PESHAWAR, Dec 15: Human rights activist Samar Minallah on Thursday launched her new documentary, 'I have a dream' to raise voice against domestic child labour for corrective measures by the society.

Child workers shown in the documentary expressed an overwhelming desire to be educated but regretted that the abject poverty they were born in forced them into helping other family members for livelihood by working in people's houses at a tender age instead of going to schools.

Parents of many of them, too, intensely wanted to see their children get education and lead a better life than them but felt depressed and helpless in view of poor financial conditions.

The documentary also highlighted plight of the children working at people's houses in the country.

At the documentary launching ceremony organised at the Peshawar Press Club in collaboration with the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc), speakers demanded legislation by the provincial government for a ban on domestic child labour saying the move will force people into sending their children to schools instead of work.

They also urged the government, media and civil society organisations to get together for better public awareness of domestic child labour and said this would help change people's perceptions about engaging children of school going age for work.Director labour department Irfanullah Marwat, however, opposed 'sudden' ban on domestic child labour and said the restriction should be enforced in stages so that the relevant families didn't suffer.

Executive director Sparc Arshad Mahmood told participants that at least 13 children had died of torture by their employers during the current month in the country, while many of such cases had gone unreported.

He said after the approval of 18th constitutional amendment, Article 25-A made it compulsory for children to get education but the provinces needed to legislate on it for necessary action. He said employers of child domestic workers (CDWs) were mostly well-educated but many of them didn't treat such children compassionately.

Mr Arshad said an assessment of child domestic labour by Sparc in five major cities in 2004 with the technical assistance of the International Labour Organisation showed prevalence rate of 26 per cent in the country, adding that every fourth house in large urban areas of Pakistan is employing a CDW.

Regretting that legal framework in Pakistan doesn't contain separate specific laws for preventing and eliminating child domestic labour, he said the 2004 assessment done in Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and Karachi indicated a higher domestic labour prevalence among girls (68 per cent).

“Most of child domestic workers i.e. 63.3 per cent are in the age group of 10-14 years, while 21.7 per cent are in the age bracket of 15-18 years and 15 per cent in the group of 5-9 years. Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have the biggest number of such boys,” he said.

The Sparc chief said the biggest number of girls involved in domestic child labour was reported in Islamabad followed by Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, adding that 36.8 per cent boys and 51.2 per cent girls of the lot were illiterate.Research officer Sparc Amina Sarwar said a significant proportion of both boys and girls had never attended schools, adding that educational qualifications of boys were better than those of girls, while no domestic worker had received education beyond secondary level.

Opinion

From hero to zero

From hero to zero

The infighting as the country tumbles from regime to regime and from set-up to set-up is so great that it infects everything around it.

Editorial

Relying on debt
Updated 03 Oct, 2023

Relying on debt

Sadly, the ruling military and civil elite haven’t grasped the seriousness of the economic crises.
Palestine abandoned
03 Oct, 2023

Palestine abandoned

IT appears to be only a matter of time before a normalisation deal is announced between Saudi Arabia and Israel....
Killjoys in Swat
03 Oct, 2023

Killjoys in Swat

IN yet another blow to women’s rights in Pakistan, a group of young, spirited girls seeking to participate in a...
Faizabad redux
Updated 02 Oct, 2023

Faizabad redux

TLP was allowed to flourish despite its virulent ideology, recurrently causing immense embarrassment for Pakistani authorities in later years.
Exporting beggars
02 Oct, 2023

Exporting beggars

A RECENT revelation by the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis during a briefing to the Senate has...
Brutalising society
02 Oct, 2023

Brutalising society

THE Senate Standing Committee on Interior passed a bill last week with a majority vote that favoured the public...