Speech on 14th August

Child labour and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labour of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labour to the end of time. (Grace Abbott) Today, there are millions of children who work as wage-earners. They are deprived of childhood, love, nutrition and social association. Child labour emerged during the industrial revolution and today it has become a very serious problem. It is a world-wide phenomenon. Extreme poverty large families, lack of free and compulsory education These children have no chance to attend school and have no choice except to work as unskilled labour. These children are compelled to live below poverty line all their lives. There are many laws against child labour in Pakistan and in other countries but these laws alone cannot control the exploitation of children. We must get the support of all the people of the society to control this menace. According to the law, no child below the age of fourteen can be employed in any hazardous job. Another law states that children should not be made to work beyond their capacity and they should be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner. However, all these laws have failed to check the problem of child labour. Stringent laws should be enacted and exemplary punishment should be given to those who exploit children for their selfish end SPARC has conducted research that goes into producing its publications, including three major books on child labour, juvenile justice and child rights. Its annual report The State of Pakistan’s Children and a large number of brochures, SPARC has conducted a number of research studies. SPARC has continued to ask successive governments to upgrade their laws to set a legal age limit for employment in Pakistan, although they have not been successful in doing so.