Child Labor In Pakistan

M Farhan Amjad (F-43064)

BS(SE)22-B
 Why I Chose This Topic
 I love children
 Our country gives them billions of dollars for their
military
My Top Sources
“ Child labour: a public health issue”
By: Saleema Aziz Gulzar, Laila Pirani, and Samina
Vertejee
“Bureau of International Labor Affairs”
Found on the United States Department of Labor
website
My Research Questions
1) How and why do children in Pakistan get
into child labor?
2) What are the different types of child
labor found in Pakistan?
3) How are the children affected?
4) What’s being done in Pakistan and other
countries to stop child labor?
Where is Pakistan?
 Some Background Info
• The United States give
Pakistan billions of dollars for
their military
• The rich don’t have to pay
taxes
• 11-12 million children in
Pakistan are under child labor
• The daily income of 65.5% of
the people is under 2 U.S
dollars a day
 Iqbal Masih
1982-1995

• Sold into child labor at

age 4
• Rescued at age 9
• Began to educated
bonded children
• At age 12 traveled to
Sweden and the US to
raise awareness
• In 1995 when returning to
Pakistan shot and killed
 Kinds of Child Labor
Definition: the employment of children under the legal
minimum age
“worst form”-work that is very difficult and harmful to a
child's physical development.
“unconditional worst form”-no matter what the
circumstances are, no matter how much is paid or how little
the child does, it is illegal even for adults.
 The Different Ways and Reasons Pakistani
Children Get into Child Labor
Reasons Ways
 Poverty  Peshgi system
 Uneducated  Family Expectations or
 Business Advantage Needs
 The Different Types of Child Labor
Agriculture
Carpet Weaving
Soccer Balls
Automobile Workshops
Mining
Stone/ marble cutting
Mixing Pesticides
Deep fishing
Glass factory
Hotel work/ Textile
factory Work
Street work
And much more
 Carpet Weaving

• Most popular export from Pakistan

• Somewhere between 500,000- 1 million Pakistani children
work as full- time carpet weavers
 Soccer Balls

• About half the world’s soccer balls are made in Pakistan

• 35 million Soccer Balls are made in Pakistan, and
children make a quarter of them
 Automobile Workshops

In one automobile workshop of 150 working children,

120 of them worked from 8-10 hours without any safety
measures
 How The Children Are Affected
“Every year 22,000 children die from accidents related to their
work”-Issues Library
• Don’t Understand ( Believe it is a normal part
of growing up)
• Uneducated
• Mental affects
• Physical Affects
 Uneducated
• Education receives around 3%
of the total gross domestic
product and the military gets 10
times that
• 42% if child laborers have never
gone to school and 58%
dropped out
• Laik Khanzada, nine-year-old
trainee motor mechanic,
“I used to go to school but then
left because we had no fee to
pay,”
He wishes to be an officer if he
gets a chance to study.
 Mental Effects
In one engine repair
factory the lead levels were
so above the safety limits,
that red cells were
mutated. This has a huge
effect on a child’s mental
development.
 Physical Effects
• In the automobile
industry it’s an unsafe,
polluted environments
• Some chemicals have
messed up their growth
• Most children aren’t old
enough to handle certain
jobs
• In manufacturing units
children suffered from
headaches, nasal
irritations, sore throats
and skin rashes
 Carpet Weaving Physical Affects
• Muscular deformities and
respiratory infections from
the fibers and chemicals
• Injuries from to sharp
instruments and body aches
• They strain their eyes and
the children also develop
spinal deformities
• Callused and scarred hands,
gnarled fingers, struggled
breathing as a result of
tuberculosis.
 Agriculture Physical Affects
• High rates of injuries
while working with
knives, sharp tools, and
other heavy equipment.
• An estimated 100,000
children suffer from
agriculture-related
injuries in Pakistan
annually
 Punishment Physical Affects
• Children are hung
upside down by their
knees, starved, caned,
or lashed
• Beaten children are
rarely allowed to return
home, if the children try
to escape they are
forcibly returned to
factories with the help
of the local police
What’s Being Done to Stop Child Labor

• Pakistan's Efforts
• Organization/Activists Efforts
• Nothing
 Pakistan’s Efforts
• Factories Act, 1934; West
Pakistan Shops and Establishment
Ordinance; The Employee
Children Act, 1991; The Bonded
Labour System Abolition Act,
1992; and the Punjab Compulsory
Education Act 1994
• In September 1988, the "peshgi"
(bonded) system was abolished
• The government gave free books
to primary schools so parents
with limited budgets are now
able to send their children to
schools
 Organizations & Activists
• The International Labour
Organization (ILO) plans
to end the worst form of
child labor by 2016
• ILO and the Provincial
Labor Department, are
working to organize a
speech competition, an
exhibition of paintings, a
magic show for kids, and
a street walk to raise
awareness
The June, 1996 issue of Life
magazine carried an article
about child labor in
Pakistan. The article's lead
photograph showed 12-
year-old Tariq surrounded
by the pieces of a Nike
soccer ball. In a matter of
weeks, activists all across
Canada and the United
States were standing in
front of Nike outlets,
holding up Tariq's photo
• Activists can be
slandered, harassed by
police, sued, beaten,
and sometimes killed
• The Bonded Labor
Liberation Front is
probably the most
successful in Pakistan
“false rumors”
“abolitionists”
“illegal communist propaganda”
 Nothing
• NO laws are enforced
• Since 2001 the United
States has given more
than $15 billion to
Pakistan, which went
almost entirely to military
spending
• The Pakistan Parliament is
a part of the elite, so they
pay no taxes and don’t
want to make any
changes to the system
 Conclusion
• Poor Pakistan Families really
have no other options
• Child labor has become a
part of the economy
• Most of the country will be
uneducated and illiterate
• They really need to enforce
their laws
• With the current leaders
and system none of the
necessary changes will ever
be made
• The only way to fix anything
would be a change of
leaders which means a civil
war would need to happen
 Any Questions?
• Thank you for listening
