Manifestoes of political parties ignore child labour issue

Manifestoes of political parties ignore child labour issue: speakers

Published in  Daily the News
Wednesday, May 01, 2013 
From Print Edition

Speakers criticised political parties for not giving due importance to the critical issue of child labour in their party manifestoes.

At a talk ‘On the Politics of Child Labour’ organised at the First Islamabad Literature Festival, the social activists highlighted the ordeal children involved in child labour pass through and the politics involved in the whole process that is making Pakistan one of the few countries where the number of child labour is on the rise.

“There are around 90 million children involved in child labour in the country. There are no laws that protect children working in informal sector. It is unfortunate that this issue is still low at the priority list of our political parties. Only because children do not posses right to vote,” said child rights activist Anis Jilani.

He said Rs500 million were spent on the distribution of laptops among students. “I believe that every investment on children should be appreciated but we really need to reconsider our priorities. If invested on eliminating the issue of child labour form the country, this investment could prove to be more beneficial,” he added.

He said no donor or NGO can eliminate the issue. “Only government can control the menace and proper legislation can be the first step in this direction,” he added.

Poet and reformist Taimur Rehman said issue of child labour always existed in every part of the world but character of child labour turned brutal with industrialisation. “Child labour in agriculture sector does not have the extent of negative psychological and medical impact as working in a factory has on a child,” he said.

Taimur blamed system of capitalisation for the vicious cycle of poverty that leads to hazardous form of child labour. “It exists in all parts of the world which proves that it is fault of a system which is overall exploitative,” he pointed out while further adding that western countries do not have issue child labour because they are the ones who have surplus resources whereas the third world has the surplus labour.

Bits of a documentary on child labour screened by Samar Minallah on this occasion truly made the participants realise the impact of child labour on psychology of a child. She also played a recently recorded video of a little girl working at a brick kiln. The video highlights the situation of children indulged in debt bondage. “I am helpless. I have no choice,” said the little child hardly 6 years of age in the video.