Scene 1 : Firozabad, India. Glass-making. Small constructions of earth and dust, one each. Just enough to suggest a workbench, with the glass and naked flame. No gloves or other protection, bare hands working with the acetylene burner. Nearly 50,000 children under 14 years are employed by this industry. Sitting on the ground amongst all the broken glass, they weld thousands of multi-colored bracelets for about 10 rupees a day, the price of a single bracelet in the tourist shops in Connaught Place, New Delhi. The rasping chorus of cough greets you on entering a workshop of child laborers. Most of them suffer from respiratory diseases, in some cases caused by toxic fumes, in others by coal dust. Their every breath invites tuberculosis.

Scene 2 : Cairo, Egypt. Tanneries. The smell of wet, warm leather is stomach-churning. There is no protection, no hygiene. Barefoot children cross yellow streams flowing with a mixture of dirty water and chemical waste, carrying their loads on their shoulders. The ground is littered with nails used to stretch the skins. The nails are pulled out one by one when the skins have dried, and thrown all around, these spiky beds of rust preying upon the children’s feet. Before leaving the tannery, as if to wash off the pestilence, the children jump almost naked into the vats of filthy water, the same vats which are used to clean the skins.

Scene 3 : Aligarh, India. Locksmiths. Behind closed doors with well-locked chains, here in this city, 80 % of Indian locks and padlocks are produced. Nearly 10,000 children work in these workshops. At ten years of age, they operate mechanical presses and polishers, handle chemical solutions and toxic paint, beat metal, file, and sand. Sitting on their heels all day long, each produces thirty padlocks every day for a few measly rupees.

There are many more horrifying cases of children working in the mines, or making bricks, or weaving carpets, or working on the streets. This is the sad story of Child Labor. As Marie Dorigny and Sorj Chalandon wrote in the preface to the above book, "Few human rights abuses are so unanimously condemned, while being so widely practiced, as Child Labor. Of the perhaps hundreds of millions of children who are working, many toil in slave-like or hazardous conditions. And though, by any objective measure, this issue ought to rank high on the world’s agenda, in practice it is surrounded by a wall of silence and is perpetuated by ignorance".

Before delving further into the issue of Child Labor, a few facts are reproduced here from the UNDP’s HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 1992 regarding Pakistan. The figures would really jolt you as it should any concerned citizen :

By the way, do not be further depressed because we have another thing to consider too. We are a nation of 120-130 million people depending upon which figure suits you. In less than 25 years we will become 250 million and then the sky will be the limit. We therefore will need to spend billions to feed, to clothe, and to survive. We will spend trillions on defense and debt-servicing. We will spend zillions on the exquisite and imperial lifestyle of our rulers and to keep them in perpetual bliss and happiness while they sway over our destiny. How and from where we will get the funds from is a question that is seldom on the minds of those who manipulate and control the lives of the 130 million denizens of Pakistan. So, as has always been, the education, health, and welfare sectors are way down on the planners’ agenda.

Coming back to the topic of Child Labor, what really is Child Labor ? Child Labor is the employment of children under the age of fifteen outside of the home, with limited or no access to a recognized procedure of education, with scant regard for health or safety, and with minimal or non-available opportunities for recreation or mind development activities. It is a natural outcome of extenuating circumstances which evolved when the compelling forces of abject poverty, burgeoning population, and non-existent facilities of health, education, and welfare exploited the deprived and disadvantaged populace. In fact, it is a pathetic blotch carved on the mosaic of world economic and social progress, blatantly portraying a morbid reminiscence of the disregard for the future of humanity.

The issue of Child Labor has been a long-standing problem but has been gaining prominence now with each passing moment. Who is considered a Child Labor and how many children work ? No one really knows. The estimates being circulated in various forums suggest anywhere between 100 and 200 million. In the developing world, more than 18% of children between 10 and 14 years are working, and in certain countries, it is assumed to be more than 30%.

The children are now exposed to new and severe risks, and in fact, millions of children toil in slave-like or hazardous conditions. Children work in mines, in glass making, in sweatshops, on plantations, as scavengers, in motor workshops, or on the streets. While not all child work may be Child Labor, the absence of educational facilities, the dire poverty, the recourse to bonded work, the increase in the family population, are all causes that constitute exploitative work activities that, in effect, lead to the meaning and reality of Child Labor.

