Red card to child labour

EVERY year on 12 June, the world observes the World Day Against Child Labour a call to conscience for governments, civil society, businesses and citizens to uphold every child’s right to childhood, education and protection from exploitation. This year’s theme, “Red Card to Child Labour: Fair Play for Children, Decent Work for Adults,” underscores a simple truth: until adults have access to decent work and social protection, too many children will be forced into work that steals their childhood and jeopardizes their futures. Globally, the latest estimates show that at least 138 million children are still engaged in child labour. Millions of girls and boys denied education, play, safety and dignity. Of these, roughly 54 million are in hazardous work that threatens their health and development. While this figure represents a remarkable reduction from the near 246 million children in such circumstances at the start of the century, it also reflects the world’s failure to meet the global target to eliminate child labour by 2025. At the current pace, progress would need to accelerate more than eleven fold to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on child labour. Child labour is most prevalent in agriculture, followed by services and industry, driven by poverty, lack of social protection, limited access to quality education, conflicts, climate shocks and weak enforcement of labour laws. Pakistan mirrors this global challenge in deeply concerning ways. National estimates indicate that approximately 13–14 percent of children aged 10 to 17 are engaged in child labour, amounting to millions of boys and girls working in agriculture, brick kilns, domestic labour, workshops, manufacturing units, markets and other informal sectors. Many of these children are exposed to long hours, unsafe conditions, physical abuse and the permanent loss of educational opportunities, trapping families in intergenerational cycles of poverty. While Pakistan has ratified key international co