Elimination of Child Labor through Education
Child Labor leads to physical and mental harm; children are denied of their rights.
With your support and generosity, WE CAN educate children and break vicious inter-generational cycles of poverty and child labor.
Regardless of Pakistan’s introduction of the Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act 1992, bonded labor still exists; more than 8 million children are reportedly involved in child labor in Pakistan. Pakistan’s Labor Force Survey, 2014-15 revealed that of those children aged between 10 and 14 years active in child labor, 61 percent were boys and 88 percent came from rural areas.
Labor law agencies have acted against child labor in Pakistan and are still working toward closing gaps that allow child labor to exist. According to the Pakistani law, employers who use bonded labor risk punishment of imprisonment for a term of at least two years and a maximum of five years, or a fine of at least PKR 50,000 (around $310) or both.
- Many children domestic workers work under conditions of forced labor, including debt bondage, sexual assault, and extreme physical abuse
- Poor rural families sometimes sell their children into domestic servitude or other types of work, or paid agents to arrange for such work, often believing their child would work under decent conditions.
- Some children work with their families as bonded laborers in the production of bricks and in agriculture.
- Child laborers, particularly boys, are frequently subjected to sexual exploitation at their places of employment, including in factories, workshops or while scavenging on the streets. They are also sometimes subjected to sexual exploitation in order to obtain or keep a job or for accommodations.
- It is also estimated that around 30 percent of births are officially registered in Pakistan. Children without a birth certificate who cannot enroll in school are at much higher risk of becoming victims of exploitative labor conditions.
For addressing the issue of child labor, Muslim Response USA has launched a flagship program ‘Elimination of Child Labor through Education’ in Rajanpur and Thatta districts of Pakistan where out of school children of families engaged in bonded labor at brick kilns, auto workshops and agriculture field etc. are being enrolled for primary education. Besides provision of a monthly stipend and healthcare services for such children and their families, Muslim Response USA is providing clean drinking water and livestock to boost their family incomes.
For ensuring sustainability of the program, Muslim Response USA is not creating any new or parallel structures; we disengage children from child labor and facilitate their enrollment, retention, and integration in the formal primary education system.
