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> Articles & Columns > Society and Culture >>

iety and Culture

ILD LABOR IN PAKISTAN

an Arshad, Lahore)

has given human beings the boon of wisdom and discretion to think upon the signs of the universe and to draw clusions. That is the reason why they disclose the hidden facts of it and its structure and have made remarkable gress in many walks of life. Children are the flowers of heaven. They are the most beautiful and purest creation of . They are innocent both inwardly and outwardly. No doubt, they are the beauty of this world. Early in the morning n the children put on different kinds of clothes and begin to go to schools for the sake of knowledge, we feel a cific kind of joy through their innocence.

there are also other children, those who cannot go to schools due to financial problems, they only watch others go to schools and ely wish to seek knowledge.It is due to many hindrances and difficulties; desperate conditions that they face in life. Having been f ll their aspirations, dreams and other wishes, they are pressed to earn a living for themselves and for their families. It is also a fa e are many children who play a key role in sustaining the economically life of their family without which, their families would not b ake ends meet. These are also part of our society who have forgotten the pleasures of their childhood. When a child in addition to ng education, earns his livelihood, this act of earning a livelihood is called as child Labour. The concept of child Labour got much ntion during the 1990s when European countries announced a ban on the goods of the less-developed countries because of child ur.

International Labour Organization (ILO) defines child Labour as:

hen a child is working during early age e overworks or gives over time to Labour e works due to the psychologically, socially, and materialistic pressure e becomes ready to Labour on a very low pay

her definition states:

d Labour is generally speaking work for children that harms them or exploits them in some way (physically, mentally, morally or king access to education), ed Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund(UNICEF) defines child as anyone below the age of 18, and child Labour as of work performed by children below age 18. (UNICEF)

Child Labour is an important and a serious global issue through which all and sundry countries of the world are directly or indirectly affected, but, it is very common in Latin America, Africa and Asia. According to some, in sev Asian countries 1/10 manpower consists of child Labour. In India the number of children between the ages of 10 has crossed above 44 million, in Pakistan this number is from 8 to 10 million, in Bangladesh 8-12 million, in Braz million, whereas their number is 12 million in Nigeria.

akistan children aged 5-14 are above 40 million.During the last year, the Federal Bureau of Statistics released the results of its su ed by ILOs IPEC (International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour). The findings were that 3.8 million children age group ears are working in Pakistan out of total 40 million children in this age group; fifty percent of these economically active children a

group of 5 to 9 years. Even out of these 3.8 million economically active children, 2.7 million were claimed to be working in the culture sector. Two million and four hundred thousand (73%) of them were said to be boys.

ng the year 2001 and 2002 the government of Pakistan carried out a series of consultation of tripartite partners and stakeholders our Department, trade unions, employers and NGOs) in all the provinces. The objective was to identify the occupations and the gories of work, which may be considered as hazardous under the provisions of ILO Convention 182. As a result of these deliberati onal consensus list of occupations and categories of work was identified, which is given below:

ature of occupation-category of work ork inside under ground mines over ground quarries, including blasting and assisting in blasting ork with power driven cutting machinery like saws, shears, and guillotines, ( Thrashers, fodder cutting machines, also marbles) ork with live electrical wires over 50V. l operation related to leather tanning process e.g. soaking, dehairing, liming chrome tanning, deliming, pickling defleshing, and in cation. ixing or application or pesticides insecticide/fumigation. andblasting and other work involving exposure to free silica. ork with exposure to ALL toxic, explosive and carcinogenic chemicals e.g. asbestos, benzene, ammonia, chlorine, sulphur dioxide, ogen sulphide, sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, caustic soda, phosphorus, benzidene dyes, isocyanides, carbon chloride, carbon disulphide, epoxy, resins, formaldehyde, metal fumes, heavy metals like nickel, mercury chromium, lead, arseni llium, fiber glass, and ork with exposure to cement dust (cement industry) Work with exposure to coal dust Manufacture and sale of fireworks explosives Work at the sites where Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) are filled in cylinders. Work on glass and metal furnaces Work in the clothe printing, dyeing and finishing sections Work inside sewer pipelines, pits, storage tanks Stone crushing Lifting and carrying of heavy weight specially in transport industry ( 15b kg and above) Work between 10 pm to 8 am ( Hotel Industry) Carpet waving Working 2 meter above the floor All scavenging including hospital waste tobacco process ( including Niswar) and Manufacturing Deep fishing ( commercial fishing/ sea food and fish processing Sheep casing and wool industry Ship breaking Surgical instrument manufacturing specially in vendors workshop Bangles glass, furnaces

