Pakistan - Violence against child workers

The media carried the other day a shocking image of an 11-year-old maid beaten black and blue by her employers. The girl child from Sargodha worked for the family of a well-educated Grade 18 federal government officer - someone expected to act civilised - in Lahore. The victim told her rescuers the family members used to beat her with a plastic pipe "even on false complaints of their children." Fortunately for her, someone alerted helpline of the Child Welfare and Protection Bureau (CWPB) about the cruel treatment, and a bureau team accompanied by the area police raided the house. They found marks of violence on her face and other parts of the body, and rescued her. Many others of their ilk are not fortunate enough.

During the recent years, there have been two reported cases in Lahore, in one instance a girl and a boy in the other, beaten so badly by their employers that they succumbed to their injuries. The cases came to light because of the extreme brutality resulting in death, which could not remain hidden. There surely are countless cases all over the country that go unreported, either because the children are too afraid to complain or the parents are too poor and powerless to do anything. Most of the children working as domestic help are girls since boys mostly work - generally in exploitative conditions - in public places and hence have comparative freedom to run away. Girls are more vulnerable to maltreatment, even sexual abuse. Public welfare organisations such as CWPB are important, but inadequate to look after the welfare of all children forced to work.

The government needs to step in with appropriate legislative and administrative measures to protect children from maltreatment, injury, and abuse. Child labour is a bane of pervasive poverty in this country. The poor routinely send their children to work to supplement family incomes. It is the responsibility of the government to provide them with protection. The least it can and must do is to fulfil its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that urges state parties, among other things, to ensure that "no child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." There are several laws in Pakistan prohibiting or regulating conditions for child labour in different sectors, including factories, shops and business establishments. But there is nothing to safeguard the rights of domestic workers who form a substantial part of the workforce. It is about time child workers, like in the present case; also get a legal cover against abuse. Legislation alone, though, will not help, as is obvious from the way the child labour laws in other areas are ignored. It is equally important to put in place administrative oversight. Registration of all domestic child workers must be made mandatory, and complaint centres established and publicised to facilitate rescue and remedial action.