THE brutal torture of a teenaged girl allegedly by her employers in Islamabad serves to once again remind us of the harsh and unsafe conditions in which thousands of other children are forced to live and work. The case of 13-year-old Rizwana — who was brought by her parents to a hospital in her hometown, Sargodha, on Sunday, with fractured arms, legs and ribs, as well as head and body wounds — is the latest among a growing number of incidents of barbaric treatment at work to which little children engaged in domestic labour are subjected. While some cases of extreme violence and sexual abuse get noticed by the media, forcing the authorities to reluctantly take action, most incidents go unreported. The statistics compiled by rights groups in January 2020 showed that 140 cases of abuse, torture, rape and murder of child domestic workers were reported by the media over 10 years. That highlights the dangers these child workers constantly face. Their poverty-stricken parents rarely go to the police against their abusive employers. That the Islamabad Police were delaying the registration of a case against Rizwana’s employers, one of whom is a civil judge, speaks volumes about the indifference of the authorities supposed to protect children like her.

Hiring minors and underage children as domestic help, especially girls to look after newborns and young children, is common in urban Pakistan, and the trend is growing due to rising poverty and hunger. This is so, despite an apex court order in the Tayyaba torture case to keep a benchmark of at least 16 years for all domestic workers. Nonetheless, children below this age continue to be employed, and the number of cases where domestic workers are facing physical abuse and exploitation is increasing. The situation for child domestic workers is dire in every possible way. It will not improve without criminalising the practice of employing them, especially without direct parental supervision.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2023