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CHILD labour is a multidimensional phenomenon linked to poverty, and the shocks that households suffer such as adult job loss or prolonged illness, drought, flood, crop failure etc. Development policies, particularly regarding employment, education, labour welfare and social protection, have a direct bearing on the prevalence of child labour — as do policies in other sectors. In Pakistan, one such sector is transport.
The latter has figured as one of the seven priority areas in the Pakistan Vision 2025 that aims to make the country the ‘next Asian Tiger’. Among other things, Vision 2025 seeks to modernise “transport infrastructure and regional connectivity”. The emphasis is on grand infrastructure leading to “... inter-provincial high-speed connectivity and high capacity transportation corridors connecting major regional trading partners”.
The document is silent on the core connectivity of transportation, between home and the workplace in big and small cities, or the intra-city and intra-town mobility of a 60-million-strong workforce.
Reality shows the road transport sector to be in disarray. The absence of a comprehensive transport policy, government neglect and low investment in public transport has led not only to degrading urban and rural mobility but also to damaging repercussions for many aspects of the social and economic life of citizens, both urban and rural. The increasing prevalence of child labour in the transport sector is one of the impacts that need policymakers’ urgent attention.
Qingqi driving is one of the worst forms of child labour here.
In recent years, Karachi has witnessed a massive induction of the Qingqi, a China-manufactured motorcycle turned into a passenger carrier as a mode of cheap intra-city commute. Flawed policies have led to the demise of the public transport system leaving remnants on the roads in the shape of some rickety buses overloaded with passengers squatting precariously on the top or clinging to the door.
According to recent estimates, there are 50,000 Qingqis plying on a number of main routes and within many settlements in the city. A light tricycle of 70cc, with a driver, six passengers and a boy conductor standing is a dangerous mode of transportation. The gravity of danger becomes manifold when the driver is a minor— sometimes as young as a child of 10.
It is not just Karachi where a significant number of children are found driving Qingqis. A recent (2013) rapid assessment of the worst forms of child labour, conducted in six districts of Sindh — Sanghar, Dadu, Thatta, Badin, Tando Allahyar, Qambar-Shahdadkot — revealed a rising number of children of 10 years and above engaged in Qingqi driving.
The Qingqi was introduced in small towns and urban centres in rural areas in Sindh in the mid 1990s. Gradually, as the unplanned public transport system deteriorated and population pressure increased, the demand of this cheap mode of transportation rose and Qingqis became popular in small towns.
This combined with the 2007-08 economic crisis and the spikes in fuel and food prices impacted vulnerable families. Then came the floods 2010-2011 and rural households were ruined, pushing children towards the labour market.
A study undertaken by the provincial child labour unit in Sindh with the support of the ILO, noted the high risk of traffic accidents for children who were driving Qingqis on the link roads and congested streets frequented by tractor trolleys and assorted vehicles.
The children reported frequent cough, allergies, eye infections and headaches as they endured extreme weather in the open for 10 to 12 hours a day. The ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour applies to persons under the age of 18 and prohibits work which, “...by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children”.
Qingqi driving should be added to the list of the worst forms of child labour in Pakistan.
According to the Labour Force Survey 2012-2013, there are 6.8 million child workers of age 10 to 14 years, while a recent Unesco study says about 5.5 million children are reported to be out of school in Pakistan.
It is clear that it is not just the education sector that needs overhauling and a higher budgetary share of the GDP to ensure every child is at school instead of toiling in the fields or the roads. In the transport sector, local connectivity must be given priority and efficient and affordable public transport system put in place in all the cities.
It is time policies in all the sectors are firmly embedded in national legal, fiscal and institutional frameworks. Domestic policies must cohere with each other to respond to the complex challenges of child labour in a systematic way. Policy coherence is essential for achieving national goals towards sustainable development.
The writer is associated with Piler.
Published in Dawn, November 27th , 2014
