PESHAWAR, June 12: Experts have urged the government and the people to respect the rights of the children and make efforts to educate them, enabling them to become useful members of the society.

They were speaking at a one-day seminar here on Thursday, which had been arranged by the Jobs Creating Development Society (JCDC) to mark the International Day Against Child Labour.

Chairman Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Afrasiab Khattak warned against child labour and stressed the need to educate them.

He said that forced or bonded labour not only discouraged their creativity but also deprive them of their right to get education, proper food, rest and play.

Criticizing the government for not implementing various covenants on child labour despite being signatory to various international charters. He attributed prevalent poverty for the rise of child labour in the country.

Unesco guidelines, he said, stressed upon all UN members to spend four at least per cent of the GNP on education sector, but Pakistan spent barely 2.3 per cent, which was far less than India’s 15 per cent and Bangladesh’s 10 per cent.

He said that about 80 per cent of the total budget was consumed by army, bureaucracy and other non-productive heads, which left the people socially, economically and politically crippled.

“We should take lessons from Japan and Germany who were reduced to ashes, but they focused on rebuilding their education system and today they have emerged as a potential threat to the US economy, because of their matchless progress in the fields of science and technology,” said Mr Khattak.

Parents, a Mardan-based scholar Dr Mohammad Farooq Khan said, were bound by religion and ethics to make proper arrangements for the education, food, shelter and clothing of their offsprings. He also urged the parents to treat their daughters and sons equally.

Hard work and sincerity was required for the attainment of dignity, honour and wealth, adding that there was a dire need to provide the children with modern scientific education, instead of pushing them into the curse of child labour.