Child labour and the cycle of poverty

Type of work children can be involved in differs greatly & not all work done by them has been targeted for elimination

Pakistan, along with the rest of the world, is going to observe another World Day Against Child Labour in a couple of weeks. The world certainly does need to dedicate a day to draw attention to the problem of child labour, given that over 10 per cent of children around the world are compelled to work. Pakistan should perhaps mark the child labour day with even greater zeal given the severity of this problem in our country. Child labour figures are going down globally. In Pakistan, however, it is suspected to have increased, making us amongst the handful of countries with alarming numbers of children who are working instead of being in school. Yet, the exact number of children engaged as child labourers is not officially acknowledged since a specific survey on child labour was conducted almost 20 years ago.

It is unfortunate when policymakers and even the average citzenry fail to recognise the serious implications of child labour. Many people in developing countries like our own, where poverty and lack of adequate education facilities remain ground realities, consider that putting children to work is perhaps a legitimate pathway to acquiring required skills and becoming productive adults. Even some hard-nosed economists point out that major economies were built partly using exploitative measures including child labour, and that the availability of cheap labour is perhaps necessary for today’s developing countries until they have grown enough to be able to provide a better alternative for children in poor households. However, this approach will not allow developing countries, nor poor households within them, to escape the shackles of poverty. What growing economies require is quality education and a skilled workforce to flourish. Even if these countries have to spend scarce money to ensure social protection for families to prevent child labour, it would pay off in the longer run.

Child labour is not the solution. Research shows that young people with prior involvement in child labour were more likely to be in unpaid family work or in low-paying jobs as adults, while those who had left school at or below the general minimum working age of 15 years were at greater risk of remaining outside the world of work altogether. This pattern will only dampen prospects for future growth. The type of work children can be involved in differs greatly, and not all work done by them has been targeted for elimination. For instance, if a child or teenager is involved in work that does not have a negative impact on their health or prevent them from attending school, it is generally considered acceptable.

Children above the age of 14 years in particular working decent hours and being able to go to school at the same time is considered acceptable even by the International Labour Organisation. However, the problem is with child labour which robs children of their right to education, is harmful to physical and mental development, involves children being separated from their families, and in its most extreme forms, enslaves and exposes them to hazardous work environments, which is not acceptable. All forms of such labour exist in our country with children working in brick kilns, agriculture and hazardous industries such as tanneries and mining, often to pay off loans incurred by the head of their households. Children live away from homes when they work as domestic servants. It is these worst forms of exploitative child labour which need to be addressed, and unless this is done within the next few years, Pakistan will not be able to avail the demographic dividend which so many of our policymakers keep alluding to.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2016.

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