ISLAMABAD:
Children should not be forced into serving as household help was the message given by concerned parents at a conference, ‘Contemporary Forms of Slavery: Child Domestic Labour in Pakistan’ on Saturday. The conference had been organised by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC).
Samar Minaullah, a human rights activist produced a documentary - ‘I have a dream’, on the lives of child domestic workers.
The film depicted the ordeals that children doing domestic labour are subject to, the violence meted out at the hands of their employers and the subsequent destruction of their dreams. The children shown, some as young as seven, depict a picture of overwork and physical abuse in a display that moved the audience.
The documentary also brought a disturbing fact to light: around 10 million children are put to work in domestic situations, instead of furthering their education at schools.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Minallah stated that the children pass through intense psychological trauma, with feelings of isolation and homesickness arising from being away from friends and family. Compounded by physical and emotional abuse, their lives become increasingly unbearable.
SPARC Executive Director Arshad Mahmood stated that from January 29, 2010 to date, 13 domestic workers have been brutally killed.
Mohammad Qasim, whose sent his 12 year-old daughter Tehmina to work as a maid to help support the family, lost her when her employers allegedly pushed her off a balcony.
“They killed my daughter by throwing her off a balcony after beating her up. When I took her to the hospital, it was too late. She died in my arms,” he said.
Abdul Majeed, a father of eight, is still trying to locate two of his daughters, Razia, 8, and Sadiqa, 16, who went missing in Lahore last year after a friend pledged to find them work. “I am poor, my eyes and hearing is failing me. I don’t know where they are; all I want is for someone to please help me find them.” Although he tried getting in touch with lawyers and the police, they allegedly did not help him.
Zakia Shahnawaz, Advisor to the Punjab chief minister, ensured her full support to the father of the missing girls and emphasised the need for urgent legislative and monitoring measures to curb domestic child labour.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2011.
COMMENTS (3)
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I really like tribune's photograph showing psychological damage to children.
This has been proved that child domestic labour is one of the worst forms of child labour. 13 children have been tortured to death since Shazia Masih's tragic murder in January 2010.
Both the federal and provincial governments should notify child domestic labour under the schedule of banned occupations of the Employment of Children Act 1991. Similarly, legislation for the implementation of Article 25a of the constitution that has made education a fundamental right for children between 5 to 16 years of age can be an effective prevention strategy.