Women Deliver Satellite Event “Consultative Dialogue on Domestic Child Labor held” by Kafka
In Lahore, A consultative dialogue was organized in affiliation with Youth Train Mega event. The event goal was to highlight the issue of violence against Domestic Child Maids and to raise voice for gender equality.
The session was a consultative dialogue with diverse civil society stakeholders to discuss how we can end violence against domestic girl child workers. Faiza Amjad President Women Chamber of Commerce, Elaine Alam Secretary-General Faces Pakistan, Qaisra Sheikh Women Entrepreneur and Kamran Khan Chairperson Shaur News spoke on the occasion while Umair Asif Women Deliver Young Leader moderated the session. One of the main points under discussion was that what would be the replacement to domestic child labor? President Women Chamber shared different replacements in terms of women entrepreneurship. Elaine Alam focused that any kind of domestic child labor is not acceptable and it is a form of modern slavery. She also said parallel to schools time we cannot accept girl child’s working in households.
All participants agreed to raise combine voice on the issue also one participant raised the issue that we need research to find out the exact number of suffering girls child in domestic labor that is not available in any form.
Violence against Child Maids is a growing issue in the metropolitan cities of Punjab and Pakistan. Violence against child maids or domestic labor is not only initiated by uneducated people but we have witnessed it is also practiced by highly educated and responsible people of our society. In addition, we cannot only blame to employers but parents of child employs are equally responsible for their children to practice domestic labor. On the other side, the involvement of children in domestic labor ends their childhood, education, and health. Previously, Punjab restriction of employment of children act in 2016 and newly passed bill on domestic workers 2019 declared the minimum age to work for children to 15 years. The determined age contradicts with the right to education law article 25A that makes mandatory for the state to educate children by the age of 16.
Kafka Welfare Organization organized a consultative dialogue on Domestic Child Labor in collaboration with Youth Train, SPRF, and ILM DOST. The dialogue is part of child maids campaign that aims to end violence against Child Maids through law amendment and public awareness. The campaign also demands to implement the right to education law and restriction of domestic child labor. Moreover, Kafka that is a youth-led non-profit organization has formed a civil society coalition to highlight the issue through advocacy on a regular basis.
