Child beggars still chase benefactors

Every child born into this world has a right to a safe home and a secure future, which under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is the state's obligation to fulfil. However, the authorities in Sindh, neither have the time nor the eagerness to address the unfortunate children wasting their lives away on the roads.

Despite the government calling for the rehabilitation of child beggars, the Sindh Child Protection Authority has provided false assurances to the Sindh Assembly on the status of child beggars at a shelter home located in Malir. However, when The Express Tribune investigated the matter, it was found that there was not a single child beggar in the said shelter home.

"There is not a single child beggar in the shelter home at Malir," confirmed Mir Tariq Ali Talpur, the Provincial Minister for the Social Welfare Department, which currently supervises the only shelter home for children in Karachi. Although the shelter home has a capacity to keep 200 children at a time, only 31 children are staying here at the moment, none of whom are beggars from the roads.

Bebo, a girl child begging near the Zainab Market in Saddar revealed that her father had forced her and her mother into the reprehensible practice. "My mother and I come here every day while my father begs in another area. Once a man had tried to teach me how to read and write. He would give me lessons on the footpath for two to three years however, once my father found out he got riled up and abused my mother. Thereon, I stopped studying," shared Bebo.

Anwar Memon, a children's rights activist felt that child beggars were increasingly active in the city today, with thousands occupying public spaces. "The police sometimes conduct campaigns against beggars, during which many are taken into custody however, this seems to be futile since the number of children begging is increasing day by day," observed Memon.

"Child beggary is part of child labour and bonded labour. Ironically, we have one of the highest population growth rate in the world with no concept of social security including free healthcare and quality education.

Since low-income families need money, they turn their children into an earning hand. Economically deprived parents do not have ample resources to invest in the education of their children.

After Article 25A, now, it is the state's responsibility to provide free and compulsory education to children till the age of 18. However, the state is just spending 1.4 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on education whereas as per international commitment, a country has to spend a minimum of 4 per cent of the GDP on education," claimed Dr Riaz Shaikh, Professor of Social Sciences at SZABIST Karachi.

On the other hand, Talpur affirmed that the Sindh Police arrested begging children and even presented them to the courts however, they were easily released on a bail of Rs1000.

"Children involved in begging are usually not abandoned hence they are not brought to shelter homes," shared Ahmed Edhi, an official from the Edhi Foundation, who told The Express Tribune that the children staying with them were mostly orphans.

"A large number of children are exploited for begging in Karachi however, we do not have any data available regarding their exact number. The Sindh Police had launched a campaign against child beggars during the first tenure of the current Inspector General of Police Sindh," said Assistant Inspector General of Police Shehla Qureshi, who is also the in-charge of the Human Rights Cell.