PESHAWAR, Nov 14: Nearly 23 million children between 5 and 15 years of age are working as child labourers in Pakistan.

A press release issued here on Friday by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) to mark the Child Labour Free Week has said that Sparc chose “Domestic Child Labour” as the theme for the week which started from Nov 14-20.

“The plight of the domestic child workers is even worse because being invisible little is known about them. The potential for their exploitation has increased since there are no laws to protect the children from abuse, or to regulate their pay, working hours and conditions,” said the release.

The situation was more alarming given the fact that over 80 per cent of the domestic workers happened to be girls, being prone to physical and sexual abuse by the employers, it said.

It was possible to eliminate child labour if the federal and provincial governments showed political will to address the issue, said the press release.

Laws concerning child labour, such as the Employment of Children Act, 1991, and the Road Transport Workers’ Ordinance were some of the causes of the spread of child labour.

Some 418 cases were lodged in 2003 under the Employment of Children Act, 1991, in the NWFP, of which only 53 cases were decided by the courts, whereas 365 were pending, it said.

Sparc has asked the government to take effective measures to impose a ban on child labour and ensure free, quality and compulsory education to every child and issuance of notification of National List of 29 Hazardous Forms of Child Labour under the Employment of Children Act by the end of this year and increase minimum age of employment in the worst forms of child labour from 14 to 18 years.