Universal Child Day is being celebrated by the international community, including Pakistan, on 20th November. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was signed on 20th November 1989, and so far the Convention has been ratified by 191 nation states. This day is a reminder for us to review our commitments and action for the protection and promotion of child rights.
Despite the ratification of UN CRC, successive Pakistani governments have failed to protect the future generation of the country. Therefore, abuse, neglect, and discrimination against children are widespread in the country.
Child labor is quite common and recognized as a serious problem in Pakistan. It is entirely difficult to present accurate figures of the child workforce; there is little doubt that child labor has assumed massive proportions in Pakistan. The actual total number of working children in Pakistan is probably somewhere between 2 and 19 million.
Child labor has been legislated against in several international conventions, most notably the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, which the Pakistani government ratified in 1990. There have also been several relevant pieces of national legislation enacted to protect the children.
The International Labour Organisation defines child labour as work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children (Article 3(d) Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (Number 182) 1999).
The exploitative practice of child labor has been recognized as one of the major socio-economic problems in Pakistan. Certainly, Child labor seriously jeopardizes children’s prospects for a better future. No doubt childrens are involved in all forms of labor however in Karachi, the largest commercial city of the Pakistan, childrens engagement in rag picking is a common phenomenon.
Rag picking is one of the worst forms of child labor, and it is roughly estimated that more than 20,000 children are working as rag pickers in Karachi. Salman Mukhtar, General Secretary Initiator Human Development Foundation (IHDF), said that one can spotted these children at dumpsites, or in residential areas while collecting paper, plastics, and bottles, cardboard, tin, iron, and used syringes. He added that rag pickers get paid according to the quality of the materials they sell to middlemen or garbage collection centers.
They usually collect trash between 10 kilogram and 30 kilogram and spend 8 to 12 hours on the streets. They have very little earning to feed themselves and their families. It was informed that children of Afghan refugees are mostly working as rag pickers in Karachi. When I dont have money, I borrowed money from the owner of trash collector. He never refused to give me money and in return I have no choice but to sell all my trash to him on below market prices, Noor Khan, a twelve year old rag picker informed. Not only Noor Khan but many rag pickers are under heavy debt and they are working in a bonded labor like situation.
Article 32 of CRC says: “State Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development”.
Mr. Salman Mukhtar of IHDF observed that rag pickers children are vulnerable to all sorts of violence, abuse and discrimination. As, these children spend a considerable amount of time on the streets and without any adult supervision, they are generally harassed by the public and particularly by the police.
Gul Kareem, a ten year old rag picker, informed that, police harassment is a routine episode for us and without any charges they search our sacks and sometime beat us severely. They demand money and even sexual favor; once on refusal they confined my friend for two days and perpetuated physical torture on him.
Advocate Mohammad Hanif observed that rag pickers children are highly vulnerable to human and citizen rights abuses. He informed that the Constitution of Pakistan states: “No child below the age of fourteen, shall be engaged in any factory or mine or in any other hazardous employment.” Also, “All forms of forced labor and traffic in human beings are prohibited.” He told that a number of laws contain provisions prohibiting child labor or regulating the working conditions of child and adolescent workers; however, child rag pickers are not legally protected.
Dr. Iqra Raheem, a local Pediatrician, believed that due to their lifestyle these children are exposed to scabies, malaria, skin diseases and other health problems. There risk of falling ill is very high as they work in unhygienic, conditions and consume unhealthy food and Water. Additionally, their exposure to syringes puts them at risk of contracting infections like Hepatitis or HIV/AIDS. She suggested that hospitals, especially those running under government control, should adopt a comprehensive solid waste management policy.
Mr. Imdad Hussain, Program Officer in an environment focused NGO, observed that rag pickers provide a crucial support, to the city district government, in managing solid waste in Karachi. Though, we have never done any estimation to gauge the percentage of solid waste manage by the child rag pickers but it is assumed that they handle and dispose of atleast 12 percent of solid waste. These services allow the city district government to save a huge amount of money they would have to bear the cost and time of collecting solid waste.
The government has not recognized this as a priority issue, while very few citizen sector organizations are working on the issue of rag pickers in Pakistan. However, organizations working for child rag pickers clearly lacks understating about their problems and needs; therefore, actions that have been introduced to address the problems of child rag pickers have had very little impact so far. There is a dire need to understand the issue in totality and device strategies to tackle the problem effectively.
