A COUNTRY where almost half the population lives below the poverty line, child labour in Pakistan does not come as a surprise. It is a deeply entrenched and pressing phenomenon in the country, prevalent in almost all sectors of the economy, especially the informal sector and home-based industries.

Pakistan’s escalating population growth poses multiple challenges and threatens to burden its already limited resources. The social and economic development of the country is a distant dream in such a scenario.

According to a survey by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), the number of working children in Pakistan was approximately 3.5 million in 2002, or seven per cent of the total workforce. The actual figure today is deemed to be much higher.

Approximately 40 million children in Pakistan fall in the age bracket of 5-14 years. A survey conducted by the United Nations Children’s Fund in 2003 estimated that eight million children under the age of 14 were engaged in child labour. Most of them were working in brick kilns, carpet-weaving centres, agriculture, small industries and domestic services.

The survey also indicated that the rural-urban ratio of child labour was 7:1, whereas nearly 60pc of the total child labour was recorded in Punjab.

Despite being prevalent for decades, the problem of child labour caught the government’s attention in the 1990s.

In 1996, the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto acknowledged it as a serious issue and announced plans to eliminate it. Later, former premier Mian Nawaz Sharif gave it a prominent place in his agenda in 1998.

In 1999, the government of the time announced a four-point policy for curbing child labour in Pakistan, and a labour policy draft envisaged an end to the child labour by 2005. Sadly, all these promises and announcements never materialised and the problem of child labour still persists even today. If anything, it has gained momentum.

Besides the government, a number of institutions and bodies are working individually and collectively to raise awareness and eradicate child labour. However, the problem is directly linked with poverty and educational crisis in the country. Unless these issues are handled properly, there is little hope, practically speaking, of addressing the menace of child labour the right way.

Shoukat Lohar
Jamshoro

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2021