Every morning, 15 year-old Serab Gul leaves his home for one and half-hour ride, changing two public transport vehicle on the way, to Islamabad. However, unlike other boys of his age, who travel from the outskirts of the city to go to school, Serab's journey ends at the car parking area of the Banking and Commercial complex at Islamabad’s Diplomatic Enclave. The bag on his shoulder does not contain books, but boxes of caustic, and often abrasive detergent powder and a brush. He comes here to wash cars for which he earns about one hundred rupees for a single day’s job.

Serab Gul left school after his father, a laborer himself, lost his eyesight after developing some unknown illness. At the age of 13, Serab found himself in the role of sole bread earner in his family. He lives in rented house in rural areas of the capital city, with no gas or electricity facilities. Serab’s mother died, last year, after developing renal failure. She was put to dialysis; however, she could not survive, as the treatment was too costly for a family that depended on Serab’s meager income.

Serab’s story is very much linked to an interesting debate that has been continuing on the subject of child labor in Pakistan since past many years. Interesting point, however, is that this brainstorming, academic debate notwithstanding, the plague of child labor is on its march consistently in the nook and corner of the country. Civil society groups, media and the government could only watch it spreading like a contiguous disease. Sounds, they only can do the job of pointing a finger to the way this nuisance is heading.

Equally awkward facet of this saga is that even the children working in garages, teashops, parking lots or pulling donkey carts don’t know that in the cool, murky halls of one or other hotel, their plight and life are being debated. All the papers, words and edicts, that the enlighten elitist and middle class had been churning out in one or other inspired event have no impact on their living, thus rendering this debate a futile exercise, no more than a wishful thinking of our elitists who talk on the issue like making a case for the eradication of reed from the front lawn.

Globally speaking, there is no single cause of child labor nor any single model adequately explain complex phenomenon of child labor. Nevertheless, some of the factors affecting child labor are identified as low income, indebting of family (part of repaying the debt involves a child becoming an indentured labor to the creditor party), big family size and fertility (household with more children end up providing less education for each child and may need to send children to work to help earn income to meet needs), household structure and migration, difficulty in easy access to qualitative schooling, and demand within a given society for child labor. However, according to a study the most common cause behind child labor in Pakistan remains of death or illness of adult member of the family.

During past few decades, there has been an upsurge in child rights movement. Back in 1998 Global March against child labor passed through more than eighty countries, which led to the adoption of a new convention (C-182) by the ILO Labor Assembly Against worst form of child labor in June 1999, which also covers, bonded labor, sale of children and child prostitution. The ILO’s Convention 182 concerning the prohibition and immediate Action for Elimination of the worst form of child labor concedes to the fact that effective elimination of the worst form of the child labor requires immediate and comprehensive action, taking into account the importance of free basic education and the need to address the needs of their families. The convention recognizes that child labor to a great extent is caused by poverty and that the long-term solution lies in sustained economic growth leading to social progress, in particular poverty alleviation and universal education. According to Article 1 of C-182, “Each state party, which ratifies this convention shall take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst form of child labor as a matter of urgency. ILO, through International Program on the Elimination of Child labor (IPEC) is helping Pakistan to remove child labor and rehabilitate child worker.

Under Pakistan’s law, 14 years is generally considered as an age under which children should not work. However International Labor Organization marks 18 years as the age, under which children should not be permitted to work in any of the conditions. In 2001 Pakistan ratified ILO’s Convention 182, which is binding for the signatory nation to commit itself to not allow children under the age of 18 to work in the

hazardous working conditions or in worst form of child labor. According to ILO, around the world, some 246 million children between 5 and 17 years are working instead of attending school.
Only survey that we have for exacting the number of child workers in Pakistan was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Statistics with ILO’s assistance, in 1996, showing number of child labor in the country as 3.3 million. The survey showed that two third of total child workers are boys while one third are girls. The Federal Bureau of Statistics is planning to carry out on its own another child labor survey in 2003-04. Unofficial sources place the numbers of child workers around 8 million. An official of ILO in Islamabad opined that government’s initiative of Education For All (EFA) is a key macro policy measure to address the issue. According to him, inclusion of child labor as an indicator of poverty in Pakistan Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper is enough to show the commitment at the part of government to tackle the menace of child labor.

There are official pledges to make education free and compulsory for all by the year 2015 under the slogan of EFA. A recent meeting of the ministers of Education from South Asian Countries in their joint statement (Islamabad Declaration) made known that they recognize education as the most critical lever for alleviating poverty. We are no shorts of people who think that free, compulsory and meaningful education for all children, especially girl children and rural children, is a viable strategy to curb child labor.

In a recent workshop in the capital city, head of USAID Pakistan enlightened the audience that education is the only solution to the problems Pakistan is facing today. However, what we see as a ground reality that education has become a luxury that only well off could afford. A recent study conducted by planning section of Department of Schools and Literacy, government of NWFP suggests that poverty remains to be one of major cause of keeping children away from the schools.

There are many who argue that effective enforcement of laws regarding child labor (prevalence fines and punishment) were to deter violation of law. Others view social mobilization as a way forward to eliminate child labor. They insist that child right could only be assured in a true democratic system, where there is rule of law and respect for fundamental human rights. “Today’s child laborers can never become tomorrow’s healthy and productive citizens as their child-hood is robbed of by the rigors of life they had to face at a tender age,” one Indian speaker, who has campaigned against child labor across the glob, was heard saying in a seminar on child labor in Islamabad.

It is widely understood that children are preferred, as workers because they are cheaper source of labor and that they cannot form trade union, thus cannot go to strike or sue their employer for the breach of their labor rights. Noted social scientist Kaiser Bengali says only pragmatic approach towards the issue would to regulate nature of the job for the young workers rather than going for out-rightly outlawing it, as many campaigners on child labor press for. He suggests that fixing the work schedule, thus lessening of the working hours combined with compulsory education in spare time is only practical solution available to us to tackle the issue.

So, the debates go on that what compels children to put their books and playing tools aside and embark upon a journey that robs them of the tenderness of carefree life? Are they free to choose or is it socio-economic compulsion and poor-unfriendly governing system that compel them to embark upon new course of life having stigma of child labor. Many people think that it is lack of access to easy and free education that ultimately results into the child labor. Likewise, there are no less people who think that it is poverty that keeps children away from school.

“Child labor is caused by poverty and vice versa,” says Anees Jeelani, leading child rights activist. He suggests that strategy to eliminate child labor involve poverty alleviation measures, making education free and compulsory up to the secondary school level, implementing child labor laws up to the informal sectors, particularly rural areas. The civil society groups are yet to figure out what entry point would be to tackle the issue. We have to break the vicious cycle of poverty and illiteracy to end child labor.