Child Labor is so embedded into the fabric of societies that only formidable changes in the values and behaviors, which tolerate and perpetuate Child Labor, will ultimately counteract this scourge. The Governments in many developing countries have begun to earnestly tackle this problem. However, in most countries, like other Governmental activities, there are more adherences to lip-service than actual practical enforcement. On the other hand, the news media is cognizant of the matter and there has been a conscious effort on their part to effectively highlight this menace and to bring forth the hardships suffered by these children into limelight.

Nevertheless, the ball is squarely in the court of the employers. What should be their action plan to eliminate the Child Labor and at the same time try to maintain a workable system whereby the loss in monetary remuneration suffered by the family on account of this eradication is adequately compensated. All this should begun by an open and frank recognition that Child Labor is present in the society, it is proliferating, and it is being unabashedly exploited.

Employers, in their own long-term interest should recognize the evils of Child Labor, and should initiate practical steps towards its abolition. The multi-national companies that operate in the global marketplace, and are strongly committed towards the social and human resources aspect of their operational environment can make a sincere start. They can take a positive lead in putting standards into action. One way could be the formulation of a Code of Conduct which could be developed by the OICCI here in Pakistan. This could apply to all the Transnationals who have their enterprises here. This can later be adopted by other domestic organizations.

Employers’ Organizations and Associations can encourage the inculcation of progressive labor practices among their membership. The approach should be towards a sensitive understanding of the issue of Child Labor, especially with regards to the needs of children, the legislation protecting these children, and educating the members about the apparent benefits of non-exploitative management practices and violations of Child Labor laws.

The employers are the prime sector, particularly those whose industries "benefit" more from use of Child Labor, who must be made to understand the long-term negative effects of continuing the practice of Child Labor to both society and to their own businesses. For example, the negative trends could be :

• Youth will be deprived of education, and in the fast moving world with rapid technological progress, they will be harder to train and may be less productive.
• Children working long hours in unsanitary conditions with inadequate work environment, will be less healthy, less able to understand the job standards, may be more accident prone, and their productive output would be less than workers who are more mature and who are working in sustainable conditions.
• In the myopic thinking of the employer, the improvements in working conditions are not cost-effective. However, in the long run, mandatory governmental pronouncements for stringent health standards, compulsory health insurance, increase in worker benefits, etc, will compel the employer to make the necessary improvements. Voluntary initiative is seldom the hallmark of the employer’s psyche.

There is then the imperative need to put into practice a program that will eventually lead to the elimination of the exploitation of children and put the abuse of Child Labor to its logical end. The program suggested should be three-fold :

There is a very strong case for the development and redefinition of the educational system in Pakistan. The pragmatic steps initiated to provide compulsory education to the children, especially of those sectors that are inimical to the need for proper schooling will attain the desired objective of keeping the children away from exploitative work, and at the same time, instilling in the children the appropriate techniques which will enable them to develop the skills required to be productive, to understand the state-of-the-art production equipment, and to be a better and resourceful person of the society.

Healthy education which builds a harmonious development in the child demands a conducive, sound, and an enlightening environment. This idea should be the key to the policy of the private sector to channel its resources towards building new educational institutions and, at the same time, taking over the existing dilapidated school system, so brazenly neglected by the government education departments. There was a time when the philanthropists established historic and prestigious educational institutions such as Aligarh Muslim University. Islamia College, Peshawar, Jamia Milli, Karachi, Dawood College of Engineering, etc. Unfortunately, the 1972 nationalization debacle of the Bhutto Government put paid to private sector patronage. The result since then has been pathetic carelessness, and disaster.

The employers on an individual level or thru the Chambers or Associations platform can play a determined role in bringing back glory to the present educational system in the country. The cases of LUMS in Lahore and CIBE in Karachi are a couple of such excellent examples of the private sector’s venture into providing high grade and premium schooling. However, the trend towards providing cheaper but practical education can begin by the take-over of the present Government-run schools network, especially in less developed parts of the country. This would entail physical upgrading of equipment and buildings, the provision of furniture, books, transportation, etc, and the appointment of qualified teaching staff at prime salaries.

ILO expert Assefa Bequele advocated improved educational systems to curb this menace. He said that "the single most important instrument for ensuring that children do not work, is to have them attending schools." That means at least three things:

• gradually increasing the age of compulsory school attendance and enforcing it;
• increasing resources allocated to education, including school lunch programs and elimination of school fees and other student costs that, while small for the well to do, are a burden for families barely able to eke out a living; and
• finding other ways to make sure that school enrollment for children of the poorest of families is not an impossible liability, for example, by making up on a transitional basis for at least a part of the modest but necessary income a family loses when a child quits his or her job."

