Do you think you have done enough to end
child labour, Murad Ali Shah?
By Shakir Lakhani Published: January 27, 2017
n Pakistan, child labour is something that is considered normal and the laws dealing with it are very lax. PHOTO: AFP.
Around 20 years ago, a relative of mine got into serious trouble
when a European customer of his visiting Pakistan saw some children working in his factory. The foreigner immediately
cancelled all orders and my relative had to wind up his business to avoid
bankruptcy.
In Pakistan, child labour is something that is considered normal
and the laws dealing with it are very lax. In developed countries, forcing a
child to work can result in severe penalties and imprisonment. But in
Pakistan, even today, a child can be “sold” to work as domestic help and the punishment for this is a mere fine of Rs250, if the case is ever reported to the
authorities that is.
Recently, the case of 10-year-old Tayyaba made headlines after
she was reportedly tortured by her employers. Her father
had sold her to a judge, and the girl was being made to do household work for
him and his family. The kid was reportedly treated like a slave, and beaten up if she failed to do
the work given to her – like washing dishes and clothes, sweeping the floor and
other menial jobs). Evidently, the judge (like millions of other Pakistanis)
did not know that even children of poor Pakistanis are supposed to attend
school and should not be forced to work. But ignorance of the law is no excuse.
The reason why people sell their children is that they have too many
kids. They don’t limit the number of offspring because they believe that
practicing birth control is a heinous sin – they have heard this a million times
from the preachers in their mosques). Having many children and then selling
them also provides additional income. Sometimes, they need the money to pay off
debts, whilst other times, they need it to feed their families or arrange
marriages for their older kids.
After Tayyaba’s case made rounds on social media and media
organisations started covering the issue, the Supreme Court of Pakistan decided
to finally take action. Resultantly, the Sindh government recently passed a law prohibiting child labour. The punishment for forcing
children to work will now be six months’ imprisonment or a fine of Rs50, 000
(or both). The definition of child labour is somewhat vague and ambiguous. According
to this law, a boy or girl under the age of 14 is a child and should not be made to work at all.
However, the proposed law does not ban children between 14 and 18 from working, except in hazardous occupations. On paper, the state is supposed
to provide free education to children, but of course in Sindh, this is not
possible since most of the education budget is siphoned away to foreign bank
accounts and the rest is paid to “ghost” teachers who exist only on paper. The
law will allow children between 14 and 18 (defined as adolescents) to work in
non-hazardous occupations for three hours daily, but considering that
adolescents also go to schools and colleges, they will not get time
to study and play.
Thereby,
I request Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to make the law on child labour
more stringent. The definition of a child should include those who are at least
younger than 16 (if not 18), and the fine should be increased to Rs200, 000
together with two years’ imprisonment.
And to see if the elite themselves follow the law, media
representatives should be allowed to visit factories and agricultural land
owned by our assembly members to find out if children are being forced to work
there. But will your colleagues ever agree to such investigations, Mr Shah? We
have heard that agricultural workers are not being paid the
minimum salary of Rs13,000 per month fixed by your government, but has any
labour department or media representative ever been allowed to go to the fields
to find out if workers are paid minimum salary?
So, Mr Shah, you can be sure that it will be a long time before
child labour is completely eliminated in the country. And for this, you and your
ministers will be held responsible, but knowing that our feudal lords regard poor people as animals, I doubt if it will cause
them to lose any sleep over it.
Shakir Lakhani
Engineer,
former visiting lecturer at NED Engineering College, industrialist, associated
with petroleum/chemical industries for many years. Loves writing, and (in the
opinion of most of those who know him), mentally unbalanced. He tweets
@shakirlakhani (twitter.com/shakirlakhani)
http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/45363/do-you-think-you-have-done-enough-to-end-child-labour-murad-ali-shah/
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