Child Domestic Labour in Pakistan

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Child Domestic Labour in Pakistan
Conference By SPAARC Islamabad December 4th,
2006 Presentation by Baela Raza Jamil
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Presentation

• Definition and Scale of CDL
• Field Experience in prevention and withdrawal-
  service delivery..
• Best Practices
• Images of Violence Against Children
• CDL and Violence Against Children ..Framework of
  Research and Conceptualization
• Legislation
• Media /Communication Campaign
• Recommendations
• Recent Case Studies on CDL

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Definition

• Child Domestic Labour refers to the situation
  where children (upto 18 years) perform domestic
  tasks, not in their own homes but in the home of
  a third party or employer under exploitative
  circumstances.
• Rights of children engaged in this particular
  kind of labour have never received their due
  recognition neither by the government nor by the
  civil society. This negligence is due to the
  hidden nature of this form of labour. Due to the
  invisible nature of CDL, children are vulnerable
  to many violations of their rights including
  health, education and other facilities necessary
  for full development of their personality .
• There is a gender dimension to CDL adversely
  affecting girls and boys depending upon the
  local context where girls or boys may be
  preferred for CDL.

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Child Domestic Labour in Pakistan

• 1993 Islamabad Survey one in every sixth
  household employed at least one CDL. In 2004
  every fourth household engaged children in
  personal social service
• Almost 26 urban households are engaging CDLs
  not restricted to elite homes but also non-elite
  lower middle class households
• With some 50 population now living at
  poverty/vulnerable levels, the number of children
  in CDL may be increasing

(Source SPARC(2004), Rapid Assessment on CDL in
selected locations of Pakistan
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CDL Project 2005-2006 ITA

• Total numbers enrolled 1006 Girls 75
• Total regular students 70
• Mainstreamed after 5 months 25
• Mainstreamed after 18 months 57
• Drop Out 14
• Pre-Vocational Training 344
• (253 students 91 mothers) 34
• Number of Classes covered Nil to Gr. 7
  literacy
• Government Schools for CDL 6 Rented 4

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SDPI SURVEY 2005/06 IMPACT OF CDL Project

• Salient Features of the Survey Childrens
  Responses
• The desire of all working children to be enrolled
  in full time schooling is high.
• The desire for education is high but expectations
  of achieving that level is considerably lower
  than the desire.
• 60 children said they dont learn enough by only
  attending school and complained that there is no
  quiet space at home to concentrate on studies and
  homework.
• 80 children do domestic work to earn a living
  of these, 70 are girls.
• 44 were unwilling workers 40 were willing
  whereas 12 were convinced by their parents to
  begin waged work.
• 50 said they work due to poverty 38 said it
  adds to their family income others said that
  illness or death of a family member compelled
  them to work or to pay off loans.
• A majority felt that the work they do will not
  be any use to them in the future and 48 felt
  that they learn nothing from the work they do.

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Contd SDPI Results

• Gendered and age context of helping with
  homework sisters, mothers followed by brother
  and father.
• 45 said they feel tired in school
• Of 35 respondents who normally feel tired, a
  majority of them was those children who study,
  work and do domestic work, followed by those that
  study and work
• Slightly less than a half of the total
  respondents that is 47 said that they have
  health problems. A majority of them was those
  children that study, work and do domestic work,
  followed by those who study and work. Stomach
  pain was the most commonly reported illness.
• When asked why they have health problems a
  majority replied they do not know while some
  reported that it is due to over work, beyond
  their capacity. And others said that the economic
  activity that they started earlier on in life had
  this impact.
• A majority of children said that they like to
  play with their friends and like to watch
  television. Many reported these two activities as
  their favorite activities while some others said
  they like music and singing.
• Over 80 children said they have friends and like
  to play with their friends.

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Best Practices in Child Domestic Labor (CDL)
Project

• Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA)
• Pakistan

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• A high level of mainstreaming in formal schools
  (govt and non state) 57
• Use of Govt schools for CDL Aagahi centres and
  also vocational centres
• Individualized Education Profiles for each child
  to track and mainstream
• Health program both preventive and referrals
• Multi-level learning of multi age CDLs
• Promotion and use of ICTs
• Pre-Vocational Skills Certifcation and Public
  Private Partnership with City District Govts
  MSWSE
• CDL Toolkit A Comprehensive document with tools,
  MoUs etc on CDL for replication elsewhere and
  capacity building

