Child labor is a multidimensional systemic issue; thus, it cannot be addressed by mere legislative measures. In the context of Pakistan, where nearly 45% population is living below the poverty line, it is taking the shape of a crisis, requiring immediate policy intervention and socio-economic reforms.
Child labor is legislatively defined as taking labor from a child below the age of 14. The labor has many kinds. In the context of Pakistan, the most prominent forms of child labor include domestic chores, carpet weaving, brick kilns, begging, and mining, etc. Often, children, being vulnerable as minors and not able to make rational decisions in their interest, are subject to exploitation and abuse by their employers. This includes torture, harassment, and work without monetary compensation among others.
Despite Pakistan’s progressive legislation pursuant to the ratification of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182) and the Minimum Age Convention (No. 138), it is not able to nip this evil in the bud.[1] The Employment of Children Act 1991, and constitutional protections i.e. Article 37(e) principal policy requiring the State to make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work, ensuring that children and women are not employed in vocations unsuited to their age or sex, thus still lack robust implementation.[2]
Most prominent reasons behind this governance failure is non-consideration of socio-economic factors behind it. Poverty is one of the major causes that forces children to become a victim of child labor. Often, their guardians, mostly parents, put them willingly to child labor to make ends meet. Most of these cases involve non-payment of debt owed by their guardians resulting into their recruitment as child laborers as a form of compensation. Thus financial strings control the decision of their lives that often meet the death knell eventually, as demonstrated by the Zohra Shah case, a tragic murder of an eight-year-old girl in 2020 by her employers, preceded by brutal torture.[3]
The lack of education is also an important factor playing its massive role in child labor. The cost of education is not affordable by humble households due to poverty and thus prefer immediate source of income necessary for survival in the shape of child labor. Consequently this leads to intergenerational poverty where social mobility is seen as a far-fetched legend.
Recommendations
Thus, tackling poverty and lack of education simultaneously is necessary, along with legislative measures to eradicate this social issue entirely. However, after the 18th amendment, provincial autonomy translates into the lack of uniform national action regarding these two provincial subjects i.e., labor and education.
Though provinces have made progress in legislation to contain child labor, e.g., The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prohibition of Employment of Children Act 2015[4] and The Punjab Restriction on Employment of Children Act 2016,[5] etc., the lack of an integrated approach and coordination required in robust enforcement is lacking. The social protection policy interventions, e.g., BISP and Ehsaas program, proved effective to some extent to increase school enrolment of children while alleviating poverty, but require a human-rights approach specifically focused on child protection from labor.[6]
- It cannot be done without capacity-building of the labor police to monitor industries and other labor sites to detect child labor.
- Moreover, the informal economy is to be formalized via economic incentives to regularize the economy and avoid any loopholes used for labor exploitation of children
- The civil society is also to be taken onboard by the government to increase public awareness about the child labor and come up with community-based solutions ensuring sustainability of reforms.
- Furthermore, the public-private partnership is necessary pertaining to the scarcity of resources at the disposal of the government to address this issue constructively and effectively.
- Last but not least, the local governance infrastructure is to be empowered to allow administrative capacity required to address this issue at the grassroots level. Consequently, the bottom-up approach would lead to more structured and organized implementation of measures to prevent child labor with efficacy.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, child labor is not merely an economic symptom but a systemic social issue that cannot be addressed merely by progressive legislation. It involves various factors, i.e., poverty and lack of education, that lead to a lack of resources and incentivize an immediate source of income in the shape of child labor. Often, child laborers are exploited and abused pertaining to their lack of sound judgment to protect themselves by their employers and inability to escape economic pressures their households suffer from. This vicious cycle of exploitation and abuse erects a structure of capitalism that benefits only the employers while jeopardizing the rights and well-being of the child by prohibiting intellectual, physical, and mental growth via continuous imprisonment of its childhood. Thus, an integrated socio-economic policy intervention both at national and provincial level is required to address this evil robustly. The coordination of civil society and local community is required hence for effective bottom-up approach enjoying consensus-based solutions in a sustainable manner.
[1] https://rsilpak.org/2023/how-pakistans-socioeconomic-problems-are-leading-to-child-labour/
[2] https://sparcpk.org/child-labor/
[3] https://stopchildlabor.org/the-death-of-zohra-shah-is-a-call-to-action-child-domestic-servants-must-be-protected/
[4] https://kpcode.kp.gov.pk/uploads/2015_19_THE_KHYBER_PAKHTUNKHWA_PROHIBITION_OF_EMPLOYMENT_OF_CHILDREN_ACT_2015.pdf
[5] https://punjablaws.punjab.gov.pk/en/show_article/BjNVYgUwADk-
[6] https://policyjournalofms.com/index.php/6/article/view/1893
