Activities arranged to mark World Day against Child Labour

PESHAWAR: The Society for Protection of Rights of the Child (SPARC) marked the World Day against Child Labour (June 12) by arranging activities at its four centres for street children in Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad and Multan.

The global theme this year was to promotion of health and safety at workplace. The SPARC conducted safety and protection-related sessions with the employed children of its centres. It raised awareness about the importance of health and hygiene. SPARC held a meeting with stakeholders of automobile, workshops and other employers who have engaged children in work.

The Centre for Street Children (CSC) Peshawar arranged awareness session and a street walk in the community about child labour and its effects on society. The purpose was to guide them about the consequences of employment of children and how it can be hazardous for them.

The children as young as 7- 8 years old are involved in child labour and are subjected to long working hours, little rest and vulnerability to physical, mental and sexual torture.

The CSC Manager Suhail Akhtar added that in Pakistan, no child labour survey had been conducted since 1996 and the last estimated statistics were 3.33 million child laborers in Pakistan. He said Pakistan had been ranked number 3 in the world in prevalence of slavery with the highest (Global Slavery Index - 2013).

Whereas based on the national Labour Force Survey 2010-2011, a publication titled Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) in South Asia by ILO, UNICEF and World Bank indicated that 5.7 million 10-17-year-old, representing almost 20 per cent of all children in the age group, are involved in labour in Pakistan.

In 2017, some efforts were initiated across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh. However the most substantial effort was taken by government of Punjab which completed the data collection tasks with the help of UNESCO.