Children in Pakistan are engaged in the worst forms of child labor, including in commercial sexual exploitation and domestic work, each sometimes as a result of human trafficking. Children also engage in forced labor in brick kilns and agriculture. (1–4) Table 1 provides key indicators on children's work and education in Pakistan. Data on some of these indicators are not available from the sources used in this report.

Related Entity

Source for primary completion rate: Data from 2018, published by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2020. (5)
Source for all other data: International Labor Organization's analysis of statistics from Labour Force Study (LFS), 2017–2018; and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 5 (MICS 5), 2014. (6)

Based on a review of available information, Table 2 provides an overview of children's work by sector and activity.

† Determined by national law or regulation as hazardous and, as such, relevant to Article 3(d) of ILO C. 182.
‡ Child labor understood as the worst forms of child labor per se under Article 3(a)–(c) of ILO C. 182.

Pakistan consists of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), which is governed by federal law, as well as four provinces—Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh—each of which is responsible for all social services, including those related to labor, within their areas. Law enforcement responsibilities are shared between the federal and provincial governments. (46) When available, data and information are included for the federal and provincial governments in this report. In 2019, Pakistan's federal and provincial governments, with technical assistance provided by UNICEF, continued conducting nationwide child labor surveys. These surveys—the first conducted since 1996—are expected to address the lack of available child labor data that has hampered the federal and provincial governments' ability to accurately assess the scope and prevalence of child labor. (3,29)

Many child domestic workers work under conditions of forced labor, including debt bondage, sexual assault, and extreme physical abuse. (2,3,29,31) Indeed, reports estimate that 70 percent of bonded laborers in Pakistan are children. (46,47) Poor rural families sometimes sold their children into domestic servitude or other types of work, or paid agents to arrange for such work, often believing their child would work under decent conditions. Children were also kidnapped or sold into organized begging rings, domestic servitude, gangs, and child sex trafficking. (46,48) Some children work with their families as bonded laborers in the production of bricks. (3,4,8,26,41,49)

Begging ringmasters sometimes maim children to earn more money and sometimes force children to steal, and organized criminal groups force children into drug trafficking in Sindh and Balochistan. Research found that due to the consistent lack of law enforcement efforts against those who exploited street children, including in forced labor and sex trafficking, traffickers operated openly and with impunity. (3,46,50)

Child laborers in Pakistan, particularly boys, are frequently subjected to sexual exploitation at their places of employment, including in factories, workshops, mines, or while scavenging on the streets. (51) They are also sometimes subjected to sexual exploitation in order to obtain or keep a job or for accommodations. Research indicates that in Kasur, a city in the Punjab Province where sexual exploitation of children is considered to be among the highest in the country, 90 percent of working children under age 14 have been sexually harassed or exploited. (3,41,52,51) The practice of bacha bazi, or boy play, in which boys are forced to provide social and sexual entertainment for older men, is common within Pakistan. Traffickers in Pakistan also promise Pakistani boys admission to Afghani religious schools only to instead sell them to Afghan security forces for the purpose of sexual exploitation. (41,53)

Children in Pakistan face several barriers to education. Of significant concern is the sexual abuse of children in Pakistan's madrassas—Islamic religious schools that provide free education and meals to Pakistan's poorest children. (52,54,55) There are more than 22,000 registered madrassas in the country, in addition to an estimated 2,000-3,000 unregistered madrassas; sexual abuse in madrassas significantly hinders the ability of a large number of Pakistani children to attend school and receive an education. (52,54) In addition, non-state armed militant groups—Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, its splinter groups, and ISIL-KP—forcibly recruited and used children in terrorist activities, including suicide attacks. Further, while research found that the total number of terrorist attacks against schools have continued to decrease since 2009, schools in Pakistan may still be vulnerable to attacks by unknown armed groups, disrupting children's access to education. (3,10,19,46,56-61) Many other children face barriers to accessing education including high rates of teacher absenteeism, inadequate facilities, lack of transportation, school fees, and corporal punishment, which may deter children from attending school. (3,10,57,60,62-64) Lastly, while children not are legally required to have a birth certificate to enroll in public or private school, research indicates that some private schools may still require children's birth certificate in order to enroll. (3,46) Research also found only 31 percent of births are officially registered. Children without a birth certificate who cannot enroll in school are at much higher risk of becoming victims of exploitative labor conditions. (65)

Pakistan has ratified most key international conventions concerning child labor (Table 3).

