Child Labour in Pakistan

In Pakistan many children are sold into bondage at a young age, when their families take out loans. In some of these cases, illiterate parents are tricked into deals with businessmen (mainly factory owners) who then not only have the right to the child’s labour, but also the right to sell the child to any other factory owner. High interest rates on these loans made it hard for these loans to be paid off. On top of that, mistakes made by the child results in a sum being added to the amount of money the parents owed. The factory owners also charge families for the bowl of rice that the child slaves are fed each day. More often than not, debts of families only increase after years of having their children chained to a loom.

Beatings in these factories are not uncommon. Most children exhibit scars on their hands and feet because of whippings. Sometimes children are hung upside down by their ankles. By working with carpet knives the children often cut themselves, especially when they are first introduced into the trade. Factory owners pour hot wax or fill them with matchstick powder and set them alight to stop the bleeding allowing the children to keep on working.

Although bonded labour has been made illegal through a series of laws dating back to 1934, the corruption of the justice system and the authorities fails to stop this harmful practice. Factory owners are known to bribe officials and police are even known to capture escaped slaves and return them to factories.