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Child Labor: An Agony

Atif Riaz Ali

Childhood is a memorable period of one’s life in which one learns new things, have fun by innovating enjoyable activities, and gather love and affection from family. Children are like innocent flowers which grow in that direction where they are mold. But labor work at early childhood is horrifying aspect of their life. This is not only the tragedy of Pakistan but also many other developing countries. According to UNICEF report 2006, an estimated 246 million children are engaged in child labor world wide. Though latest official reports are not available on number of children engaged in labor work in Pakistan as no survey is carried out on this issue in last decade, but the last survey in 1996 figured out 3.3 million child laborers in Pakistan. Out of these 3.3 million children 73% were boys and 27% were girls. The contribution of rural areas was about eight times higher than that of urban areas (DAWN, 2007). These figures are still growing and there is desperate need to control it, which is why I have selected this topic to write on. In this paper, I will discuss different causes, types, and impact of child labor and some recommendations to control this.

There are different causes due to which children are sent for labor work. One of the major causes is poverty. The poverty situation in Pakistan is extremely severe especially in rural areas. Mostly, people living in rural areas, send their children for labor work. They are living almost in hand to mouth conditions. Most of them don’t have even food and basic health facilities. Thus they send their children for working even in low payment. Mostly children work for the survival of their families and for themselves. Children are also considered as a source of cheap labor which is another cause of increasing tendency of child labor. Some factories hire children just because they can take more work from them at low payment. Another major cause of child labor is illiteracy. The literacy rate in Pakistan is very low. Childhood is the period of life when children get basic education, but when they are engaged in labor work they are deprived from education. Children who are working full time can not go to school. For those who combine work and school, their educational achievement will suffer and there is a strong tendency for them to drop out of school and to go into full-time employment. Furthermore, there is need of welfare institutions. But the number of these organizations is very less as compared to need. If there had been more welfare institutions to support poor families financially as well as education wise, there would have less number of children employees.

There are different types of child labor work. One of them is unpaid household workers. Especially in rural areas, Farmers who cannot afford to hire labor will rely on family labor saving the money. Having more children is a means of increasing household production. In this way at one side population is increasing and resources are decreasing while on the other side children are deprived of their basic rights of education and are indulged in unpaid household work. Another type is hazardous work. According to UNICEF report 2006, out of 246 million child laborers, nearly 70 percent (171 million) of these children work in hazardous conditions including working in mines, working with chemicals and pesticides, in agriculture or with dangerous machinery. In our country, children are working in different factories, in hotels as waiters, in motor workshops, at road sides selling things, and some times without payment as slaves. Children who are doing slavery works, sometimes becomes victims of sexual abuse. According to UNICEF report 2006, millions of girls work as domestic servants and unpaid household help and are especially vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

Healthy and educated children constitute the healthy and economically stable society. But labor work has devastating effects on physical, psychological and social health of children. Firstly, their physical growth is retarded due to excessive work and lack of proper nutrition. They also become more prone to certain communicable diseases because mostly the environment of their work place is not safe and the immunity of children is usually low. For example those children who work in chemical factories and unhygienic places, they mostly get chest infections and other respiratory tract disorders. Children who work with different machines they are more prone to get injuries. Similarly children who work on road sides e.g. news paper sellers usually undergo through accidents and fractures. Secondly, Labor work also affects on psychological development of children. When they are scolded by their masters and neglected by their parents, they are mentally distressed. Due to which most of the time, these working children end up with different psychological disorders like depression, aggression, isolation and inferiority complex etc. Moreover, while working, they can not get education resulting in retardation of their intellectual growth. Also labor work has great impact on social life of children. Working children don’t have sufficient time to spend with their same age group friends and family members, due to which a vast gap develops between these children and their age friends and family members. Furthermore these children adopt bad company and are being indulged in criminal activities. Sometime these working children are also neglected by society resulting in social isolation. Child labor also results in poor economic growth. Children are asset in the economic growth of a country. But when the talent is wasted as labor work, the economic growth of the country is paralyzed.

In order to stop this social evil, bold steps are needed to be taken. As poverty is one of the major causes, the Government along with different NGOs can play an important role in decreasing poverty by providing job opportunities especially in rural areas. Provision of quality education can also play an important role in decreasing the act of child labor. Media and religious centers can also help the people by providing enough information about the rights and needs of children. There is need of more NGOs and welfare institutions. The NGOs should take interest in doing researches and providing awareness about the hazards of child labor. The major role is of the Government. Although there is law in Pakistan against child labor but its implementation is unseen. According to National Legislation and Policies against Child Labour in Pakistan “Article 11 (3) prohibits employment of children below the age of 14 years in any factory or mine or any other hazardous employment”. But only making laws is not enough, their implementation carries meaning.

To conclude, childhood is a time of innocence, enjoying, playing, learning, and growing physically and mentally. But due to poverty, lack of proper guidance and illogical tradition, many children cannot enjoy the pleasure of life and are engaged in labor work resulting in retarded physical, social and psychological growth. In order to stop this so called uncivilized tradition, bold steps are needed to be taken. In order to minimize child labor, a collaborative work of government and different NGOs is needed.