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Definition of Violence Violence takes place when
someone uses their strength or their position of
power to hurt someone else on purpose, not by
accident. Violence includes threats of violence,
and acts which could possibly cause harm, as well
as those that actually do. The harm involved can
be to a persons mind and their general health
and well-being, as well as to their
body. Violence also includes deliberate harm
people do to themselves, including killing
themselves. UN Secretary Generals Global Study
on Violence Against Children 2006
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Child Domestic Labor or the Continuum Violence..
Re- conceptualizing CDL
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• Estimates from studies of WHO, UNICEF and ILO
  reveal the following facts
• 53,000 Children have been subjected to homicide
  in 2002 alone
• 20-65 children reported abuse verbal and/or
  physical in past 30 days.
• 150 million and 73 million boys under 18
  experienced forced sexual intercourse and forms
  of sexual violence
• 218 million children were involved in child labor
  and of these 126 million were in hazardous work.
  And 5.7 million in forced or bonded labor, 1.8
  million in prostitution and pornography and 1.2
  million in trafficking. Although child labor
  has reduced by 11 and 25 fewer were in
  hazardous conditions.
• Gender, age level and economic characteristics of
  children and their family play a significant role
  in the types of violence against children as
  found in the global study.
• UN Secretary Generals Global Study on Violence
  Against Children 2006

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Legislation for CDL

• Under an Action Program of IPEC in 2003 a draft
  law was formulated with the MoSW through a
  consultant. This legislation was drafted upon the
  request of the ministry itself. To take this
  process further, in order to formulate and
  provide legal framework for regulating CDL in the
  country, Parliamentarian Commission for Human
  Rights (PCHR), Pakistan and ILO organized
  seminars country wide. During these seminars,
  PCHR and ILO were successful to get consensus of
  opinion that CDL is a real issue in child labour
  and must be regularized by introduction of
  appropriate legislation with comprehensive
  implementation mechanism. However, no law or
  amendment has been introduced in the country as
  yet to address the issue at hand.

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Legislation for CDL in Other Countries

• Other countries in the South Asian region,
  realizing the gravity of the situation, have
  taken viable steps towards addressing the issue
  of child domestic labour. Government of India,
  for example, has recently announced a ban on
  children working as domestic servants or in
  roadside food stalls. This order, which applies
  to children under 14, will come into effect on
  October,10,2006 . (news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/
  5235614.stm)

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Missing Legislation

• A move earlier for a separate legislation for CDL
  
• Subsequently decided to include this as an
  amendment to the Employment of Childrens Act
  1991.
• This form of labor is not covered currently by
  the Employment of Childrens Act (ECA) of 1991.
  ECA has very weak implementation record.
• Abolition of Bonded Labour System Act 1992 also
  low on implementation
• Despite being one of the Worst Form of Child
  Labour as implied by the ILO Convention 182, CDL
  has not yet been recognized as Worst Form of
  Child Labour by the Government of Pakistan.
• The Protection of Children Act, 2005 is still a
  Draft Bill and it contains a provision (art 31)
  to establish a Commission for the Protection of
  Children and have Child Protection Officers.
• The Draft National Social Protection Strategy is
  more a focus on social safety nets and poverty
  reduction of the poorest

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UURRG

• A Communication Strategy for CDL is an
• URGENT NEED
• This has been developed with support from UNICEF
  and ILO which needs to be disseminated to the
  public
• policy makers and citizens for legislation,
  changing, attitudes and practices

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Communication Strategy Campaign Against Child
Domestic Labour
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LOGO
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Posters
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Stickers
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• Recommendations

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• Protection
• CDL or Violence Against Children
• Government is a signatory to C138,C 132,CRC
• Government should initiate legislative reforms to
  set minimum standards of practice for domestic
  workers of all ages widening scope of existing
  labour legislation to include domestic work, and
  /or enactment of specific legislation to protect
  domestic workers to get same rights as other
  workers, including minimum wage, time off,
  limits on hours of work.
• In addition to provision of good quality and
  accessible education and health care for all,
  governments should promote the development of
  specialized basic services for child domestic
  workers, such as specialized crisis and trauma
  centers for reintegration. Govt. Initiatives like
  the Punjab Child Protection Welfare Bureau in
  Lahore should also extend to other cities of
  Pakistan for creating a child friendly society.
• Creating a confidential toll-free hotline for
  violations, including abuses against child
  domestics, coping with trauma referrals.
• Creating effective mechanisms for inspection,
  enforcement, and monitoring of child labor, and
  promptly investigating any complaints of abuses
  against child domestics.  

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• Policy Level
• CDL must be declared openly as the worst forms
  of child labor and must be included in the list
  of WFCL under Pakistans commitment to ILO
  Convention -182 which must be fully implemented
  to combat this evil.
• The issue of CDL must be framed in the context of
  Violence Against Children, a matter of National
  Public Shame the practice of employing children
  as domestics breeds myriad forms of violence
  against children including rape and murder. The
  framework for VAC and CDL must be conceived in
  terms of prevention punishment and recovery and
  reintegration (VAC2006).
• Poor and vulnerable families must be targeted
  for provision of easily accessible safety nets
  through Pakistan Bait ul Maal/Zakaat, access to
  quality free education, health, nutrition and
  livelihoods addressing poverty first/
• Every government functionary, elected/nominated
  public representative, political party leaders
  and NGO representatives must be required to sign
  a declaration that his/her family is not
  employing a child domestic laborer.
• Rigorous Research to be undertaken using the gird
  on CDL/VAC to inform policy so that CDL is
  declared as WFCL
• Children s best interests and participation
  must be the cornerstone of all actions for CDL