w we can easily imagine in the light of above mentioned facts and figures how the nations future namely children deprived of pleasures of life, ignorance has reduced their abilities of thinking right or differentiating between right wrong, as well as their life-chances, to their non-access to education. It is true that child Labour is not an isolated nomenon.

an outcome of a multitude of socio-economic factors and has its roots in poverty, lack of opportunities, high rate of population gr mployment, uneven distribution of wealth and resources, outdated social customs and norms and plethora of other factors. Accord United Nations Development Program (UNDP) the daily income of 65.5% people of Pakistan is below 2 U.S. dollars a day. Accordin Asian Development Bank (ADB) Report, 47 million people in Pakistan are leading lines below the line of poverty, whereas the Soci y Development Centre (SDPC) Karachi has stated in one of its reports that the ratio of poverty in Pakistan was 33% during 1999 eased in 2001 and reached 38%. The ratio of poverty in the current year is around 30%.

sider the point that if 30% of our countrys total population is leading life below the poverty-line wherein the people are deprived o c necessities of life like clothing, shelter, food, education and medication, the children of these people will be forced to become

urers or workers in order to survive. Another reason of child Labour in Pakistan is that our people dont have the security of socia e is no aid plan or allowance for children in our country. Class-based education system is another reason for increasing child Labo ges lack standardized education systems and as a result, child Labour is on increase in rural areas. The government has not put it practice to stop child Labour in our country. Employers after exploiting child Labour, extract a large surplus, whereas child Labour ite increasing poverty, unemployment and other problems, are pressed to do anything and everything for their livelihood and the ival of their families.

Child Labour is a complex problem which demands a range of solutions. There is no better way to prevent child Labour than to make education compulsory. The West understood this a long time ago. Laws were enacted very to secure continued education for working children; and now they have gone a step forward, and required comp of at least the preliminary education of the child before he or she starts work.

in Luther as back far 1524 sent a letter to German Municipalities insisting it was their duty to provide schools, and the duty of par ducate their children. In Sweden, a royal decree in 1723 instructed parents and guardians to diligently see to it that their children ed themselves to book reading. In Europe, one country after another; Scotland, Prussia (1817), Austria (1869), France, United dom (1880) and Italy made education compulsory. In 1872, Japan became the first non-Western country to make elementary sch ation compulsory with the declaration by the Meiji Govt.

present government in Pakistan has made elementary education compulsory. Along with this, the government has distributed free ks in primary schools so that parents, who cannot afford their childrens school expenses, send their children to schools. The majo at this decision must be acted upon at all levels. There is strict need to stop child Labour in this country. Awareness must be raise attention of parents ought to be diverted to the education of their children. Child Labour Laws should be put into practice strictly. tion, the educational system of the country-must be reshaped and restructured according to national development goals. The orph other deserving children must be helped financially on a prolonged basis. It is also essential to eliminate child Labour from the cou the political, economical and social system of the country are need to be reshaped and such steps taken that make child Labour i ntry a crime. They should bring on the well-being of a lay man, good governance and end to exploitative thinking. If we succeed to n these principles, our country can easily get rid of this problem i.e. child Labour. The agreement that has recently been approved stan, Norway and ILO to eradicate child Labour must be given importance and we hope that our rulers must put this agreement in tice using all means at their disposal.

