Child labor: Pakistan's biggest problem

Child Labor in Pakistan

According to the International Labor Organization, approximately 211 million children are working around the world. These children range from ages five to 14, and most are working in order to provide support for their poor families. Nearly 128 products from 70 countries are made through child labor – many cases of which are forced child labor.

Child labor in Pakistan? For many years, Pakistan’s reputation has been notorious as one of the worst child labor offenders. In recent years, child labor prevention efforts have been heightened. Beginning in 2017, a province in Pakistan passed a new law banning child labor. Could this province be a guide for the rest of the nation? Here are the three things you need to know about child labor in Pakistan and how lawmakers are putting an end to this problem.

More than 12.5 million children are involved in child labor in Pakistan. According to Reuters, “Pakistan’s Labour Force Survey, 2014-15 showed that of those children aged between 10 and 14 years active in child labor, 61 percent were boys and 88 percent came from rural areas.”

In Pakistan, 38.8 percent of the population is living in poverty, with one in four individuals living in acute poverty. For many citizens in Pakistan, it is hard to find a job or to secure one paying enough to provide for a family. Students from impoverished backgrounds who are unable to enter school are most likely to become affected by child labor in Pakistan.

Labor laws in Pakistan

The Employment of Children Act 1991 defines “child” as a person below 14 years of age and an “adolescent” as a person below 18 years of age (the definitions of child and adolescent in this act override these definitions in other labor laws). The Constitution of Pakistan also regards the minimum age as 14 years. However, the 18th amendment has actually raised the minimum age up to 16 years without amending the labor laws, so contradiction continues. Article 25(A) of the Constitution says that the state now has to provide compulsory education to all children between the ages of five and sixteen years, which means that, a child can’t be allowed to work before 16 years of age.

The minimum age for admission to work is set under the Mines Act 1923 (15 years), Factories Act 1934 as well as its provincial variants enacted after devolution (14 years), Shops & Establishments Ordinance 1969 and its provincial variants enacted in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (14 years) and Road Transport Workers Ordinance 1961 (18 years).

The minimum age for starting work is 14 years under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prohibition of Employment of Children Act, 2015 and Sindh Prohibition of Employment of Children Act, 2017.

The minimum age for admission to work is raised to 15 years under Punjab Restriction on Employment of Children Ordinance 2016. The minimum age for admission to work is also set as 14 years in draft legislation by Baluchistan.

The minimum age for admission to work is raised to 15 years in the draft legislation of Islamabad Capital Territory (a private member bill submitted in the Senate of Pakistan, the upper house of the Parliament).

Here are a few tips for helping end child labor:

1. Educate yourself.
   Use resources such as those suggested here, and then share what you learn with friends, family, co-workers, and others, and work together to increase your “voting” power.
2. Contact retail stores, manufacturers, and importers.
   Kindly ask them questions about the origins of their products. Let them know you want to buy products that don’t involve child labor, and give them suggestions for ethical products and services they can offer instead.
3. Buy fair trade and sweatshop-free products whenever possible.
   Buy used when you can’t. Or borrow, share, trade, make it yourself, etc.
   Look for certified fair trade labels such as Fair Trade Certified, Fairtrade America, and the Goodweave label to ensure that you’re supporting positive practices that don’t involve child labor.
   Also be sure to use Food Empowerment Project’s Chocolate List to ensure that the chocolate you’re purchasing wasn’t made using child labor.
4. Grow more of your own food.
   Buy from farmer’s markets (verify their labor practices first), Community Supported Agriculture, and U-Pick farms.
5. Share your time and money.
   Forgo that daily latte or expensive make-up or go out to eat a bit less, and funnel that money toward supporting reputable groups that are helping free children from exploitative labor and helping them get a good education. Volunteer your time when you can.
6. Contact local, regional, and national legislators.
   Ask them to pass laws that ensure no products in your city/state/country are made with child labor, and encourage them to adopt “codes of conduct” which include concern for humane, sustainable, just practices.
7. Contact businesses that do business in countries that have child labor.
   Encourage them to put pressure on government officials to take appropriate action and on businesses that use child labor to use sustainable, fair-trade practices.
8. Invest ethically.
   If you’re a shareholder, use your voice to ensure that your companies support humane, sustainable, just practices that don’t include child labor.
9. Contact government leaders.
   Write letters to the heads of countries that permit any form of child slavery/forced labor and ask them to strengthen and enforce their laws, and to increase educational opportunities for children and humane, sustainable business opportunities for adults.
10. Educate others.
    Give presentations to schools, communities of faith, nonprofits, and other groups to educate them about child labor issues and encourage positive action.

Stopping such insidious practices isn’t easy, but there are choices that all of us can make to improve conditions for children, to reduce our contribution to child labor, and to facilitate an end to the oppression and exploitation of children.

https://borgenproject.org/child-labor-in-pakistan/

https://pace.pk/child-labor-social-menace-labor-laws-pakistan-css-pakistan-affairs/

https://humaneeducation.org/blog/2017/10-tips-for-helping-end-child-labor/

Documentary: Child Labor in Pakistan | Labor Day 2017