National Commission on the Status of Women Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz on Saturday said that comprehensive legislation was imperative in order to protect children from social evils.
Sharing her remarks about certain domestic labour issues, she said that unfortunately there is no specific law in the constitution for ensuring the rights of domestic or home-based workers.
“Legislation on child labour does not address issues of domestic workers as all age groups are involved in it,” she told APP.
Specific cases related to violence towards children involved in domestic work were reported in the past, which point out a number of social ills such as domestic violence, minor domestic labour, lack of child education and child trafficking, she said.
Article 25 (A) assures free and compulsory secondary education as a fundamental right for children but these cases reveal that some children are still out of schools.
Furthermore, she said, some poor people living in slums or far flung areas send their children for domestic work through agents.
According to Mumtaz, the issue is also related to trafficking in some sense as these agents take the children to other cities without consulting or informing the parents, and there is no direct contact of these children with their families.
The chairperson further said after legislation, the second crucial step is proper implementation of child labour and domestic violence laws.
She further said that a proper monitoring mechanism is also obligatory to check the welfare of children and any violation in this regard should be reported at a proper forum.
The NCSW head said that under the ministry of human rights, a help-line (1099) has been set up to provide free legal aid to people so that violations can be reported for legal action to be taken against those who hire children.
She said people living in slums should also be made aware of this facility so that they can receive adequate information before sending a family member to work or if they face trouble in getting information of their whereabouts.
