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ISLAMABAD: Little hands, ragged clothes and sparkling eyes, the children appear busy in earning their livelihoods, seemingly unaware of their rights written in the country’s constitution as well as the religion.
The sight of these little workers is hardly a source of surprise now, as every one of us has consciously or unconsciously accepted the cruel reality that these angels, still in their school going age, need to be busy in some job for their survival.
Oblivious of the May Day and its history, the only thing known to them is the money, which they have to earn to feed their family.
Dozens of kids engaged in some sort of labour gave a blank look when asked by this scribe about the International Labour Day. These children are unaware of their rights and most of them are working in poor conditions getting lower wages.
May 1 is International Labour Day to commemorate a civil unrest in the late 19th century, when workers in industrialised countries demonstrated for improved working conditions, pay raises and rationalisation of working hours.
According to Unicef, an estimated 246 million children work, and nearly three quarters of them have jobs in hazardous places like mines or working with dangerous tools like machinery and pesticides. A large number of child labourers are girls and are susceptible to sexual exploitation.
The children interviewed by ‘Geo news’ said that they belong to impoverished families and their parents are unable to work and depend on their income for survival.
A six-year-old boy named Abdullah, who was busy in car cleaning at Aabpara market, said he hasn’t chosen this job out of choice, but his poor circumstances led him here.
“It is not that I am the sole earner of my family, as my father and three brothers also work, but even then its hard to make both ends meet,” he said. The poor kid lives in a small house along with his parents and six siblings in Noorpur Shahan.
“I want to go to school, but my circumstances do not allow me to do so,” he said. Abdullah manages to earn Rs100-150 by the end of the day, which according to him, are spent on the dinner.
Another 11-year-old young boy named Faizan works in an auto workshop on the daily wages of Rs80 and is a resident of Phulgran. “We are seven brothers and all are working in order to earn our livelihood,” he said. Faizan has never been to school and is working from the time he was able to learn the technicalities of auto repairing.
“I learned from someone that children under 18 are not allowed to work, but how can we survive if we leave our jobs,” he said.
A bubbly girl, Shehla, who was busy in cleaning the windscreens of cars at Chandni Chowk, said she lives in a slum near Khayaban-e-Sir Syed and all of her siblings do the same job. “We can’t satisfy our hunger by going to school, so we have to work, as we have no other option,” she said hurriedly lifting the wipers of a car. She said no one wants to miss out on good education and a high social status, but all do not have the same destiny. “We also wish to be educated and play leisurely, but we cant due to our circumstances,” she said.
According to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, “No child below the age of 14 shall be engaged in any factory or mine or in any other hazardous employment. All forms of forced labour and trafficking in human beings is prohibited.” A number of laws also contain provisions prohibiting child labour or regulating the working conditions of child and adolescent workers.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted by the UN General Assembly on November 20, 1989. The scope of this convention that Pakistan ratified in 1990 extends to persons up to the age of 18.
Article 32 of CRC reads, “State Parties recognise the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development”.
Despite the presence of so many laws, the issue of child labour is still a major issue, which needs to be tackled on immediate basis. While almost everyone agrees that child labour cannot be overlooked, the issue is complex. The cycle of poverty and its implications must be addressed properly, so that families can find other means to survive.
A private organisation is currently running a scheme in which poor children are paid for attending school, so that their income is not compromised while getting basic education. Such projects are needed to be launched by the government on a larger scale, so that a big number of illiterate children, attached with different businesses, could at least be able to acquire basic education, which is their legal and religious right. |
ISSN 1563-9479 
