A child employed is injustice against society
Child labour and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labour of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labour to the end of time. This quote by renowned American social activist Grace Abbott is the perfectly answer to the chicken-egg dilemma faced by millions of people struck by poverty around the world. In financially turbulent times, the adults think sending children to work will generate some extra income and cut down the ‘needless’ cost of education and recreation. This thought pattern seems logical at first but over the course of time it turns out to be a blunder. According to a 2021 World Bank report, children dropping out during COVID-19 pandemic and entering Labour force before completing their school education would cause Pakistan $67 billion in the gross domestic product (GDP) at net present value in twenty years compared to if they had completed their education and then entered the market. In simpler words, an educated youth will make more money than an uneducated youth who has been working since his childhood. People often counter this by saying what if a child studies and work at the same time. Well you can’t have best of both worlds. In fact there’s no ‘best’ in child labour period. Almost all forms of employment are hazardous for children. The scenario where a child can easily manage study and work is a fairytale in Pakistan. According to Pakistan Labour Force Survey 2017-18, 70 percent of the total 9.4 Million Pakistani child labourers, are employed in agricultural sector. Working for extended hours in extreme weather conditions, puts them at risk of several life threatening diseases. Pakistani children are involved in slavery, Bonded Labour, Serfdom, Trafficking, Sexual Exploitation, Drug Trafficking, and Organized Crime and Child Domestic Labour (CDL). None of these professions care one iota about the benefit of the employees. According to UNICEF statistics, more than 80% Pakistani child labourers experience some sort of violence at work. Hence a quick math can tell that most families end up with additional burden due to child labour.
Child Labour is also a social evil because it is always based on exploitation. The employers hire children only because they’re cheap labour. Adults doing same workload for same hours always get more payment. The fact that child labour passes on to next generation is also a reason for the social injustice around the world. A woman who never went to school and worked as a child domestic worker will most likely make her daughter go through the same cycle. Same goes for the rag picking males and people from other professions where child labour is prevalent.June 12th is celebrated every year as Child Labour Day around the world with promise to uproot this evil from the world. This year marks its 21st celebration and it’s about time the promises made to the children are delivered. Government of Pakistan must ensure complete implementation of Article 3, Article 11, Article 25-A and Article 37-3 of Constitution of Pakistan, and the national and international commitments undertaken to proscribe Child Labour. However, the focus should be on minimizing the relapse rather than outright action.
Instead of punishing children or parents, adequate planning should be done to support education, vocational training, health and basic needs of marginalized children and their families to ensure that they don’t return to work. Combating child labour is not a sprint but a triathlon where each stage must be planned and executed perfectly. To bring social justice to our society, the government and the masses need to set their priorities straight. The former US. Secretary of Labour Alexis Margaret Herman summarized it perfectly when she said that what the children learn today is what they earn tomorrow.
The writer is Programme Manager, Society for Protection of Rights of the Child, (SPARC), Islamabad.
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