Child trafficking and child labour have been plaguing our country for long, but the authorities don’t seem to be too bothered about the issue

We are the children of the world
We are victims of bad treatments
Of exploitation, of child trafficking and entrusting and rape
We are the street children
We are the children living in difficult situations, our parents are poor
We are the victims and HIV/Aids orphans
We are deprived of quality education and health care
We are victims of political, economic, cultural and environmental discrimination
We are the children whose voices are ignored; it’s time that we are listened to.
(Hawa Kangazy)

In the last two decades there has been an enormous increase in the number of cases of child trafficking in Pakistan. A high population growth rate, combined with a weak economy, has led to an increased poverty rate in our country by putting almost 32 per cent of the population below the poverty line. Each year not only the development indicators look grim, but also appear alarming because of the numbers involved.

On the world population graph, Pakistan is placed at number 7, with a population of 149 million people. Out of the 149 million people, 22 million children are estimated to be out of school. Where do they go? Who or what do they turn to? Obviously, to child labour!

Some people believe that the phenomenon of child labour is embedded in South Asia’s culture. Despite poverty being one of the prime factors of forced labour, the other elements that contribute to bonded labour include the perpetual influence of customs, the traditional beliefs, and the different values and attitudes which drive the children to taking a different route than the one that’s embedded in convention. Once out of home, they have to look for means to earn a living, and that’s when they are herded towards either bonded labour or gangs of beggars — two sides of the same coin.

The numbers, therefore, do not tell everything clearly, though they certainly point to a phenomenon. In the studies and discussions on child abuse, the numbers dominate as often figures are profusely quoted. But the root causes are seldom highlighted. Pakistan has thousands of children working as bonded labourers on farms in the province of Sindh alone. The UN convention (1989), the ILO Minimum Age Convention (1973), the ILO Forced Labour Convention (1930) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are all being violated extensively in our country. Pakistan is a mere signatory to these conventions, while a lot remains to be done. These conventions have neither been read nor implemented by previous civilian or military governments. The Pakistan Muslim League and the Pakistan Peoples Party hardly touched the issue to reduce the number of children being exploited by many means. Sexual exploitation is common among bonded children, street children and in trafficked victims. In many parts of the country, such as in Sindh and Punjab, it is culturally acceptable for old men to marry very young girls under the age of 10. Such girls are not ready for marriage and end up being physically and emotionally deprived of their birthrights.

Lali, an 11-year-old girl, works with her family as a bonded labourer for a landlord in one of the districts in Sindh. Abject poverty forced her family to accept wages in advance from the landlord. Over a period of time, they were trapped, as the debt grew fourfold. Lali, along with her mother and four sisters, plucked cotton and chillies, harvested wheat and other crops and did whatever the landlord asked. “I experience a lot of heat, hunger and tiredness. If I am lucky, I find a piece of stale bread, otherwise I pass the whole day without food,” said Lali. “My parents and I have never been paid for hard work, because we are their serfs, and thus considered their property. I have seen my mother and father been tortured by the zamindar and his men,” added Lali.

According to the law, bonded labour is illegal in Pakistan. The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act was passed in 1992, under the democratic leadership, which obliged local government officials to investigate all reports of bonded labour and liberate both adults and children involved. However, the act remained unimplemented. It is essential for any government not just to legislate on such measures in the assembly, but also gather the force to work on progressive lines. Such negligence on our leaders’ part provides grounds for the landlords to carry on exploitation that has been going on for thousands of years in this region. The landlords of Sindh are counted amongst the most powerful feudal lords of the land, who not only have control over the deprived community but their power also often extends to controlling the local police and administration. Universally recognised as slavery, debt bondage of children is specially tackled in international laws with the strict implementation recommended. The child debt bondage has been defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as the ‘worst form of child labour’.

Another negative aspect of poverty is that children are misguided to become street children in our urban centres. Child labour and street children provide a good market for the exploiters and agents of this accursed trade. Under the prevailing conditions, there is a ready market for children who are often easy targets for kidnappers. Ever since the inception of the country child labour has generated a big market for those who have themselves turned to this trade after being deprived of education and legal means of earning. Urbanisation and environmental degradation have led to widespread displacement of rural populations to urban areas, leading in turn to social tensions and a breakdown in family structures. This is a vicious circle and contributes more and more to the increase in street children. Growing up on the crowded streets of Pakistan’s port city, Karachi, some 12,000 or so street children know all too well the harsh realities of the place they call home. “I am not afraid of the streets. It is my home,” said the dark-haired youth, who was abandoned by his parents.

So, what are the various reasons for these children to leave the confines of their homes and opt for street life? Poverty is the driving force behind the phenomenon, followed by domestic physical and mental abuse, the lack of education along with peer pressure and drug abuse. Whether for economic or social reasons, street children leave their homes to live on footpaths, parks, doorways, bus stops, railway stations, and under the bridges. According to statistics, the street children who leave their homes between the age of 10 and 12 are around 54.1 per cent in the city of Karachi. Many of them end up collecting waste paper, cleaning cars and tankers, working as hawkers, selling flowers, newspapers or other cheap items. Some are pushed into begging, pick pocketing, sex trade and drug addiction.

Farhan, 17, is a cynical boy, who, in his opinion, cannot undo any of his past actions. “At 14, I stole money and ran away from home in the Umerkot district, Sindh, after my father beat me,” he said. “Now, there is no question of returning home, since our neighbours would talk about my days on the streets, and that would upset me,” he said. He doesn’t seem to miss his elder brother or younger sisters.

In 1954, the United Nations General Assembly recommended that all countries should have a Universal Children’s Day to be observed to enhance understanding between children. It recommended that it should also be observed as a day of activity devoted to promoting the ideals and objectives of the charter and the welfare of the children of the world. The date, November 20, marks the day on which the assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention of the Rights of the Child, in 1989. After almost a decade or more, in 2000, world leaders had to come together to outline the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to address extreme poverty throughout the world. According to Unicef, out of eight of these goals, six are directly related to children.

It is also important to discuss, on International Children’s Day, those children who are leading their lives in their country’s crowded jails as criminals. Most children are in detention for minor crimes, facing tremendous hardships in jails, where adult inmates and prison personnel abuse them. Different reports suggest that around 4,000 children are held as prisoners in Pakistan. There are only two separate jails for them, which are in Karachi and Bahawalpur. Despite the commitment that Pakistan made by signing the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1990, the state has clearly failed to recognise the rights of young children, who are denied justice. Long-awaited trials and delayed cases are major factors that contribute to making the children hardened criminals. Street children fall prey to criminal coercion by gangs; they find it difficult to eke out a safe living. The commercial and non-commercial exploitation brings to them the high risk of acquiring STDs and HIV.

The country where a number of children are at a high risk of becoming victims of such heinous exploitative acts, the authorities concerned must come up with something effective to tackle the issue. On the contrary, the civil and military authorities waste their time in just making plans on the surface without taking any substantial initiatives to implement the laws that protect the future of Pakistan. In this alarming situation, if the so-called representatives of the people do not intervene, then the consequences will be too hazardous in the coming years. Becoming a signatory to different conventions places a vital responsibility on the state to create an effective system that deals with the issues of children’s rights.