Child Labour in Pakistan and other Developing Countries

Abstract

Child labor is a pervasive problem throughout the world, especially in developing countries including Pakistan. Africa and Asia together account for over 90 percent of total child employment. Child labor is especially prevalent in rural areas where the capacity to enforce minimum age requirements for schooling and work is lacking. Children work for a variety of reasons, the most important being poverty and the induced pressure upon them to escape from this plight. Though children are not well paid, they still serve as major contributors to family income in developing countries. Schooling problems also contribute to child labor, whether it is the inaccessibility of schools or the lack of quality education which spurs parents to enter their children in more profitable pursuits. Traditional factors such as rigid cultural and social roles in certain countries further limit educational attainment and increase child labor. Working children are the objects of extreme exploitation in terms of toiling for long hours for minimal pay. Their work conditions are especially severe, often not providing the stimulation for proper physical and mental development. Many of these children endure lives of pure deprivation. However, there are problems with the intuitive solution of immediately abolishing child labor to prevent such abuses. First, there is no international agreement defining child labor, making it hard to isolate cases of abuse, let alone abolish them. Second, many children may have to work in order to attend school, so abolishing child labor may only hinder their education. Any plan of abolishment depends on schooling. The state could help by making it supplement or increasing the quality and usefulness of obtaining an education. There must be a working. Family subsidies can help provide this support. This analysis leads to certain implications for the international community. Further investigation into this subject is required before calls are made for banning child labor across board. By establishing partnerships with humanitarian organizations, the international community can focus on immediately solving the remediable problems of working children. The aim of this paper is to answer frequently asked questions about child labor which are as follows: i) What are the child labor related issues? ii) What is child labor? iii) Who are child laborers and how many are there? iv) Why children work? (The issues of demand and supply of child labor) v) Where do child laborers live and what do child laborers do? vi) What are some of the myths or misunderstandings about child labor? vii) What are some of the solutions to child labor today? Strategies and Recommendations