Almost every month or two we hear about a new case of torture to death of a child domestic worker in Pakistan and then forget until a new case surface. The recent cold blooded torture to death of 10 year old Jamil in Multan by the wife of his employer show the seriousness of the problem in Pakistan.
Jamil's cruel torture to death is not the first case of murder of a child domestic worker in Pakistan. Approximately 42 cases of cruel violance against child domestic workers were reported in media since Shazia Masih's torture to death in January 2010 in Lahore. Jamil is 20th child domestic worker tortured to death and majority of these cases have been reported in Punjab.
If someone has any doubts, please google Shazia Masih (Lahore), Yasmin (Okara), Shehzad (Gujranwala) Tehmina (Islamabad) to name a few. All these cases show that child domestic labour is one of the deadliest form of child labour in Pakistan. However, the federal and provincial governments in Pakistan have failed to respond to the situation. The Chief Minister of Punjab to take a proactive action and immediately ban child domestic labour under the schedule of banned occupations of the Punjab Employment of Children (Amendment) Act 2012. I understand that policing may not be an effective way to respond to the situation however, banning child domestic labour can be a good deterance particularly for parliamentarians and government servants.
For resolving the issue of child labour on sustainable basis in Pakistan, the federal and provincial governments should make serious efforst to implement Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan about right to free and compulsory education for children 5 to 16. The Government of Punjab should immediately enact the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill and make sufficient budgetary allocation for the implementation of the law.
Jamil's cruel torture to death is not the first case of murder of a child domestic worker in Pakistan. Approximately 42 cases of cruel violance against child domestic workers were reported in media since Shazia Masih's torture to death in January 2010 in Lahore. Jamil is 20th child domestic worker tortured to death and majority of these cases have been reported in Punjab.
If someone has any doubts, please google Shazia Masih (Lahore), Yasmin (Okara), Shehzad (Gujranwala) Tehmina (Islamabad) to name a few. All these cases show that child domestic labour is one of the deadliest form of child labour in Pakistan. However, the federal and provincial governments in Pakistan have failed to respond to the situation. The Chief Minister of Punjab to take a proactive action and immediately ban child domestic labour under the schedule of banned occupations of the Punjab Employment of Children (Amendment) Act 2012. I understand that policing may not be an effective way to respond to the situation however, banning child domestic labour can be a good deterance particularly for parliamentarians and government servants.
For resolving the issue of child labour on sustainable basis in Pakistan, the federal and provincial governments should make serious efforst to implement Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan about right to free and compulsory education for children 5 to 16. The Government of Punjab should immediately enact the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill and make sufficient budgetary allocation for the implementation of the law.
No comments:
Post a Comment