The Silent Scream - Child Labour Pakistan

The Silent Scream by whitengreen

The Silent Scream A Documentary in Child Labor in Pakistan, Interviews by SPARC. www.sparcpk.org.
1999 Documentary
Child labour in Pakistan is the employment of children for work in Pakistan, leading to mental, physical, moral and social harm to children. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimated in the 1990s that 11 million children were working in the country, half of those under the age of ten. In 1996, the median age for a child entering the work force was seven, down from eight years old 2 years prior. It was estimated that one quarter of the country’s work force was made up of child labourers. In a city of Pakistan, Hyderabad children enter work force at the of age 4 or 5 years and they make bangles and bracelets. They make around 12 sets (per set containing 65 bangles) and only gain Rs.40 from all the hard work.It depends on the time consumed in completing these sets it could take as long as 2 or 3 days and they would gain only Rs.40 in 2 or 3 days. This is not just a situation of Hyderabad but all other katchi abadis of Pakistan. As of 2012, it is estimated that 96 per cent of working boys were employed in the wholesale and retail industry in urban areas, followed by 22 per cent in the service industry and 22 per cent in manufacturing. As for the girls 48 per cent were employed in the service industry while 100 per cent were employed in manufacturing. In rural areas, 68 per cent of working boys were joined by 82 per cent of working girls. In the wholesale and retail industry the percentage of girl were 11 per cent followed by 11 per cent in manufacturing. Child labour in Pakistan is perhaps most rampant in city called Multan, which is an important production centre for exports goods such as sporting goods. International Labour Organisation (ILO) suggests poverty is the greatest single cause behind child labour. Pakistan has a per-capita income of approximately $1900. A middle class person in Pakistan earns around $5 a day on average.The average Pakistani has to feed nine or ten people with their daily wage. Further to that there is also the high inflation rate to contend with. As of 2008, 17.2% of the total population lives below the poverty line, which is the lowest figure in the history of Pakistan. Poverty levels in Pakistan appear to necessitate that children work in order to allow families to reach their target take‐home pay. On the side of the firms, the low cost of child labour gave manufacturers a significant advantage in the Western marketplace, where they undersell their competitors from countries prohibiting child labour, often by improbable amounts.
Child Labour.