Girls outstrip boys in the child workforce and the number of children working in villages is more than twice that in cities and towns, according to a survey conducted by a non-governmental organisation.More than three million children are working as labourers in different industries with the majority linked to bangle manufacturing, carpet weaving and surgical industry.
Leaders of the Global Compact Pakistan Faseehul Karim Siddiki and Zaheer Arif, addressing a press conference at the press club on Thursday, said that though the number of child labourers was more than 3.3 million but authorities have failed in protecting their rights due to the lack of will to implement international laws. They regretted the government attitude in following comprehensive policy in this regard.
The prevalence of child labour practice is because of poverty, which, if can’t be abolished altogether should at least be curtailed by reducing their working hours so that they could pursue their education as well, they said.
They said that the football industry in Sialkot has been purged of this practice but girls in agriculture and as domestics outnumber boys and the ratio of child labour in rural and urban areas is 70:30.
They called on media and anti-child labour organisations to join hands for fending off this evil, for ever.
Syed Jawed Shah, president of the Indus Development Society said that in Larkana alone there were some 24,000 children engaged in carpet and newspaper industries, besides working in different arenas. These helpless souls, he said, more often face physical, sexual and mental harassment.
The leaders proposed of forming coalition groups at district level to effectively address the issue of child labour.
They also announced of establishing a branch of Global Compact Pakistan in Larkana.
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