The government has established laws and regulations related to child labor (Table 4). However, gaps exist in Pakistan's legal framework to adequately protect children from the worst forms of child labor, including the minimum age for work and for hazardous work.

* No conscription (90)
† The minimum age for work in shops and establishments is 14 years old. The minimum age for work in factories and mines is 15 years old (66-68)
‡ The minimum age for work in brick kilns is 14 years old. The minimum age for work in domestic work is 15 years old (73,75)

The Eighteenth Amendment to the Pakistani Constitution permits provinces to pass laws that govern labor law and children's welfare. (96,97) Federal law applies only until the province passes a law on the same subject. (29,96) In 2019, the Pakistan National Assembly passed the Islamabad Capital Territory Prohibition of Employment of Children Act, which would prohibit the employment of children age 14 and younger in any establishment, including agricultural and household establishments; would prohibit the employment of children ages 15 to 18 in hazardous work; and would establish a hazardous work list prohibited for children. However, the Senate had not approved the bill at the close of the reporting period. (3,98) The Balochistan Employment of Children (Prohibition and Regulation) Bill, which would include an updated list of hazardous work prohibited for children; prohibit hazardous work for children under 18 years of age; and establish a minimum age of 14 years of age was sent to the cabinet for consideration. (21)

Pakistan's federal and provincial laws are not completely in compliance with international standards on child labor. The federal minimum age for work provisions, as well as the minimum age for work laws in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh Provinces are not in compliance with international standards because they do not extend to informal employment, such as household work. (66-70,72-78)

The federal government's minimum age for hazardous work is currently 14 years old, which does not comply with international standards. (79) The federal minimum age for hazardous work still applies in Balochistan Province, as Balochistan has not established a minimum age for hazardous work. (29,79,99)

Hazardous work prohibitions for the federal government and the four provinces do not cover brickmaking, for which there is evidence that children are exposed to environmental health hazards. Hazardous work prohibitions for the federal government and every province except Punjab do not cover domestic work, for which there is evidence that children are exposed to physical abuse. (8,23,79) In 2019, Punjab Province adopted the Punjab Domestic Workers Act of 2019, which bans children under age 15 from working in any domestic service capacity, and permits only children under age 18 to perform light work that does not harm the child's health and safety or affect their education. (3,4,75,100) Although laws in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh Provinces prohibit children under age 18 from working in underground mines or above-ground quarries, federal law—which also still applies in Balochistan—does not prohibit children ages 15 to 18 from working in mines. There is evidence that children in Balochistan are engaged in coal mining, which involves exposure to hazardous substances, work underground, and lethal accidents. (27,28,68,70,74,78,79,99)

Federal law, which also applies in all the provinces except Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, does not comply with international standards on child trafficking, as it does not omit the requirement of force, fraud, or coercion as elements of the crime. (81,82,86) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province's human trafficking law also requires the additional element of kidnapping, coercion, or receipt or giving of a benefit. (87)

Federal law, which also applies in Balochistan, does not prohibit the use of children for prostitution or the procuring and offering of children in commercial sexual exploitation, nor does Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's law. (81,82,87,88) Federal and provincial laws, with the exception of Punjab and Sindh provinces, do not prohibit the use of children in drug production and drug trafficking. (74,78,87) The federal and provincial governments, with the exception of Punjab and Sindh Provinces, have not enacted laws that prohibit the recruitment and use of children by non-state groups for armed conflict. (13,70,74)

As the minimum age for work is lower than the compulsory education age, children may be encouraged to leave school before the completion of compulsory education. (70,91-95)

In 2019, labor law enforcement agencies in Pakistan took actions to combat child labor (Table 5). However, gaps exist within the operations of provincial labor inspectorates that may hinder adequate labor law enforcement, including limited financial and human resource allocation.

