Child labor is one of the big threats that can abrogate the rights of children all over the world. This issue is further critical in underdeveloped countries like Pakistan, where an estimated 12 million children are already facing its wrath. Therefore, this current article shall focus on how the socio-economic problems of Pakistan have evolved, showing that child labor is due to poverty interacting with limited opportunities, poor infrastructure, and societal challenges. It will further dig deep into these root causes, look at the impact of child labor, and give some likely solutions to this very critical issue.

Inhuman Causes of Child Labour

Poverty as a Root to Child Labor

Poverty is the principal underlying factor for child labor in Pakistan. Similarly, the outcome of a cross-sectional study conducted in Karachi during April to June 2008, which identified the relationship between poverty and child labor, pointed out that about 83% of the country’s children join work because of poverty. Additionally, the poverty level is rising since it was estimated by the World Bank, at the end of 2023, that 37.2% of the population would be living below the poverty line ($3.65/day).

This rate is just under the latest estimate as of 2018, at 39.8%. The estimated number of poor people in the country remains around 3 million more with the increase in population factored in from 2018. Lack of money and poor access to social welfare programs leave no choice for a family except to put economic survival now over education for children.

Most of the families in a poverty-ridden setting have an additional expectation from their children to bring in some money, so these children are often sent to work as servants. At present, over 264,000 children are working as domestic labor across Pakistan. Societal norms and traditional gender roles further limit educational access for girls, keeping them bound in household chores or early marriage, which only means curtailed access to education for them and more poverty in the ensuing times for the family.

Inadequate Resources and Funds

Pakistan’s inadequate funds and resources committed to the education sector also played a significant part in the inability to combat child labor. The only problem with schools is that proper and quality impartation of education requires adequate funding. Unfortunately, the budget of Pakistan is largely unstable because of its increasing foreign debts, a situation that commits a meager percentage of its budget to essential sectors like education. 

The public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP in the fiscal year 2022-23 is estimated at 1.7%, estimated at 1.4% for the last financial year, the lowest in the region. In this regard, Pakistan’s public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP amounted to an all-time high at 3% in 2016, but since then, it has been going down to the present 1.7%. This forces schools to get funds from the parents of the students enrolled, which therefore makes the real cost of education quite high and far from ‘free’.

Child Labor reason for Mental health issues

One of the pressing human rights issues, child labor, is prevalent in many Asian low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with an estimated 1 in 14 children employed unlawfully (International Labour Organization [ILO], 2017). Child labour is defined according to the harmful consequences it has on children and represents an interference with their schooling. Data reflect the impact that child labour has on school attendance and educational attainment, which in turn could account for intergenerational transmission of poverty within families as well as reduced accumulation of human capital for economies. 

Since eliminating child labour remains a focus of both intergovernmental and non-governmental agencies but will take some time to materialize, providing services for young people working illegally or who have been rescued from such situations is an urgent practical response. In fact, child labour is work that is “mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children.”

We have also documented widespread maltreatment faced by rescued adolescent laborer’s in India and Nepal. Acceptance of childhood trauma using the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ) outcomes revealed that 83.36% from the Indian sample and 72% in Nepal experienced contact with childhood abuse or neglect. The types of violence found most frequently were physical abuse (47-73%) and psychological harm (41–48%). Affective disorder symptoms stood out as strong associations with poor mental health in this study, which is congruent with previously published scientific studies. 

Returning more directly to these issues, we have further extended the focus of our research by interviewing six care-home workers (all with 2 years at one site in India and between 9 months up to almost a decade working with young labourers), both trained as social work/counseling assistants/non-clinical aides. The stakeholder consultants were drawn from both the front lines of care and management positions as well as that of an NGO founder. These discussions also clearly articulated that mental health intervention was the dire need of. A single social worker in a care home.