The child labour problem

Pakistan undeniably has a child labour problem. Children as young as five or six may be found working in some industries and they have done for generations. The precise numbers of children working and out of education is unknown. There is even dispute as to the definition of ‘what is a child’. An area where child labour is grossly exploited is the brick-making industry, and children are to be found working in the brick kilns across the country, all illegally. There is no simple solution. Families are dependent upon the income their children generate, many families are tied or bonded labour, employed against an incurred debt that they are never going to pay off. Not a problem to be solved overnight and there is no perfect solution anyway.

A step in the right legislative direction is the Punjab Prohibition of Child Labour at Brick Kilns Bill, which was passed in the Punjab Assembly this week. It prescribes a six-month prison term and a Rs500,000 fine for those caught employing children under 14 in brick kilns. The bill also seeks to limit the amount the workers can borrow from the owners at the start of their employment, and that a written contract be made between the workers and the employees and that a copy be lodged with the police. It is impossible to do anything other than welcome the legislation; but there have to be serious concerns about its application and enforceability given the size of the industry and the paucity of resources to back up the legislation. How the children otherwise employed will be educated, or their health needs met or the families who lose one or more earning hands compensated, is not addressed. The competency or willingness of the police to prosecute kiln owners successfully is also open to question, given the poor implementation of virtually every other piece of social legislation countrywide. Flawed as the bill is, it is at least a starting point and as such we support it, but a lot more needs to be done across a spectrum of needs if the scourge of child labour is to be effectively addressed.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2016.

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