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H. Impact of Child Labor on Children s Lives The safe growth of children is the only way for any society to thrive and ensure future survival. In the middle of extreme poverty however the safe growth of children largely remains at risk which has negative bearings on national development as children are the next generations to chain the past with the future through their productive role in society. Children who enter into the labor market in both the formal and informal economic sectors in the country suffer tremendously. The vulnerability of working children for various forms of rights violations and health related problems

are evident. The impacts of child labor on the life of working children could be discussed as short term and long term. 1. Short-term impact The short term impacts of child labor on the working children are mainly have the nature of basic rights violations. Regardless of what the CRC, the African Charter on the Rights of the Child and the ILO Conventions that Ethiopia has come to ratify and amalgamated into its national policies, the rights of working children are subject to violations by employers, parents or guardians, and the society at large. According to Ato Meseret (the Executive Director of FSCE), these violations of rights committed against working children include the denial of the rights of the working child to access to education, to get basic health care services, the right to play, the right to remain in his/her place of origin and the likes. Lack of Access to Education: The qualitative data gathered through the in depth interview with experts in the area of child labor working in different national and international NGOs revealed that, most parents in especially in rural parts of the country tend to discourage their children from going to schools to attend their education. This is mainly because of the deepened household poverty that force rural household to mobilize the labor source they can command in the family to produce

28 Ibid. P.51 29 Child Labor: Save the Children UK:P. 22 22 enough on the subsistence farming to sustain the family. According to Ato Alemu (Program Director in CHaDET, a national NGO), rural households use the labor of children to maximize productivity on the increasingly fragmented plots of agricultural land. As the children involve massively in the subsistence agricultural productions there is little room for them to pursue tier education. The informants also capitalize on the fact that, even areas where educational faculties exist in rural parts of the country most peasant households found it difficult to send their children to

school. Most of the peasant households do not afford the costs of education 30 that i.e. to buy education materials and cloth for their children who usually are more than 5 per a peasant household. The poverty situation in both rural and urban settings therefore prevents most of the working children from accessing education at their early stages of development. Basic Health Services: Most of the studies in the areas of child labor in the country reveal that working children are forced to work under arduous conditions by their employers or parents/guardians. As a result they are exposed to various types of health problems in their place of work. Despite their contribution to maximization of the household income in rural as well as urban contexts, they can hardly get treatments when they face health related problems caused by their involvement in hard labor. Their employers in the urban formal and informal sectors do not provide them with the necessary health care service enough time to rest that exacerbates their ill health conditions. In rural households the family level poverty does not allow parents to take their children who support the family by involving in hard labor in the agricultural fields. What is more, according to Ato Letsa Lela (a project manager in MCDP, Chencha Child Trafficking Project) is that in the rural parts of the country coverage of basic health service is still at low level and the and is not readily accessible for the working children in peasant households. The impact of child labor on the children is therefore pronounced when it comes to the immediate need of the children to get access to the health service. The Right to Play and Protection: Children are entitled to play with their peers as it is the natural right of the children in their early developmental stages. The United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the African Charter on the Rights of the Child and above all the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia affirm that children have absolute right to play with their peers during their formative age. Child labor however deters children from enjoying this uninfringeable right to play. As a result of their occupation with hard work to assist their families in income generation or in an attempt to sustain themselves, working children do not

have time to play and nurture their whole social and psychological development with their peers and become productive citizens. The Right to Remain at Place of Origin: Most of the literatures on the issue of child labor in Ethiopia indicate that, children are usually forced to leave their place of origin to become bread winners. The migration of children voluntarily as well as forced by traffickers and brokers, from their place of origins is set off primarily by the need for child labor in urban as well as rural areas. As children move out from their place of origin, Ato Asebe said, will face a totally alien environment where they can hardly socialize and feel safe. The new environment in which the children are forced to work arduous jobs exposes them different health problems and abuses by adults. The severity of the situation is even harsher for the girls than the boys. The extreme forms of child labor

30 Education service is free in Ethiopia except for higher level of the education system. 23 exploitations result in the deprivation of children from getting appropriate adult supervision and affection of parents and society at large.

