The tiny dusty hands
Bright eyes, tireless bodies, sleepless nights and huge dreams; the ones with big days and short nights, large smiles and sedulous hands, who are they? They are the children trapped in the curse of child labor. Child labor steals youngsters’ childhood and affects them in uncountable ways. ILO and UNICEF declare that all working children can’t be termed as child labor. Working children and child labor are two different concepts. If the work done by a child, doesn’t affects his health, personal development and schooling then such kind of work is not termed as child labor; child labor is defined as the employment of children to do certain tasks which steals their childhood and dignity, disturbs them mentally, morally, physically and interrupts their regular and basic education. Though it’s a universal issue but a recent research in 2015, by Verisk Maplecroft — a global risk consulting firm based in UK, ranked Pakistan 9th in the list of countries having extreme child labor.
Uncontrollable population, extreme poverty, parents with no education and gluttonous love for money are main reasons behind child labor. There are two main types of parents who send their little children to work: first, who are not aware about the importance of education and several government policies regarding free education, second ones are those who don’t send their children to school, assuming that it will deprive them of extra income which their children are earning.
74% of the rural children are busy working in the agricultural sectors, fishery and forestry whereas 26% of them work in factories, below the age of 15. In 2013, a survey of Sahiwal district revealed that 31,000 children, between 5 to 14-years, were working in 730 brick kilns in this area. According to ILO survey in 2012, about 264,000 Pakistani children were found in the curse of labor.
There are definitely some places in our heart which we don’t discover until we love a child. The way a child looks you in the eye, the way he holds you when he is feeling down, is there something more beautiful than being loved by a child? Absolutely not. But the saddest part is, we humans are getting more materialistic and greedy about worldly goods. Millions of children are daily facing death due to illegal labor.
Many NGOs are working to eliminate this cause in Pakistan, for example, SPARC, Voice of Children, Children First, CHAEF, Save The Children, CCF, AGHS, Make a Wish Foundation, KONPAL- Child Abuse Prevention Society, Azad Foundation, ARC. All of these organizations and government policies are secondary treatments but as a human and as a Pakistani, it is our responsibility to overcome this curse individually. Approach your nearest housing societies, schools, highway restaurants, and other such places. Organize awareness events but most importantly act upon what you are spreading. The best way to end child labor is to enable maximum children’s access to education/school and aware their parents about free education policies of government and NGOs. Understand the value of a child’s life and spread the word.
We must give a child love and care because my dear friend, child labor is just not fair.
