Tortured to death

It should not be this hard to get people to stop perpetrating horrific violence and abuse against poor children. The state should not have to remind people that just because someone washes your dirty clothes and sweeps your floor it does not entitle you to do as you please with them. And, most importantly, no child should have to do this sort of work so that their family can survive in the first place. Sadly, Pakistan is a country where all of this happens and appears to be happening with greater frequency. Reports have emerged of a 12-year-old house help allegedly being tortured to death by the couple employing her, who are accused of beating the poor girl with iron rods and sticks. The incident took place in a suburb of Sargodha and a murder case has been registered against the accused. The husband is apparently a contractor of the toll plaza and he and his wife are now on the run.

The case bears all the hallmarks of what happened to another minor girl employed by a relatively influential couple as a domestic worker last year in Islamabad. Rizwana, then aged just 13, was allegedly beaten by the wife of a civil judge and also burnt with a hot iron. The injuries were so severe that they became infected and led to the young girl having to be hospitalized. There was also the case of 10-year-old Fatima Furiro in Ranipur Sindh, who also lost her life after being tortured and allegedly sexually abused as well. Just as in the cases of Fatima and Rizwana, this latest victim is also under the legal age limit for employment as domestic help, which is 15 years in Punjab. Aside from age requirements, there are several official acts that set the minimum standards and requirements for how domestic workers must be treated.

That being said, if employers are not bothering to adhere to the age limit, it is unsurprising that they cannot be relied on to follow the other requirements either. Then there is the fact that, all too often, people simply ignore or are just plain unaware of what the law even says in Pakistan. Even those tasked with enforcing the law, such as the civil judge in Rizwana’s case, do not seem too bothered with following it when it comes to child labour. If anything, the ability to ignore or remain ignorant of the law tends to increase as one ascends the socioeconomic ladder and the International Labour Organization, in a report from July 2022, estimates that a quarter of all Pakistani households employ child domestic help, with the majority being girls under the legal age limits. When one combines this weak rule of law with widespread poverty and lack of basic services, we get an environment that is conducive to abuse with impunity. Unfortunately, this means that the fate of these girls will continue to be shared by others among the estimated 12 million child labourers in Pakistan.