We demand that the government respect its own guidelines for the safeguarding of human rights in the country.
KARACHI: This is with reference to a report published in your newspaper recently on the violence against Zafar, a 12-year-old domestic servant, by his employer in Karachi. The child was rescued by the police on December 7 after neighbours heard screams coming from the flat in a commercial area in DHA. Upon investigation, the boy was found chained inside the flat and the employer claimed that this was done because he had been accused of stealing.
Our fact-finding team visited the boy and found that his right arm and leg were paralysed because of the torture that he had suffered and injuries were visible all over his body. Though police arrested the employer, she managed to get bail the next day. Thus, while the boy’s poor parents are still not able to provide medical treatment to their tortured son, the person who did this is roaming free.
And those who think that such instances are few and far between, they should know that since January of this year, six female child domestic workers have died in suspect circumstances in Punjab alone.
We demand that the government respect its own guidelines for the safeguarding of human rights in the country. Being a signatory to the ILO’s convention on prevention of child labour, Pakstan is obligated to protect children from hazardous work. Furthermore, underage domestic servants should be included in the banned list of the Employment of Children Act of 1991.
Salam Dharejo,
Child Labour Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child
Published in The Express Tribune, December 11th, 2010.
