Pakistan government has announced ccs exams
8-year-old Zohra Shah breathed her last after she suffered
terrible injuries, cut marks on her arms and legs, scratch marks on her torso
and torture marks on her genitals by her employer for setting birds free. She
was taken to work by an aunt without the family permission, with more jobs in lahore that her father was behind the arrangement. As reported by the
police, the girl had wounds on her thighs which were consistent with sexual
assault, and was also bleeding from her genitals.
Tayyaba, a 10-year-old, working as a maid for an additional
district and session judge (ADSJ) and his wife, was tortured. Photos of the
tortured Tayyaba began circulating on social media in 2018. The ADSJ and his
wife were cleared of assault allegations but were sentenced to 1-year in jail
for neglecting an jobs in lahore.
Uzma Bibi, a 16-year-old house maid, was brutally tortured
and murdered by her employers, leading to an outcry on social media. Uzma was
regularly beaten up and made to sleep on the floor of a bathroom at night.
Because she ate some meat from the curry, she was strangled to death and her
body was dumped.
Humaira, a 10-year-old child, while working as a house help
was burned by her employer. She was abused, both verbally and physically. Jobs in
lahore with other children, boiling water was thrown upon her, leaving her with
burns all over her upper body. She was isolated and not even taken to a
hospital. She was rescued by a neighbor and reunited with her family.
According to a survey conducted by the Federal Bureau of
Statistics and the National Child Labour, approximately 19 million children
below 14 years of age are working as child labourers in Pakistan. According to
International Labour Organization (ILO), 8.5 million people in Pakistan – most
of which are women and children- are employed as domestics workers in
households.
Pakistan also suffers acutely from the bonded labor system.
A survey conducted in 2013 by Insan Dost Association unveiled that in Sahiwal,
Okara and Pakpattan’s 730 brick kilns alone, 31,000 children between the ages
of 5-14 worked as bonded laborers.
This is indicative of the fact that if the government were
to introduce sustenance/support programs for the poor, cases of bonded child
labor may decline.
Under “The Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act (BLSAA)
1992”, the practice of bonded labour was made an illegal practice and
consequently, in 2013 the courts freed 1,871 bonded labors. The majority of
these laborers emanated from Sindh and were male. The fact that almost 2
million people are believed to be victims of such a practice and only a
fraction of that number have been freed shows how fruitless this act is in
practice with respect to eliminating bonded labor.Punjab has introduced this
Act whereas Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa still lack any such
legislation.
Children are at a greater risk of exploitation, abuse and
violence at the workplace, particularly when the workplace is someone else’s
home where they are hidden from the public view and labor inspection.
The root causes for child labor are multiple but a major
cause appears to be poverty. Parents, as poor as a church mouse, do not have
the resources to feed their children. They send their children to work in
homes, with less wages and in some cases even no wages, provided only with food
and shelter. The alternative for these families is their children begging on
the streets, succumbing to drug addiction and sometimes being lured by criminal
gangs. In contrast to this alternative, domestic labor is viewed as a
better/safer option.
A year since the promulgation of Punjab Domestic Workers
Act, 2019, which prohibits the employment of children below 15 years of age, it
is reported that the act has not been implemented. In Pakistan’s most populous
province, only 12,500 domestic workers had registered with Punjab Employees
Social Security Institution (PESSI). The age limit is arbitrary as per article
25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan it is mandatory for children to receive
education up till the age of 16. This act put in place a laudable system of
protection for domestic workers but the question of implementation remains a
concern. There is no real power under the act to survey and inspect private
households for the purpose of registration.
It is expected that the Punjab government will correct the
lacuna and ensure the implementation of the said act and that other provinces
will follow suit.
Immediately, after the Zohra Shah case, the Federal
Government took a step forward. The cabinet approved the Ministry of Human
Rights (MoHR)’s summary to amend the Child Employment Act, 1991 by inserting
child domestic labor in part I of the Schedule. Under section 4 of the act, the
Federal Government is empowered to add any occupation to this schedule through
a notification in the official gazette. The cabinet has also directed MoHR to
conduct a survey of child domestic labor in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT)
so that the Federal Government can devise a social protection program for the
poor families who are compelled to send their children into domestic labor.
Furthermore, Zaineb Alert app is being launched in partnership with Prime
Minister’s Performance Delivery Unit (PMDU) as a part of the implementation of
Zaineb Alert Law.
This applies to ICT and one hopes that the provinces will
also make progress on this. This act defines a child as under 14 years of age
which is not in line with the stipulations of Article 25-A of the Constitution,
which mandates 16 years of education for every child.
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