There is a lack of information concerning the exact number of children working as domestic workers and the conditions under which they work. A UN study estimated 264,000 children to be working as domestic workers in 2004. The earthquake which hit the northern areas and the two severe floods which impacted even larger parts of the country have probably made this situation worse. Young children, under the age of 14, working as domestic workers is not a phenomenon confined to far-flung rural areas where feudal domination compels tenants to send their offspring to work for landlords without remuneration. They are just as easily found working in homes in peri-urban areas and in major cities all around the country. Some employers prefer to employ young boys and girls, since they feel more comfortable having them around female members of their own families. Others hire children simply because they can be paid less or because they couldn’t find older help. Poor parents place their children in domestic work to earn additional income. It also helps lessen the cost of meals and frees up some space in their overcrowded homes.
Irrespective of such push and pull compulsions, the media sporadically highlights cases of horrendous abuse and violence of children employed as domestic workers. The death of a 12-year-old girl, working as a maid in an advocate’s house two years ago, for example, evoked much interest and concern, though it dissipated quickly. Since that time, the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child has documented 18 cases of brutal violence and torture inflicted by employers, resulting in the death of 13 children and serious injuries to the others. This organisation has also highlighted the perturbing fact that employers who perpetrated these atrocities escape conviction since they can buy off poor parents of their victims in settlements out of court.
While cases of such extreme abuse are limited, it is impossible to determine which home may inflict varying levels of violence or abuse on child workers and which one wouldn’t. It is due to this basic reason that child rights organisations are demanding immediate steps be taken to ban child domestic labour completely. The International Labour Organisation has lately introduced a domestic labour convention, but Pakistan is yet to sign it. Thus, experts are suggesting that we extend the existing child labour laws to domestic work as well.
If the government takes the step of making child domestic work illegal and punishes a few people violating this law, it may just serve as a reasonable enough deterrent for potential employers and help stifle demand which sustains this phenomenon. Poor families will be hard pressed, deprived of the income provided by their young children currently working in other people’s homes, but the most desperate of them could be provided some form of state support, especially if they agree to send their working children to school instead. We need a zero tolerance approach towards children under the age of 14 being subjected to work, or else the vicious cycle of intergenerational deprivation will prove very hard to break.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2012.
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@Afzaalkhan::Congratulations,you got ONE recommendation because you talked SENSE.Those who do not understand the ground-reality about poverty in Pakistan will never agree with what you say.They don't realise that hungry mouths breed angry minds which if left un-attended will bring chaos and confusion in the country.The rest I don't need to repeat as you have very concisely pointed towards the solutions to eradicate child-labour
@Syed Miqdad: Good job Miqdad! if this legislation is passed that will indeed be an achievement in this struggle. Please do let me know if there is any development. My email address is osial@omarsial.com. Many thanks. Warm regards, Omar
Yes there are some lines that should not be crossed if we what to call ourselves civilized. All educated and religious homes should under no circumstances employ children as domestic servants. People should help organizations like the citizens foundation or Aman foundation to educate our youth. Only with developed human Resourses can we compete in the world.
Hello Ali, I am grateful you wrote just a great piece regarding the child domestic Labor issue and contributed in the efforts to build a society where children can live without abuse and exploitation and could enjoy their fundamental rights promised in constitution of Pakistan and UNCRC as Arshad Mahmood also mentioned earlier/above, To Ban the Child Domestic Labor, Government of Punjab under Employment of Children Act (amended) 2011 can issue a notification to include this form of labor in banned labor category. Minister for Labor has given the consent to ban it (for issuance a notification through Secretary Labor) As We are still waiting from the Government of Punjab we are continuously following up the issue and i hope these sort of contribution can put pressure on the Government to take notice of the child right issues.
What are the alternatives for children who are only seen as a source of income. The problem is not 'child labor', Child labor is a consequence of a bigger problem in most developing countries where population growth is out of control. Children are seen as a source of income. They have more children for this very purpose. These children will start begging, or be sent to factories where the working conditions are wors.e Perhaps registering children, making it COMPULSORY for the employers to send these children to schools, private or government, And perhaps step by step we will get rid of this mentality of having more children to contribute to the family income
Good opinion piece on child domestic labour by the author at a time when little space is available for issues like the one under discussion on the opinion pages or prime time talk shows.
There is no second opinion and the data as well as case studies from the past two and half years clearly indicates that child domestic labour is one of the worst forms of child labour. I among those who are for putting an immediate ban on CDL under the schedule of banned occupations of the Employment of Children Act 1991 at the national level and under the Employment of Children Amendment Act 2011 for Punjab. Having said this, I believe that it'll not be possible to eliminate child labour or child domestic labour to be specific with policing only. We do require awareness raising and some steps like a debate on the mainstream and social media about the subject.