2. Long-term impact The long term impacts of child labor on the working children far more abhorrent and follow the short term impacts. Basically the long term impacts of child labor on the children can be discussed from two perspectives that are physical impacts and psycho-social impacts on the children. Physical Impacts of Child Labor on Working Children: According to the study conducted by MCDP on the situation of working children who are involved in traditional weaving activities, the working children face physiological problems in the long run as they work in suitable conditions necessary for the kind of job they are forced to do. According to Mrs, Mulu Haile, the Directress of MCDP, the weaver children have developed skin rushes, site problems, physical deformity with their appearance as they bow down for long hours working on the traditional (backward) weaving loom.

The home maid girls also face the same kind of physical problems as they work heavy duties that are not suitable for their age in households. Ato Girma, the program manager in CHaDET, explained that young girls employed in households as maids are expected to work for more than 12 hours a day without having sufficient rest. This causes different physical damages on the girls especially as they wash with their hands heavy clothes of the family. The situation is even worse for the porter boys corroding to the informant. The working boys carry heavy baggage to transport for their customers. The physical damage of transporting such heavy goods for their age is quite unbearable especially when they can not get treatments. In the formal sector of the economy both in rural agricultural sector and urban industrial sector the physical damage that working children face is abhorrent. The children work in a very dangerous working environment where they can be easily exposed to accidents. In on farm activities children might get hurt while tilling the land together with their adult relatives. In urban cottage industries the child workers sustain injuries quite easily as they are not able to handle machines like the adult workers. They will never be compensated for the physical accidents inflicted on them while working under such circumstances. The girls involved in child labor usually exposed to sexual abuse by their employers especially when they are working as maid servants in households. The girls are often raped by adult men and they usually suffer from fistula. The chance of contracting HIV/AIDS due the raping is so high and according to Ato Asebe (the program coordinator in Save the Children Finland Ethiopia) there are so many cases of such abuses committed against young girls in urban centers. Psycho-Social Impacts of Child Labor on Working Children: The working children suffer from different types of abuses that inflict severe damage on the psychological make up of the children. According to the study conducted on the child domestic workers by FSCE, most child domestic workers had shown strong signs of depression, frustration and anxiety during the study. This is mainly caused by the severe mistreatment of their employers and frequent abuses committed against the child domestic workers by members of the employing families. According to the study 24 the types of works that child domestic workers engaged in and the conditions in which they perform

their duties are so depressing that the children s self assertiveness and competence eroded over time. The denial of the right for education further exacerbates the problem of the child domestic workers and forces them to believe that they are worthless in the society at large. Observations can illustrate that most child laborers in urban areas are considered threats to the society and usually considered robbers, vanguard and thieves by the community. This perception of the society towards the working children creates negative attitude on the part of the working children towards the society and tend to be violent and criminal. Working children often consider themselves as worthless and outcast by the community. The negative implications of child labor in Ethiopia, according to Ato Meseret from FSCE, are not limited to the working children. He argues that child labor has a devastating impact on the future development of the country as its existence is dependent on the wellbeing of children who will take over the future of the country. According to the informant, the long term impacts of child labor are more severe than the short term impacts, as they will ultimately destroy the social fabrics in the country by producing youngsters who are unemployed, uneducated and desperate to make a living even by committing serious crimes. I. Conclusion The findings of the study clearly indicate that child labor in Ethiopia is not recognized as a big development challenge due to the perception of the society at large and the lack of government capacity and commitment to implement the existing laws, policies and international conventions in the country to prevent child labor exploitation. As the findings reveal the most crucial contributing factors for the practice of child labor exploitation is the extreme poverty that has forced most rural and urban households to use the labor of children to enhance family inc