The Lahore High Court on Thursday ordered the Punjab government to ban the employment of children under the age of 15 as domestic workers, and take legislative measures on the issue.
"The rights of domestic workers have been violated ever since Pakistan came into being," the court remarked before directing the provincial lawmakers to regulate the wage structure and working hours of domestic help.
The high court was hearing a March 2018 petition moved by Advocate Sheraz Zaka questioning failure of the then provincial government to implement the rights of domestic workers.
The petitioner stated that in 2015 the Lahore High Court had already instructed the government to legislate on the rights of domestic workers but its orders were not implemented.
The court today ruled in the case after the incumbent Punjab government furnished a draft of Domestic Workers Bill 2018.
The state prosecutor told the court that as part of the proposed bill, domestic workers' shifts will be limited to eight hours, whereas special courts and committees will be formed to resolve their problems.
The court, upon learning that the proposed draft plans to proscribe the employment of under-15 children as domestic help, expressed its satisfaction and deemed it a positive measure.
In March, after taking up the said petition, the high court had constituted a commission comprising the labour department secretary, a representative from Unicef and three lawyers to ensure that the provincial government takes legislative measures to protect fundamental rights of domestic workers.
Justice Jawad Hassan had at the time observed that domestic workers were being subjected to long hours of work and were also being harassed by their employers as recently several incidents surfaced involving torture of underage domestic workers.
The judge had further observed that if wages of workers in industrial establishments could be notified under Minimum Wages Act 1969, the wages of domestic workers should also be notified.
Child domestic labour was discussed at a provincial consultation by the Search for Justice in collaboration with the Labour and Human Resource Department and the National Commission for Human Rights on Friday where participants said that labour within the domestic sphere was tantamount to modern-day slavery.
Iftikhar Mubarik said that in June 2016, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) had issued concluding observations recommending Pakistan to establish mechanisms for systematic and regular monitoring of workplaces in order to prevent abuse and exploitation. The committee also recommended that Pakistan develop programmes and mechanisms to identify and protect child victims of forced labour, particularly bonded labour as well as child labour in informal sector, including domestic work. Strengthen the labour inspectorate with all the necessary support, including child labour expertise, with a view to enabling them to monitor effectively at state and local levels the implementation of labour law standards and to receive, investigate and address complaints of alleged violations.
The UN committee recommends that Pakistan take all measures necessary to put an end to child labour through rigorously enforcing the laws on child labour and strengthening labour inspection mechanisms. During the Universal Periodic Review in November 2017, Pakistan accepted a key recommendation to strengthen monitoring its domestic labour condition to eliminate practice of bonded labour and unlawful child labour. The abuse and exploitation of children as modern-day slaves cannot continue to be tolerated.
Besides, this Pakistan has also pledged post 2015 development agenda under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target 8.7, said Rashida Qureshi from the Child Rights Movement, Punjab, which called on the global community to ‘take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour by 2030.
Participants agreed that child domestic labour was a clear violation of children’s rights. The number of children exploited in households is unknown because of the hidden nature of the work. Children exploited in domestic service are paid little or nothing, are malnourished, are very vulnerable to further abuse and exploitation, and do not attend a school, which is in conflict with fundamental rights to education guaranteed under Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan and The Punjab Free & Compulsory Education act 2014, said Qureshi.
Dr Sohail Shahzad, additional secretary of labour & human resource department, said that keeping in view the seriousness of child domestic labour, the department in consultation with stakeholders had drafted a law “The Punjab Domestic Workers Act, 2017” with a view to protect the rights of the domestic workers.
The section three of the law states ‘No child or person who has not attained 18 years of age shall be required or allowed to work in household in any capacity’.