There is also then the critical need to set up technical institutes to impart knowledge to the graduates of schools. The employers and the suppliers of machinery and equipment, both foreign and domestic, can increase the viability of these institutes by the favorable donations of their products. An exhaustive and extensive curricula can boost up the skills of the students and thus provide the able workforce so necessary for industrial progress. There is also the need to provide on-job-training to the apprentices and even to the regular workers. A continued plan of orientation will provide the betterment of the workers’ capabilities. It will also necessitate the maintaining of a sustained roster of dedicated workers. One very important step in this direction is the formation of the Skill Development Council which is a joint project of the Government of Pakistan, World Bank, ILO, and the Employers’ Federation of Pakistan. This is basically a tripartite organization under the management of employers. The basic objective of SDC is to enhance Vocational Training Development thru flexible, demand oriented, and cost-effective training with maximum participation of employers. It will also register school leavers, uneducated youth, child trainees, and industrial workers, will arrange their training according to identified future needs, ensure availability of trained manpower, and provide better employment opportunities to trainees.

The working condition of the units is another matter which needs positive approach by the employers. The unsuitability of the workplace for children needs immediate rectification. The non-chalant manner which many employers adopt towards bettering the working conditions need to be reversed. Till such time as the children are working in the units, there should be proper emphasis on safe surroundings. There should be availability of protective equipment and setting up of systems to reduce instances of accidents and mishaps. The children should be isolated from those equipment or locations that could be causes for injuries to them.

The employers’ organizations should devise ethical measures in consultation with the Government agencies to maintain and monitor health standards in the work units. Special care should be made for children workers, and they should be provided all medical facilities and should be shielded from unsanitary conditions. The Child Labor should be registered and arrangements be made to provide health insurance to these workers too.

The overall impact of the concerted efforts of the enlightened employers and their organizations will be a sincere understanding of the issue of Child Labor and its ramifications on the society, on the child’s family, and most importantly on the child. The immediate and depressing effect of the elimination of Child Labor will be on the monetary resources of the family. This is a burning issue and is a major impediment in the rapid elimination of this scourge. The matter can be solved on a transitional basis by the concept of free education, by providing monetary allowances to attract the children to come to school, and by implementing policies and schemes to better the lot of the people residing in deprived areas of the society. At any cost, the life of the child is much more paramount than inflow of money. This should be the guiding point in the tragic issue of Child Labor.

Pakistany employers are now in a do-or-die position with reference to the issue of Child Labor. The new realities of the World Trade Order, the insistence of Western countries to counter the scourge of Child Labor in developing countries, and the prominently gaining concern by citizens all over the world to shun the purchase of products made by children has prompted a lot of employers to do some serious soul-searching and re-thinking. The country’s exporters will not be able to display and market their wares if they continue to resort to the employment of children, whether directly or thru their contractors.

At the same time, in the domestic market, the local consumer is primarily still unaware of the effects of hard work and toil on the young person’s life. The concern is still not prevalent on the ordinary domestic buyer. Therefore, a concerted effort is also required to inculcate into the minds of the customers that children have produced many products they purchase. Moreover, there has been a proliferation of children working as newspaper vendors on the streets all over the country. A recent case has been the on-going newspaper war among the two leading Urdu eveningers in Karachi. The brutal desire to increase sales led one of them to introduce incentive schemes for the hawkers. This led to a phenomenal increase in children, both boys and girls, joining their elders on the streets and aggressively hawking the latest edition. It is proposed that the media should refrain from employing these children for hawking their newspapers, especially in the tormenting weather and where rash driving on the streets is a common feature.

One very pertinent proposal presented is that the office-bearers, the members of the Managing Committees, and the leaders of the Chambers and Associations, should take the initiative in ensuring that they do not employ children to manufacture their products. They should be in the forefront in attaining certification that they do not have children on their rolls nor do their contractors employ Child Labor. This would be the practical way to move towards the complete elimination of children from the workforce, not only from the organized sector, but also from most of the informal sector which directly or indirectly caters to the requirements of the organized units.

It is also proposed that the certification of units to determine whether they employ children should not be the exclusive domain of the Labor Department. It is proposed that a three member committee be formed which should have a representative each from the Labor Department, from the concerned Trade Association or Chamber, and from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, who as a team should visit the various factories to certify whether they employ children or not.