To eradicate child labor, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has given Punjab government six months to register all brick kilns in the province.
While hearing a petition regarding the recovery of eight children allegedly detained by an owner of a kiln factory, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh of the LHC Bahawalpur bench said that the menace of bonded and child labor is rampant despite the steps taken to eliminate it.
We are trapped in a vicious circle which can be broken only by a holistic approach, and the first step is an effective enforcement of the laws by the government and its functionaries.
Justice Saleem also ordered SHO Noshehra Jadid Police Station, Bahawalpur, to bring the kids in the next hearing.
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He ordered the provincial and the federal governments to strictly implement all relevant laws to curb this menace in Punjab and across the country.
The court ruled that the employment of children below 14 should be banned from all sectors of the economy including agriculture, brick kilns, mining, tanneries, carpet weaving, glass-bangle making, construction, and fisheries, etc.
It ordered the deputy commissioners of every district to arrange the issuance of CNICs to brick kiln works and registration of their children by NADRA within the given deadline.
As per the 32-page verdict, no children younger than 14 shall be allowed to work at any brick kiln. Moreover, every appointment at brick kilns across Punjab shall be under a written contract under Section 3 of the Punjab Prohibition of Child Labour at Brick Kilns Act, 2016.
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No brick kiln owner or manager shall give any worker an advance exceeding Rs. 50,000, and all such activities shall be registered in the prescribed manner.
Moreover, the court orders every brick kiln owner to pay a statutory contribution to the Employees’ Social Security Institution as per the law. In case of non-compliance,  the dues shall be recovered with penalties under Section 23 of the Provincial Employees Social Security Ordinance 1965.
While discouraging child labor in most of the manually operated tasks of the society is very appreciable; the adherence to and the strict enforcement of the law and effective implementation of the laws is very necessary and the most difficult matter to follow up. But one aspect of child labor that the Lahore High court seems to have overlooked is the domestic child labor and abuse there of. It is a family affair with most landlords and the elite and the workers with them are there for many generations and for the availability of food and clothing, these poor people go on and on serving the lords for generations. They are kept under such poverty conditions that they are calmed by a tablet of panadol, hot or cold bread twice a day and a dress once a year. They don’t get to think beyond these conditions; they have no access to the outside world so that they can think of improving the future of their children at least.
Pehly in k parents k liya kuch krn es mahangai k dor ma wo apny expense kaisy pury ye masly hal ho jaen to child labor khud he khatam ho jae gi kisi b parent ko shok nai hota k wo apny masom buchon sy ye kam krwain.