Sitting in the car at a cold spot for ice cream or drinks in any of the Markaz of the capital, one is swarmed by beggars of all kinds. Predominantly children, they are young and beautiful, mostly girls and sometimes as small as four or five year olds. They have a unique way of asking for money. Young boys carry doctor’s prescription for their ailing mother or father, it may also be a syllabus sheet for a younger brother’s textbooks, or he may have a paper to give for which he has no fee to pay.
Girls usually ask for atta for the house or money for the baby sister’s milk, (sometimes carrying her in their arms, although too young to support a sibling). Many of them also work as scavengers, recycling rubbish. Carrying large bags to hold the worthy items, they scan through the rubbish heaps and the yellow garbage cans installed by the Capital Development Authority. From wee hours of the morning, they roam around the streets of the capital till sunset.
The issue of child labour continues to be the subject of much debate and discussion. A recent report and picture of a four-year-old lying on the ground with her uncle standing on her stomach was a horrifying sight for anyone with a human heart. The girl’s father, with a circus background, subjected his young girls to torture and abuse to entertain the public.
Pakistani children used as camel jockeys returning home from UAE bring with them horrifying stories. These children, separated from their loved ones from a very early age are happy to be home and reunited with their families. They have horrific tales to tell of the treatment they received at the hands of their masters. They would get up early in the morning, not get enough to eat, (as that would make them put on weight which would make it difficult for them to win the race) and, above all, separated from their families. In both the cases, the children were made to feel proud of the fact that bearing the torture, they are contributing to the family’s earning.
The variety of work that is done by children is limitless. Many a times children are doing hazardous work that is only suitable for adults. The work is hard with long hours for which they are underpaid for being children. Bonded labour in different sectors of our country, with their system of engaging entire families along with their children, continues to employ large number of children, such as in brick kilns, agriculture and carpet industry. The widespread use of children as domestic servants is a hidden form of child labour in which children are forced to work long hours with very little or no remuneration. Besides, there are no laws to regulate their work and are, therefore, at the mercy of their employers.
Working children, either sex, are also more prone to abuse and exploitation. Rawalpindi’s Pirwadahai bus station where many children work in the fruit and vegetable market is known for cases of children’s exploitation. It is common in many other formal and informal sectors such as domestic servants in which children, mostly girls, are at risk of sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking.
Is anything being done to prevent it? The secretive and illicit nature of child trafficking and child abuse keeps it hidden from public view. In Pakistan several non-government organizations are working on the issue, helping the abused children deal with the trauma they face or have been living with for years. What one really wants to know is what the future course of action is? Will we ever learn from our mistakes? How long will families subject their children to cruelty and pain in return of money?
Child labour is justified in the name of poverty, but poverty is actually a major cause of child labour. No one has heard of a country that has successfully eradicated poverty through child labour. Preventing child labour and abuse cannot be achieved without strict enforcement of laws that lead to harsh punishments of the perpetrators. Our policy makers need to attach due importance to this cause, which has to be addressed on war footing. The initiatives taken by the government are not enough and it becomes more and more difficult to prevent with time. Immediate measures are required to break the vicious cycle of poverty and make extensive investment in sectors directly affecting children.
To quote Babrial Mistral, Nobel Prize winner poet from Chile, “Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made and his senses being developed. To him, we cannot answer, tomorrow. His name is today.”
Sitting in the car at a cold spot for ice cream or drinks in any of the Markaz of the capital, one is swarmed by beggars of all kinds. Predominantly children, they are young and beautiful, mostly girls and sometimes as small as four or five year olds. They have a unique way of asking for money. Young boys carry doctor’s prescription for their ailing mother or father, it may also be a syllabus sheet for a younger brother’s textbooks, or he may have a paper to give for which he has no fee to pay.
