LAHORE: In response to the recent torture and murder of two child domestic workers, child activists gathered at the Lahore Press Club on Tuesday to demand that the government should criminalise and prohibit child domestic labour immediately.

The government’s figures from the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) say that from 2015 to 2016, as many as 65 children have been rescued from brutal violence in homes where they work. But these figures are the reported cases, while it is suspected that unreported [cases] are many more.

“We have no count of these children because domestic labour is not recognised and comes under the informal sector,” said Tanveer Jahan. “Unless a house-to-house survey is done, we will not know how many children are employed - maybe not even then, because often employers will not openly discuss the issue. It is invisible and therefore more dangerous a situation to be in.”

She said the domestic workers were not registered so there was no way of knowing how many there were nor could they receive any social security or other safety nets.

However, Rashida Qureshi, coordinator of the Child Rights Movement, said in no other sector where child labour was found, were there so many life-threatening situations. “There have been no deaths in any other sector, as there have been in domestic situations,” she said. “Children are hanging by a thread working in other people’s homes.”

Iftikhar Mubarik said a lot of questions were beginning to arise about [the government’s] commitment to human rights, as there were repeated circumstances of torture on child domestic workers and yet the government was taking absolutely no steps in protecting the future of other children.

“In 2015, we sent 1,500 letters to the CM after which the labour secretary was notified, but this is the second labour secretary and yet no steps have been taken,” he said. “Apart from this we have signed and ratified international conventions that hold us accountable for implementing such laws. Why is this not being done?”

He said it was strange that most of these cases [of torture] were happening in homes of the rich and powerful, such as the current case, where Akhtar was killed in the home of PML-N MPA Ms Shah Jahan, while before it was Tayyaba, who was severely injured after repeated violence in the home of a judge.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2017