Child labor in relation to poverty

Introduction

Child labor is recognized as the worst form of abuse and exploitation of children. The Convention on rights of child (CRC) urges the governments to take effective measures for its eradication. Child labor is pervasive problem in developing countries. Africa and Asia account for over 90% of total child employment. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that number of working children are about 250 million in the developing countries, of whom at least 120 million are working full time. Of these working children 61% are in Asia, 32% in Africa and 7% in Latin America. In Pakistan about eight million children are working in different occupations and two third of them are employed full time. The fundamental rights of child as survival, education, protection and development are grossly violated by child labor. The root cause of child labor is extreme poverty which forces the parents to employ their children for some extra money for daily living. This study was designed to collect information on dimensions of working children and to establish relation between poverty and child labor in Pakistan.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted to correlate poverty and child labor. The study was conducted in the Malir district of Karachi, Pakistan, between April–July 2008. By systematic random sampling, 200 children between ages of 5–15 years were selected from among the working children in the district. A structured questionnaire was designed, including questions about the child, his family, nature of work and workplace and socio economic conditions. Informed consent was obtained from parents of working children.

Results

The mean age of children in the sample was 10.5 years; the male to female ratio was 5:1. Twenty four percent of children were collecting papers from streets and garbage dumps; 21% were working in auto workshops as helping hands, while at the same time learning some form of technical skills; 16% were street children doing car washing or selling newspapers and other items. Besides these, some children worked in homes as house servants, did shoe polishing or worked in small businesses in the neighborhood. A majority of girls worked either as house servants or picked paper and other stuff from garbage dumps. About 83% children belonged to poor families.

Stated reasons for child labor

Discussion

In this study, we found that children work mainly due to poverty. Poor parents are forced to send their children to work instead of school. Poverty reduction is the key to reducing child labor. The government should provide some compensation to poor parents for sending their children to school.

Table 1.

Distribution of children by occupation

Type of Work	Number	Male	Female
Street Work	32	26	6
Auto workshops	42	42	0
Hotels	24	24	0
Domestic Work	28	16	12
Paper Collection	48	38	10
Shops/ Stores	20	16	4
Shoe Polishing	6	6	0
Total	200	168	32