ASIA/PAKISTAN - Shazia's story and the reality of child labor

Lahore (Agenzia Fides) – While the nation is still reeling from the tragic story of Shazia – the young Catholic girl brutally murdered in Lahore by her Muslim employer (see Fides 25/1/2010), the Catholic Church in Pakistan launches a warning, in light of the tragic case of Shazia: “There are more than 10 millions child laborers in the country that is the obvious violation of Child Labor Laws,” says a document sent to Agenzia Fides by the Justice and Peace Commission of the Pakistani Bishops' Conference.
In a joint statement issued on Jan. 25 in Lahore, Chairperson of Catholic NCJP, Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha, and Peter Jacob, the Executive Secretary said that this is not a lone incident of violence, rather the domestic servants are subjected to extreme violence. There are more than 10 millions child laborers in the country that is the obvious violation of Child Labor Laws. Physical violence matted out to domestic labor was a common place. They stressed the government to affectively enforce the Child Labor Laws in the country moreover prosecute and bring the culprits to justice through a speedy course of action, the Church leaders added. “Identifying the growing poverty and unemployment as the primary contributor to this situation,” they also demanded that the Government “proceed with legislation on the ‘Domestic Violence Bill’ immediately to help the situation.”
For example, in the Sialkot District (which in 2009 was the site of anti-Christian violence), thousands of Christian families live and work and there are children who work in the production of balls, shoes, clay bricks, and carpets destined for Western markets. The sports balls in particular, made for the major brands of sports goods, are the work of 5,000 Pakistani children, who constitute 80% of the workers.
In the past, the murder of the young Iqbal Masih, a 4-year-old sold by his father to a carpet manufacturer, gained public attention on children working in Pakistan. Killed at age 12, after having told his story, along with that of his young friends, to a union leader, Iqbal has become a kind of symbol. The reality of child labor in Pakistan has other consequences: the infant mortality rate for children under five years is 136 per thousand and the illiteracy rate reaches 62%. 21% of boys are not even registered in an elementary school and the same goes for 50% of girls. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 25/01/2009)