Islamabad

Child rights activists on Friday demanded a complete ban on child domestic labour on urgent basis.

The demand came forward at a seminar organised by Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) to discuss the wave of widespread abuse of children’s rights across the country.

The meeting was attended by different civil society organisations from across the country, who gave their input regarding how to proceed further to launch a nationwide campaign to address the underlined issue, especially in the wake of the recent case of a 10-year-old domestic worker, Tayyaba.

Addressing the seminar, Sadia Hussain (Executive Director SPARC) said that in the wake of rising cases of violence, abuse, and criminal negligence on behalf of parents, SPARC urges lawmakers in the country to include provisions tied with “parens patriae” in federal and provincial laws. Such laws would allow the state to intervene against an abusive or negligent parent, legal guardian or caregiver, and take adequate measures for the protection of the child by; ‘acting as the parent of any child in need of protection’.

At the seminar Kashif Bajeer from Child Rights Movement Sindh called for a complete ban at the federal level on child domestic labor on urgent basis.

Currently, Tayyaba’s fate appears to be uncertain due to the absence of such legislation, whose father refused to pursue the case against her abusive employer; which is a glaring testament for the need for a law that would make the state responsible for protecting the rights of children where their parents fail.

This is also in line with Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child UNCRC, (which has been ratified by Pakistan), which clearly requires a provision for the state to intervene when such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child; such as one involving abuse or neglect of the child by the parents.

Civil Society Activist from Peshawar, Jehanzeb Khan lamented that it is currently too easy for legal guardians to get away with the most heinous crimes under technicalities within our laws which currently allow them to circumvent punishment, or push the child back into the cycle of abuse, without any consequences. This is because the risks are present within or because of the family of the child, when parents and other family members are either unwilling or unable to protect their children.

In order to adequately protect children across Pakistan from abuse, neglect and exploitation on behalf of parents, caregivers, and guardians, SPARC demanded the enactment of uniform laws across the country, as well as the formulation of a framework which would enable federal and provincial institutions to work in close coordination with each other to ensure the safety and security of children under threat, especially in cases when the perpetrator is the parent, legal guardian or caregiver.