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• Awareness and Communication
• A communication strategy must target National,
  Provincial and District governments for
  awareness and monitoring. Every MNA, Senator,
  MPA, councilor and civil servant is duty bound to
  report cases of child abuse.
• The significant number of female councilors can
  play a greater role and need to be sensitized
  about the violation of child rights and possible
  remedial measures.
• Powerful stickers/images and messages must be
  placed on consumer items on CDL and child labor.
  (Many consumer industries consented to this in
  2005).
• Make all political parties add in their mandates
  a commitment to ending CDL.
• Launching public information campaigns on the
  rights of domestic workers and responsibilities
  of employers, with special emphasis on the
  potential hazards of working as abused child
  domestic laborers.
• Child to Child approach to be encouraged,
  mobilizing educated school children/youth who
  can be guided to educate their parents about the
  rights of children working in their homes and to
  end domestic child labour.
• Building strategic partnerships across media,
  theatre, civil society organizations and
  universities towards ending CDL as inclusively
  as possible.

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Education and Learning Opportunities for CDL The
government must expand non-formal, basic
education and literacy programs through
Education, Social Welfare, Women Development and
Labor Ministries to specifically cover
CDLpervasive amongst rich middle classes
alike, urban and rural areas. CDLs are often
multi age and multi-level learners requiring
teachers with different competencies compared to
the straight forward NFE program from Grade
0-8/10 at times, drop out, missouts and catch up
children. The costing of these programs is
different to NFE and literacy due to its
multi-sectoral nature including health, skills,
livelihoods etc. Govt has only one type of NFE
and Literacy approach. Multilateral bodies such
as ILO and UNICEF, Bilateral organizations as
well as INGOs such as SC UK, SC Sweden, Oxfam,
Action Aid should redouble their efforts to make
child domestic labour a priority focused area for
action
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How Many More Mustafas ? The recent case of
Mustafa aged 11 (reported in Dawn Nov. 25 p.12
through SPARC), being kept in bondage and forced
custody in an elite home in Clifton, Karachi, for
a mere Rs. 9600 paid over a year illustrates the
case of our society and state, both in
shambles. The employer, an educated resident of
a posh locality in Pakistans mega city is
refusing to let go of the child unless the
parents return Rs. 6000 paid as advance, for
which the term as agreed is over, and also to
provide a substitute for Mustafa. The
perpetrators of the tragedy who sold their child
for one year of domestic labor, are Mustafas
parents themselves. These are the poorest of the
poor and in dire need. This case highlights the
issue of child domestic labor as not an invisible
one anymore. Poverty has many contorted faces. As
mentioned earlier Mustafas parents became the
contractors, giving up their child for a mere US
160 dollars advance for one year. Their assets
were their 9 children, five daughters and four
sons. Mustafa was sacrificed to the altar of
poverty and survival. It must have been a bitter
decision to betray ones own flesh and blood at
age 10. The parents plight was such that this was
the only way in which they could, in turn be
relieved of their own oppression as runaway
bonded laborers from a camp in Sadiqabad (border
of Punjab/Sindh). They escaped but Mustafa now
awaits his relief from bondage.
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The Chilling accounts of Rape Shame of Child
Domestic Labor .,,,what about Child Rights
..Human Rights.. The father of Shumaila
narrated that Ch Basharat under the influence of
liquor, usually took his daughter to a separate
room adjoining his residence and raped
her.sometimes he came to their place, kicked
them out of the room and started raping his
daughter in front of the entire family members
including my wife We looked on helplessly as
sinners buried under bondage for loan taken and
given in return a salary of Rs. 2500 per month in
violation of the govt minimum wage policy of Rs.
4000 per month. Shumaila was working for a mere
Rs. 700 per month as housemaid. She said, now
Ch. Basharat was forcing her parents to bring
home her younger sister Mafia who works as a
housemaid in the city. Jamil has since run away
with his wife and daughters but his three minor
sons are under the landlords captivity. Who will
rescue them ..who will rescue child rights in
Pakistan? Saadia Gul who along with her
sisters also worked as maidservants in a
landlords home whilst parents worked on the farm
as bonded labor for 18 years. The application has
been filed by a brave mother, Zohra Bibi.She
explained that it is not just one daughter but
others too have been raped mercilessly all minors
and her son was also kidnapped nine years ago to
work in home in Islamabad, which belonged to the
cousin of the landlord. Some family members made
their final escape in Ramzan, but a son and a
daughter in law and son-in-law are still
captive. Source the News and Dawn Nov 10th ,
and 8th , 2006
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Thank You