CHILD LABOUR IN PAKISTAN

Alternative Income

ASMA IRFAN
 Definition
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child defines a child as anyone below the age of
18.
• “Child labour” is defined as work that deprives
children of their
• childhood,
• potential and
• dignity, and
• that is harmful to physical and mental development.
 Facts & Figures
• In 2004, 218 million children engaged in child
labour
• 126 million children are aged 5–17 are engaged in
hazardous work.
 Facts & Figures
• Asia-Pacific region accounts for the largest
number of child labourers with 122 million
• Child labour can also be found in industrial
countries.
• According to the UK
Committee for UNICEF,
poverty is the most common
factor contributing to child
labor
• The United States is the only
country that has not ratified
the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
 Facts & Figures
Pakistan
• Reuters has reported that more than 12.5 million children
are involved in child labor in Pakistan.
• Pakistan’s Labor Force Survey for year 2014-15 showed
that:
• Children aged between 10 -14 years active in child labor:
• 61% were boys &
• 88% from rural areas
 Possible Solutions
• Better employment prospects for the parents
 Lower the financial burden of the family thereby facilitating
attendance in schools
• Free education for affected children
 The burden of school fees is eliminated and hence more
children are likely to undergo schooling
• Stringent laws to check child labour
 Laws and policies are key instruments to ensure children
rights
 The Solution
Alternative income to replace their
child’s employment
• Poverty is the root cause of child
labour
• Poor families are entangled in a
vicious circle
• Credit and finance schemes are
interest-based and hence susceptible
to gradually burgeoning returns
• The solution lies in ownership-
based cottage industry
 Small scale Cottage Industry
• No Capital investment involved
• Minimal or no technical expertise required
• Minimal human resource requirement
• Modular design – business can be expanded depending
upon demand
• Products are usually of daily use, inexpensive and
everybody’s requirement – hence no special marketing
practices are to be employed
 Small scale egg business
• Business can start with 12 layer
hens.
• 12 layer hens will lay at least
nine to 10 eggs a day
• With the current rate a dozen
eggs cost about Rs 130
• On average, with 12 hens an
income of Rs 3250 per month is
generated
• This is more income than that
earned by a child in any job (in
Pakistan).
 Roof top farming
• Vegetables of daily use can be grown on rooftop
or in pots placed in sunlight
• Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Radishes, Beans, Potatoes, Onions, Carrots,
Beetroot, Lettuce, Garlic, Chilies and Peppers, Gourds, Eggplant.
• Even citrus like lemon can be grown in big pots
• Vegetables are a commodity with reasonable value and have
considerable potential to add to family income
 Home – based Bakery
• Home kitchen is employed to bake cakes and other
bakery items
• Potential to give good earning for a family
• School fees and extra income can be easily generated
 Home – stitching
• The profession is as old as human kind.
• With little investment and skill a reasonable amount of
income is generated
• 1 x suit per week can generate as much as Rs 5000 per
month.
• Enough to replace 1 kid employed in child labour and pay
for his school fees as well
 Perceived Results & Impact
(for the family)
• Small and home-based businesses allow children
to
• retain their childhood activities
• Improve health and well being
• Evade the bonded labour and abuse at workplace
• Continue or rejoin the schooling process
• Better skill attainment if they join vocational training
• Contribute to their home-business and hence gain
confidence
• Better income potential and adulthood
 Perceived Results & Impact
(for the society)
• Small and home-based businesses:
• Economic activity is generated
• Home grown organic vegetables and eggs provide more
nutritious food to the society
• Society is uplifted as educated children turn into groomed
adults and add to the social fabric
• Crime rate decreases as poverty is alleviated
• Health state of society improves as children are brought
out of hazardous working environment
• Enhanced skill level for children opting for vocational trg
• Wages are improved for adult labour resulting in enhanced
income potential for the labor class
 Global effects
• The availability of cheap, unskilled child labour
allows employers to avoid investing in fixed
capital and upgrading production processes that
results in dampening technological progress,
labour productivity and output growth
• Withdrawing children from the labour force
results in
• increasing the cost of labour (wages)
• leads to higher investment
• innovations and long run growth
 Global effects
• Employers prefer to hire children rather than adults –
increases adult unemployment
• Forces adults to put their children to work generating a
vicious circle – child and adult workers can be substitutes
for one another
• If adult wages are downward flexible child labour is
likely to decrease adult wages without affecting adult
employment
 Global effects
• With the elimination of child labor, a nation
prospers and can play a more effective role in the
comity of nations
• Globally, health problems are reduced
• A country with comparatively reduced poverty
index can exhibit a higher pace of development
• Improved productivity
• Social uplift
 Steps taken locally (in Pakistan)
• Pakistan Agriculture Research council (PARC) provides
seeds and advice for kitchen gardening.
• According to PARC the average vegetable gardener can
expect to harvest Rs 1000 worth of harvest from an
investment of Rs 300-500.
• Kitchen Garden in KPK (left) and Sangar, Sindh (Right)
 Chicken & Egg business
• Rawalpindi livestock department aims to distribute 2.5
million units with each unit comprising four chickens and
a cockerel @ Rs1,200
• Each chicken is capable of laying around 150 eggs/ year
and can be farmed without any special meal as they can
be fed kitchen waste at home
 Steps taken globally
• Bill Gates foundation partnered with Heifer International for
donating 100,000 chickens.
• Gates found that after 3months, a typical owner of 8-10 chickens
yield a flock of 40 chicks. With $5 per chicken, which is typical in
West Africa, an owner can earn over $1,000 a year. The extreme-
poverty line, meanwhile, hovers around $700 a year.

West Africa has one of

the highest incidence of
Child labour. With
poverty receding, child
labour is also likely to
reduce
 References
• UNICEF website. Child Protection Information sheet.
• UN Human rights website. Office of the High Commissioner of human rights.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._
ratification_of_the_Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child
• Our world in Data
• Pakistan Labour Force Survey
• Abdullahi, Idris Isyaku, Zaleha Mohd Noor, Rusmawati Said, and Ahmad
Zubaidi Baharumshah. "Does Poverty Influence Prevalence of Child Labour in
Developing Countries?." International Journal of Economics and Financial
Issues 6, no. 1 (2016): 7-12.
• Pakistan Agriculture Research Council
• Punjab Government Livestock Department
• “Bill Gates explains why chickens are the ultimate solution to poverty”. https://
www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-is-using-chickens-to-end-poverty-2016-6