupations under the Employment of Children Act 2011. This was stated by child right organisation, SPARC’s members in a press release issued on Friday.
The members said child labour is an important and serious global issue as The International Labour Organisation (ILO) defines child labour as when a child is working during early age, if they overwork, or if they work due to the psychologically, socially, and materialistic pressure.
Pakistan is not among the countries where substantial efforts have been made to eliminate child labour. On the contrary, the country stands in the first row of those states where child labour is an increasing phenomenon. In Pakistan it is heavily rampant; around 30 percent of our population is leading lives below the poverty line wherein due to poverty, the people are deprived of basic necessities of life like clothing, shelter, food, education and medication.
The children of these people will be forced to become labourers or workers in order to survive, said a SPARC member.
Child labour is a complex problem which demands a range of solutions. There is no better way to prevent child labour than to make education compulsory, said another member of the organisation.
In Pakistan, children aged between 5-14 are above 40 million. During the past year, the federal bureau of statistics released the results of its survey funded by ILO’s international programme for the elimination of child labour.
The findings were that 3.8 million children form the age group of 5-14 years are working in Pakistan out of a total of 40 million children in this age group. Fifty percent of these economically active children are in the age group of 5 to 9 years. Out of these 3.8 million children; 2.7 million are working in the agriculture sector, according to the press release.
The members of SPARC child right club urged the introduction of a comprehensive legislative development to ban child labour in all sectors of the economy. They said the application of the laws needs to be strengthened and properly implemented through effective penalties. Composite policies should be developed to address the issue of child labour and resources should be allocated proportionately. Awareness must be raised and the attention of parents ought to be diverted to the education of their children. They also said child labour laws should be put into practice strictly. In addition, the educational system of the country must be reshaped and restructured according to national development goals.
‘Pakistan needs to step up to the plate and protect its children’
