KARACHI: Civil society and trade union leaders on Friday urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take cognizance of enforcement of child labour laws and policy and plan of action to end child labour in Pakistan.
Addressing a joint press conference at the Karachi Press Club, National Labour Council Secretary Karamat Ali, Sindh Labour Solidarity Committee Convener Habibuddin Junaidi, Shafeeq Ghauri from the Sindh Labour Federation, Mir Zulfiqar Ali of the Workers Education and Research Organisation and Farhat Parveen from NOW Communities welcomed the suo moto action of the Supreme Court in the case of a domestic child labour.
Speaking on the occasion, Karamat Ali condemned the incident of torture on a domestic child worker, employed by a judge in Islamabad. He said that the accused in the case of torture on Tayyeba, a minor domestic worker girl, be arrested and taken to the task. The serving judge had employed a girl child of age 10 years, which was illegal.
According to an estimate, Karamat said there are over nine million child labourers in Pakistan. “Many children are working in dangerous and harmful conditions,” he said. The Supreme Court should seriously look into the implementation of the relevant laws, which prevent child labour, he said.
Employment of Children Act 1991 and the National Child Policy and Plan of Action to Combat Child Labour were formed many years back but both federal and provincial governments have not taken any action to implement them, he said. Karamat read out various clauses of the law and policy and said that the government had to ensure that all children up to the age of 16 years must be in the schools.
After inclusion of Article 25 A as a result of the 18th Amendment in the constitution, it is the responsibility of the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of 16 years. Pakistan has also ratified the UN Child Right Convention and under which it is obligatory for Pakistan to protect all fundamental rights of all children.
“There is a need to review all labour laws including Employment of Children Act 1991, minimum wage laws and bonded labour abolition act,” the speakers said. Speaking on the occasion, Junaidi and Gauri demanded of the government to protect rights of all vulnerable sections of the society.
