LAHORE: Child rights activists on Sunday urged the federal and provincial governments to take drastic steps to abolish child labour at kilns in the province.
“Child labour is one of the worst forms of modern-day slavery”, they said.
Talking to APP, the experts, while urging a ‘strategic policy plan’ to curb the menace, called for collective action and mutual cooperation to end child labour from the country.
Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF) secretary, Syeda Kaneez Fatima, said that child labourers at kilns were being pushed towards a difficult life. She urged the government to implement the Child Protection Law in letter and spirit. Fatima said that a large number of children still constitute a significant part of the labour force in Pakistan.
“Legislation relating to child employment is still not aligned with Article 25-A of the Constitution,” she pointed out.
Replying to a question, she said that the article gave each child a right to education but unfortunately, the employment of children remained unaddressed, particularly in sectors like agriculture, factories, small car workshops, shops, hotels, cinemas, vending on streets, fishing industry, mining, brick kilns, weaving, bracelet making, packing and construction.
Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Executive Director Dr Karamat Ali said that due to child labour, Pakistan was facing a number of problems including poverty, ignorance and low illiteracy rate.
He said that unfortunately, a majority of the 4.5 million brick-kiln workers in Pakistan were facing wages payment problems. Karamat said that children of labourers and workers should be given top priority, who played a key role in strengthening the national economy, adding that targets for development could not be achieved without prosperity, empowerment and due respect of workers.
Zehra Khan, a noted labour rights expert said in Pakistan, the economy had been shifting from the formal to non-formal sector rapidly.
She said that all these basic rights that should have been given to child-labour as per the Constitution of the country, labour laws and different international labour conventions and standards, were being denied.
