‘6.4m children out of school in Sindh and most engaged in child labour’

On the eve of World Day Against Child Labour, the Hari Welfare Association (HWA) said on Friday that children in Sindh province were engaged in the worst forms of child labour with indecent and inhuman living and working conditions mainly because of the non-implementation of several bills related to them.

The rights body said the non-implementation of the Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2013, the Sindh Bonded Labour System Abolition Act, 2015, the Sindh Prohibition of Employment of Children Act, 2017, The Sindh Child Protection Authority Act, 2011, and Sindh Tenancy Act, 1950, posed question mark on a performance of the authorities in the province. It said that in Sindh, 6.4 million children were out of school, and the vast majority was engaged in child labour.

The HWA estimates that there are about 1.7 million bonded labourers in Sindh; of these, over 700,000 children are bonded labourers working under indecent and inhuman working and living conditions imposed by their landlords in the agriculture sector.

According to the data collected by the HWA, from 2013 to 2020, on the orders of courts in Sindh, 3,030 children, including a few weeks old minors, were released along with their families from the custody of landlords in the agriculture sector. In 2020, 915 children were released.

Besides the agriculture sector, children under 15 years of age are exploited, abused and tortured in bangle, brick kiln, fisheries, auto workshops, cotton picking, and chili-picking sectors/activities in the province, and labour inspectors, social welfare officers and child protection officers do not reach and rescue them, the HWA said.

“These children often work as helping hands to their adult family members and are not paid for their labour. However, if they are provided wages, these are extremely low. “Increasing child labour is not the outcome of poverty. However, these children cause the vicious cycle of poverty, and their labour also reinforces discrimination and social inequality.”

The HWA deplored that the Covid-19 pandemic had also added to the miseries of children and their families. “Because of the unavailability of work for adults, inflation, and low-paid work, low-income families have increasingly pushed their children to join hazardous labour,” it said.

According to the Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, it is a crime that if a child below 16 years of age is not sent to school but is engaged in labour. However, government officials do not take action to bring children to school.

The HWA said that the government and the line agencies lacked commitment and will to implement laws and end miseries in children’s lives. It demanded that the government and the relevant departments take the matter seriously and help children reach school rather than workplace, where they were abused, exploited and tortured.