ISLAMABAD: Child labour is rising in the twin cities making innocent
children susceptible to physical, sexual as well as psychological abuses
at the hands of their employers the most.
‘Child Labour’, a
socially and culturally accepted phenomenon throughout the world, which
is an important and a serious global issue through which all countries
of the world are directly or indirectly affected, but it is very common
in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Like other countries, the
menace of child labour is spreading all over the Pakistan with a
gigantic pace. The number of working children is on rise. The main
reason of increasing this social evil is expanding poverty in the
country.
Pakistan is one of the countries where child labour
surged to the highest level, especially a year after devastating floods.
It is quite astonishing that child labor exists with its same severity
even in federal capital as in the other parts of the country. It is an
outcome of a multitude of socio-economic factors and has its roots in
poverty, lack of opportunities, high rate of population growth,
unemployment, uneven distribution of resources, outdated social customs
and excess of other factors.
Children from the ages of 9 to 18
are almost equally vulnerable to child labor. Children work in the
industries setup in the federal capital’s Industrial Area where they
work under pressure and paid less as compared to actual salary. It has
been found most of the children work in the motor and cycle workshops
and rest of at various places, such as; hotels, brick kilns and general
stores.
Child bonded labour is another mode of child labour in
Pakistan that refers to situations where a child’s labor services are
offered in exchange for a loan. Bondage is intergenerational: once a
parent is no longer able to work, debts are passed down from parent to
child.
Growing child labour in twin cities exposes the
governmental and non-governmental organisations’ (NGOs) claims of
striving to prevent children from working. Child labour has surged in
Pakistan in the year since record floods devastated much of the country,
as some of the poorest families continue to be deprived of their
livelihoods in local economies that show few signs of recovering.
Hence
child labour is ever increasing entity that may lead our country to
despair in the times to come. The hands a nation needs to strengthen
its foundations are being forced to earn livelihood to feed his whole
family. Pakistan’s bright future is linked with its youth and if youth
is forced to work in auto workshops or industries instead of getting
education in schools and colleges then dismal and bleak future is
waiting for us. It is the responsibility of government to ensure free
education, facilities at work and reasonable salary for children.
Government observes the International Child Labour day every year with
renewed commitments to control this social menace but never takes it
seriously. Online
