ISLAMABAD:
More than 8.6 million children in Pakistan are engaged in child labour, including over 6.6 million involved in hazardous work that threatens their health, safety and development, according to a national report launched on Thursday by the National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) in collaboration with UNICEF.
Titled ‘Pakistan: Child Labor Surveys, Evidence for Action’, the report provides the first nationally representative data set on child labor in nearly three decades, and offers a comprehensive assessment of the extent, distribution, sectors and drivers of child labor across the country.
Launching the report, NCHR Chairperson Rabiya Javeri Agha said Pakistan’s last comprehensive study on child labor was conducted in 1996, forcing policymakers and development partners to rely on outdated and fragmented data for more than 20 years. She noted that while the prevalence of child labor varies between provinces, hazardous child labor remains a widespread problem affecting children across the country.
According to the findings, Punjab bears the biggest burden, with around 6 million child labourers. Sindh follows with 1.6 million child labourers, while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has 745,155, Balochistan 201,352 and Islamabad Capital Territory 15,180.
The report identifies poverty as the strongest driver of child labour, with children from the poorest households and families with low parental education most likely to be affected. Boys are significantly more likely than girls to be involved in childbirth, including hazardous occupations.
A significant proportion of child labor takes place within family contexts, including farms, workshops and homes, making it largely invisible to conventional labor oversight mechanisms, the report noted. It also highlights the serious impact on children’s well-being.
Working children are more likely to be out of school, work long hours and suffer injuries, illness, fatigue and poor mental health, it said. Across provinces, between 32% and 58% of working children reported work-related injuries or illnesses, while up to a third of older child workers reported symptoms of depression.
Union Minister for Human Rights Azam Nazeer Tarar said the challenge could not be solved by a single ministry or intervention. He said the evidence showed that child labor was far more widespread than commonly believed, and called for a reassessment of national priorities.
