Child Labor In

Pakistan

By: Studentezia Goodgrade

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)Whats being done in Pakistan and
other countries to stop child labor?

Where is
Pakistan?

Some Background
The United StatesInfo
give
Pakistan billions of
dollars for their military
The rich dont 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
Poverty
Uneducated
Business
Advantage

Ways
Peshgi system
Family Expectations
or 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 worlds 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 810 hours without any safety measures

How The Children Are

Affected

Every

year 22,000 children die from accidents

related to their work-Issues Library

Dont 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-yearold 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 childs mental
development.

Physical Effects
In the automobile
industry its an unsafe,
polluted environments
Some chemicals have
messed up their
growth
Most children arent 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

Whats Being Done to Stop

Child Labor

Pakistan's Efforts
Organization/Activists Efforts
Nothing

Pakistans 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
false
rumors
Pakistan
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 dont
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