ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on Tuesday criticised the Ministry of Interior for not notifying the outlawing of domestic child labour.

The chair of the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, said that a good law had been enacted to make domestic labour by children below the age of 14 illegal.

He said it was “very unfortunate” that while the Cabinet Division has approved the law, the interior ministry has delayed its notification.

“It is caught in the teeth of a vast bureaucratic system,” he said when the committee met to discuss the matter of criminalising child domestic labour.

The government declared child domestic labour a hazardous line of work in June and decided to criminalise it. The Cabinet Division approved the Ministry of Human Rights’ summary to amend the Employment of Children Act 1991 by inserting ‘child domestic labour’ in Part I of the Schedule.

Senate human rights committee to hold meeting on matter today

Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari said that in the absence of a law to protect domestic workers, this was the quickest way to protect children.

Dr Mazari was referring to the murder of eight-year-old Zohra Shah, a child working as a maid who was beaten to death by her employer.

The Employment of Children Act prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 in unsafe and hazardous environments such as factories, carpet industries and mines.

Senator Khokhar said on Tuesday that instead of working, the bureaucracy was using “cunning” excuses.

In its response, the interior ministry said that the Cabinet Division sent the bill to the human rights ministry, and an opinion would have to be sought from the Ministry of Law.

The Senate committee was told that cabinet did not issue directions to the interior ministry regarding the notification.

Dr Mazari said that her office sent the bill to the interior ministry with the cabinet decision, but the interior ministry did not act. The human rights ministry has now prepared a notification and sent it to the law ministry to be vetted.

“This is a good bill of the government, which is for the betterment of the children of the country, but instead of working bureaucrats are affecting the good deeds of the government,” she said.

Senator Khokhar said it would be better to convene a one-agenda committee meeting today (Wednesday) to be briefed by the interior secretary and law secretary, and push for the notification as soon as possible.

Senator Sherry Rehman’s private member’s bill, the Torture and Custodial Death Bill 2020, was also reviewed by the committee in detail.

Senator Khokhar said that the bill has been reviewed in previous committee meetings, and committee members have suggested amendments to make it more effective. The committee reviewed the proposals and unanimously approved the bill with the amendments proposed by the senators.

A report on the matter will be presented in the Senate session.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2020