ISLAMABAD: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said that Pakistan requires a multi-pronged approach to improve lives of children involved in waste-picking and to end the worst form of child labour.

The Rapid Assessment of Child Labour in Waste-Picking in Pakistan, carried out by the ILO and published on Wednesday, recommended that all stakeholders must be involved – from government decision-makers and law enforcement, to civil society, the private sector and development partners to ensure that policies and practices are sustainable.

The assessment commissioned by ILO’s Asia Regional Child Labour (ARC) Project examines children’s involvement in waste-picking and sheds light on the drivers of children’s engagement in waste-picking, their socio-demographic backgrounds, the conditions in which they work, the hazards they face, and the impact these have on the children involved.

The ILO says Pakistan’s only ‘Child Labour Survey’ was conducted in 1996 while findings of a recent Child Labour Survey have yet to be published for all provinces and regions, with the exception of Gilgit-Baltistan and Punjab. While no up-to-date statistics are available on the number of children engaged in this work, it is clear that a substantial number of children are involved in the work, including hazardous work like waste-picking, it says.

Report counts inter-generational poverty, large families and low priority for education among reasons for children’s plight

Waste picking refers to sorting and collection of recyclable and reusable items found at dumpsites, roadside dustbins, waste heaps, kachra kundi (dumpsites), drains, markets, hospitals, clinics, streets, houses and residential areas for the purposes of selling these items to local junkyard owners, shops or middlemen.

As Pakistani cities generate increasing quantities of solid waste — due to high levels of population growth and rapid urbanisation — municipal waste management systems struggle to keep pace. Improper waste disposal practices abound, opening up space for private stakeholders to dominate scavenging and recycling activities with little or no government oversight.

The assessment says that most waste-pickers in Pakistan are extremely poor, illiterate and belong to marginalised communities — including Afghan refugees, minorities and migrants. Due to high rates of poverty, members of these groups, both adults and children, take up waste-picking as their only available livelihood option. They sell what they collect — paper, cardboard, metals like tin, aluminium, copper and brass, plastic, bottles, glass and other items — to small-scale scrap dealers.

They, in turn, sort through the materials and sell them to large junkyards which sell specific materials directly to waste-sourcing factories. The informal nature of waste-picking means that those involved are unregulated and risk falling through the cracks of labour and child protection laws.

There are many factors that push children into work. The findings of this assessment affirm that inter-generational poverty is a major underlying reason for children’s involvement in waste-picking across Pakistan. Large family size and the low value accorded to education are also key reasons.

As parents struggle to provide for a large number of children, especially when they are illiterate themselves, they often push their children into work at an early age to supplement household income. This deprives children of the opportunity to attain education, while exposing them to risks of violence, abuse and health problems, and reducing their future employment prospects.

Children in vulnerable communities — such as Afghan refugees, ethnic or religious minorities, and those living in slums — are especially likely to be involved in waste-picking, particularly when their parents or families also collect waste.

According to the assessment, children usually start waste-picking at a very early age, often alongside their fathers or other family members. The vast majority are boys and most of these children have never been to school.

Once they begin earning, they are unlikely to stop waste-picking. They work long hours, covering long distances on foot even in extreme weather, and sift through unhygienic, dangerous or sometimes toxic materials — exposing them to the risk of injury and health problems. They face social stigma, verbal abuse and even physical violence.

Most of the children interviewed are boys (91 per cent) between 12 to 14 years old (40 per cent) or between 15 and 17 (30 per cent). More than two-thirds (68 per cent) are of Afghan origin — reflecting Afghan refugees’ high levels of involvement in waste-picking due to poverty, a lack of identity documents and limited livelihood options — followed by members of the Hindu Bagri community and Saraiki speakers originally from South Punjab.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2023