Noted human and child rights activist and Madadgaar National Helpline founder Zia Ahmed Awan warmly welcomed the new anti-child labour law passed by the Sindh Assembly, and said that it was still an uphill task to end the menace of domestic child labour.
He said they greatly appreciate the Sindh assembly for passing this law, and added that it was in fact an old federal law which is not being adopted by the provinces after devolution of powers to them. He said there was a dire need to focus on the issues of domestic child labour, as it is a very serious issue. He said in lot of houses children are engaged in domestic work and there are no working hours for them, nor any social security net. These children are also exploited and abused and this issue should be tackled seriously, he added.
He said the ending of domestic child labour should be linked to provision of social security, education and welfare cover to the disengaged domestic child labour to save them from becoming street children. He said the departments related to social welfare, Zakat and Usher also need to play their due role in rehabilitation of such children. He said many poor families send their minor children to work in homes and workplaces as they cannot feed and educate these children; hence this issue is also linked to overall poverty eradication and improving socio-economic status of the poor segments of our society.
He said the Madadgaar helpline has been raising the issues related to the rights of women and children for a long time. He said we also provide legal assistance in these cases and demanded to engage social welfare and other related departments in efforts to end domestic child labour and rehabilitate such children after passing strict laws against the menace.
