Despite innumerable promises by the policy and law-makers, there is still no law regulating this sector. SPARC calls for the inclusion of child domestic labor in Pakistan’s National List of Worst Forms of Child Labor and its notification as a banned sector for children’s employment. SPARC has also called for a total ban on government officials engaging children as domestic labor, as exists in India.
The exact number of children exploited in domestic labor is not known as they work behind closed doors and it is difficult to collect data to identify the numbers of children involved in this form of labor. However, out of 250 million working children worldwide, more girl children are engaged in domestic service than in any other category of work. According to one estimate, there are five million child domestic workers in South Asia.
Millions of children are already employed in this hidden sector in Pakistan and there is an alarmingly large population of out-of-school children, particularly in rural areas, who are vulnerable to becoming child domestic workers. Parents in rural areas or slums often hold the misguided belief that their child will lead a much better life working in some one else’s home than they can offer in their own home. Many children are employed through informal “arrangements” between parents and employer; some are abandoned or orphaned children, and many are very young children, some below 10 years old.
Unfortunately, there is a growing demand for child domestic workers, who are preferred over adult workers because it is considered that they are more obedient, argue less and work endlessly for little or sometimes no wages.
World Day Against Child Labor in 2004 was declared by the ILO as the Domestic Child Labor Day
Child labor is sometimes linked with stories of bonded or forced labor. In extreme cases, children have been found imprisoned in illegal work camps or chained to the ground at their workplace. Press attention has focused on child labor in brick kilns and carpet-weaving workshops, as well as more sensational stories about forced prostitution and illegal export of boys to the Gulf as camel jockeys.
Causes of Child Labor
Poor access to and quality of education
Pakistan’s weak primary education system contributes to the child labor problem. Though primary education was made compulsory by law in Punjab, NWFP, Sindh and Islamabad Capital Territory, there is no enforcement, and in any case not enough facilities to accommodate all the children.
In rural areas schools are usually inadequate or inaccessible. Many families cannot afford the books and supplies required to keep their children in school, and families often prefer the present value of the income a child earns by working as opposed to the future value of education. The primary school gross enrollment rate is 72%, and 28% of children admitted to grade 1 drop out before completing class 6, according to government figures, though observers believe the dropout rate is much higher.
Social Acceptance
The social acceptance of child labor continues to be a barrier to its elimination. Parents who farm or run businesses expect their children to work with them. Families who are bonded to their employers by debt rely on their children’s labor to help with repayment. On-the-job training is widely seen as better preparation for the future than schooling; Pakistan’s continued high unemployment rate even among the educated contributes to this attitude.
Business profit and competitiveness
Business profit and competitiveness perpetuate child labor. Employers argue that children are cheaper to employ and easier to control and in some cases can be as productive as adults. In the carpet-weaving industry, which employs 1.2 million children, according to one study, employers prefer child workers, claiming that the children’s small fingers make them more skilled than adults. One study concluded that over 80% of carpet workers in the Punjab were children below the age of 15. |
