islamabad - A large chunk of women and children in Pakistan are working as domestic workers. The two most common types of domestic workers are child domestic labour and bonded/forced labour.
According to an ILO study (2004), there were 264,000 child domestic workers in Pakistan. This number rapidly increased and in 2012 they reported an estimated 12 million child labourers, 8.5 million of which were female, but a significant number of boys were also exposed to similar jobs. Around 47 cases of violence against child domestic workers were reported in the media during January 2010 to December 2014 while as many as 24 children lost their lives from violence committed by their employers.
Countless cases remained unreported. One of the few reasons behind this booming unreported violence is the lack of legislation providing protection, influential backgrounds of employers, the acute class difference and the solitary nature of the job.
Barrister Osama Qazi, a leading attorney from Islamabad states, “As far as the legal perspective about domestic worker is concerned, one thing which is quite apparent is that the executive has miserably failed to implement the laws which have been enacted by the parliament. Majority of the people are completely unaware about the legal framework governing domestic worker and this factor alone is a major cause for lack of implementation. A comprehensive awareness campaign is required to make sure that people know the protection and rights which they are being offered by the law.”
Majority of houses situated in posh areas of the capital have employed children as domestic workers, mostly to take care of their toddlers which is absurd since these domestic workers themselves are small children, unfortunately they are abused, humiliated, exploited and in some cases even sexually abused as seen in many documented cases.
They are kept in terrible almost slave worthy conditions consisting of long working hours and difficult tasks like cleaning big houses, cooking meals for a large number of people, washing dishes and clothes in unsuitable weather conditions.
They are given chores that are highly risky for young domestic workers such as ironing, handling hot kitchen utensils, and hazardous tools, cleaning toilets with chemicals such as acid. Moreover, these workers end up getting beaten or scolded for making the slightest mistakes as in the recent Tayyaba case.
When visiting malls and restaurants, these workers are treated as third class citizens made to wait in a corner holding shopping bags and looking after crying babies while the employers enjoy their fancy meals and shopping trips.
The humiliation they face at the hands of their employers not only causes an acute loss of dignity and self-esteem but they are also deprived of the opportunity to study and build a successful life for themselves. Since the last few years violence against domestic workers had increased manifold in the country. Famous cases such as the recent Tayyaba case where a 10 year old domestic worker was allegedly tortured by the wife of a sitting judge in the capital, Shazia Masih who was found dead at her employers house with marks of torture on her body and Tehmina Qasim who was severely tortured by her employers in Islamabad. Amna, a human rights activist and a law student says that “Despite the important role that these domestic workers play in our homes, they are among the most exploited and abused workers. Most often they work 12 to 15 hours a day, six days a week, for wages far below the minimum wage.
In most cases they are confined within their workplace and subjected to all sorts of violence. Women and Children, especially migrant domestic workers are often the most vulnerable since they are dependent on their employers not only for their meagre salary but their accommodation as well, if kicked out of the house they have nowhere else to go in the city as most of these workers travel from far flung villages to the city to earn some money in order to support their family.”
The Domestic Workers (Employment Rights) Bill passed in 2015, was the first piece of legislation in Pakistan solely dedicated to protect the rights of the domestic workers, to regulate their employment and conditions of service and to provide them social security, safety, health facility and welfare. But unfortunately the bill has had almost no impact on the current conditions of these domestic workers.
Socioeconomic factors such as poverty and non-existent job opportunities for the poverty stricken illiterate section of the society forces them to send away their children for domestic work. Sakina bibi, a domestic worker currently residing in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad states that, “No one wants to send their children away to live with and work for strangers, but circumstances force us to do so, since we have no education and barely any money to feed our other 4 children who are still toddlers.”
When asked about violence against domestic workers specifically underage ones, Syed Hasan Bokhari, a practicing lawyer and founder of a charity organization ‘Teach the World’ said, “The only effect that physical violence ever has on children is, that it shatters their trust, confidence, and faith in their elders.”
While politicians, activists and the general public continues to debate about the solution of this problem, children like Shazia shall continue to suffer not only at the hands of their employers but also their own parents due to the influence of money and out of court settlements.
Ayesha Khan, a housewife residing in sector E-11 recalls an incident that recently took place at her residence,
“These painters came to our house accompanied by a 10-year-old boy, instead of painting the walls they kept on slacking all day, as soon as I went to inspect them they all grabbed the brushes and started pretending to work, the young boy made a mistake and the other guys started beating him hard with a chapal, I told them not to hit the child so they stopped and as soon as I went back downstairs they started hitting him again and the smashes could be heard on the ground floor so I went back and confronted them, and instead got a reply that “He is my nephew so I can discipline him in whatever way that I like, Please don’t interfere in my work”.
I threatened to call the Police but they were least bothered by my threats. The problem here is that most of these kids are forced by their parents to go out and work, it is almost as if they are sold as slaves. If I won’t hire them someone else will, it’s a vicious cycle.We can’t deny the fact that there is a booming demand.
The only solution is that the government needs to step in and prohibit people from hiring any children below 18 to work as domestic help at their homes and other places.”
Since the recent case of abuse and violence against a young domestic worker Tayyaba at a sitting sessions judge house, the authorities haves seemingly sprung into action, this Friday the cabinet legislative committee approved a child protection bill for Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The commission would be headed by the Law, Justice and Human Rights secretary and the bill would be hopefully be approved without any delay.
–The writer is a freelance journalist