An important and proven strategy could be the proper implementation of Ariticle 25 A of the Constitution about the right to free and compulsory education for all children of the age of 5 to 16 years. Immediate legislation for the effective implementation of the Article 25 A with solid budgetary allocation and political will can help eliminate child labour from Pakistan.
Good post - minus the justifications of poverty and disasters - because child labor perpetuates poverty - it's a vicious cycle of poverty itself.
Thats what happens when drawing room intellectuals have to write to fill the pages, as people have already mentioned there are complicated and varied reasons behind child labor. The problem of Pakistani so called intellectuals, sitting in their drawing room and reading west and trying to think like westerns totally cut off with ground realities. Lets start with 1st thing 1st, lets better the three most important things, Law & Order, education and economy, when u do both you cut of 90% of problems and crimes. A person who has to earn to be able to eat, who can realize that his labor do bear fruitation e.g as material buying better car etc etc will be less inclined to do agitation for fear of losing his job.
I think in a society obsessed with 'our' children (praising them) and 'theirs' with very negative opinions, I can't imagine that the argument 'we are helping them by giving them a job' is valid. We treat them with utmost disrespect and expect them to work as hard as a grown up male. My view is that child labour should be banned. If it was possible to limit their work to a couple of hours a day when they go to school for the rest of the time makes sense. But I know the employers will use them as long as thy need them in a day. So I say no to child labour at all.
They should have a condition in place that if you employ a child labourer you must also be responsible to educate him/her (at a proper school !!!) so that it could give that child hope of a new life. Such acts can break the poverty cycle if we the people of the nation act. I've lost all faith in the government, time to take matters into my own hands.
@A. Khan: "Under no circumstances is it ok to employ children. Children should be playing or going to school."
Conceptually who can disagree with what you are saying. But the reality is more complex and closer to what Falcon said. OF course ideally parents should not have kids that they cannot support but that ideal is not always realized. Even if the government can somehow ensure that they are not employed, it is difficult to ensure that they will get to play.
This problem exists on both side of the border. LAtely though the mid day meal program by Indian government in government schools has helped increase enrollment and attendance in schools and reduce drop out rates - particularly among girls. More such interventions are necessary. But both things will have to go hand in hand - you cannot simply cutoff income without worrying about what they will eat.
employing children should be made crime.
@Omar Sial: I agree with you sir. The child labor should be strongly regulated like the West. A child of 12-14 years old may be allowed to work a few hours a week to support him/her. However, they must be going to school full time and only perform certain duties for a short time. This happens in the US regularly and daily. The newspapers are delivered by kids in their neighborhoods. Kids go and mow the lawns and clean the driveways after snow. But they always go to school and do not become full time slaves. In fact working from an early age makes them a better money manager and hard working youth. While in Pakistan the child servant is there 24 hours a day and 7 days a week with not education or break. This 24/7 gives rise to all kinds of child molestations and cruelty. Regards, Mirza
Under no circumstances is it ok to employ children. Children should be playing or going to school. By employing children without their parents supervision leaves them open to physical and sexual abuse. I wish Pakistani public realizes that and stops this practice of using children around the house, as child minders or even in hazardous occupations such as workshops or paint shops.
How a child of 7 or 8 is expected to look after someone else's child or work in a workshop is incomprehensible to me.
@Syed - While what you are stating is a very noble objective, I wonder if this is that easy to enforce without repercussions. The families where kids have to work out of necessity need revenue substitution and I don't know if state has the capability to compensate for that lost revenue since we Pakistanis like putting a stamp of immorality on everything except tax evasion. Furthermore, some times I have seen these domestic workers become an extended family member who might not enjoy all the respect of a regular family member but at least get basic amenities of life along with education. If you cut this off for poor families who don't have the resources to support these kids, they will leave these kids off in Madrassas, which creates its own set of additional problems like we are seeing today. The true solution lies in population control only since any downstream risk mitigating control creates its own set of problems. Other than that, we might be able to take the suggested route, but only after we have raised our social development expenditure to a sufficient level.
Enjoyed reading the article Ali.
I too have deliberated a lot on this issue. It's a tough one to sort out in a country like ours. I however tend to tilt towards "the absolutely no child labour" philosophy and take solace in this quote of Grace Abbott:
"Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time."
Warn regards
Omar Sial
Thank you for this article. It is needed.
I expect a lot of people to justify their use of child domestic helpers with arguments such as we take good care of them, they are better off with us etc. But when society considers it acceptable and allows it we create opportunity for the abusers and so we all become responsible.
For that reason, people who hire children should be shamed. Even if they are not abusers; they are creating opportunity for abusers, and they are part of the problem.