In 2019, the Punjab Provincial court ordered the provincial government to pay school fees for children working at brick kilns. (108) In addition, District Vigilance Committees (DVCs) are functioning in all of Punjab Province's 36 districts, as well in 29 districts in Sindh Province. (41,46,101) The ICT DVCs have begun taking legal efforts against brick kilns using child labor by imposing heavy fines issued under the supervision of the District Magistrate. (19)

Labor Law Enforcement

In 2019, labor law enforcement agencies in Pakistan took actions to combat child labor (Table 6). However, gaps exist within the operations of provincial labor inspectorates that may hinder adequate labor law enforcement, including limited financial and human resource allocation.

† Data are from January–September 5, 2018 (110)

Pakistan's provinces are responsible for enforcing labor laws, including those relevant to child labor law. (13) Provincial labor departments collect comprehensive data on labor law enforcement at the district level. However, there is neither a centralized federal repository for the data nor any regular mechanism for reporting it to the federal government; therefore, limited labor inspection data were available for inclusion in this report. (10)

Based on 2017 data, the number of labor inspectors is likely insufficient for the size of Pakistan's workforce, which includes approximately 64 million workers. According to the ILO's technical advice of a ratio approaching 1 inspector for every 15,000 workers in developing economies, Pakistan would employ about 4,259 labor inspectors. (116,117) Provincial labor inspectorates do not receive sufficient resources, which may hamper labor inspectors' ability to inspect workplaces. For example, labor departments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh Provinces did not provide funds to cover the cost of transportation to conduct inspections. (3,10) Furthermore, while labor inspectors do receive some initial training depending on their assigned province, this training is insufficient, as there is very little information provided that is specific to child labor issues and laws. (3,21,100,118,119)

The Punjab labor inspectorate conducted 10 training sessions for 185 labor inspectors at the Industrial Relations Institute. Further, the Punjab Labor Welfare Department registered 1,441 first investigative reports (FIRs), which are prepared by the police upon receiving information on violations of Punjab's child employment restrictions, and 616 FIRs for violations prohibiting child labor in brick kilns. (3,101) In Sindh Province, research found that inspectors stopped conducting unannounced inspections due to complaints of harassment filed against inspectors by employers. (120) Only labor courts can assess penalties for labor law violations; labor inspectors can only note the labor violation. (3,21)

Criminal Law Enforcement

In 2019, criminal law enforcement agencies in Pakistan took actions to combat child labor (Table 7). However, gaps exist within the operations of the criminal enforcement agencies that may hinder adequate criminal law enforcement, including reports of corruption and indifference on the part of investigative officials.

In 2019, Pakistan's Prime Minister directed the government to launch a new mobile application, "Mera Bacha Alert," to improve reporting and reduce the number of abductions and sexual exploitation cases perpetrated against children. (121) The federal and provincial governments do not publish data on efforts to enforce criminal laws prohibiting the worst forms of child labor; it is unknown whether investigations, prosecutions, or convictions were undertaken or achieved for child labor crimes in 2019. (3) While training is provided to new criminal investigators, the training is inconsistent across Pakistan, and the training might not include information on child labor, child trafficking, or sexual exploitation of children. (3)

Research indicates that police corruption, particularly the taking of bribes from suspected perpetrators to ignore alleged crimes, continues to hamper Pakistan's ability to eliminate child labor, especially in the brick kiln industry, factories, street scavenging, and the sexual abuse of children in madrassas. In addition, children, parents, or family members who report child labor incidents often lack faith that police will act in pursuit of justice. (26,54,52–51) Research also found that police sometimes act indifferently to reports of child labor or sexual exploitation, pointing to cultural differences as a rationale for abuse. Further, some police are reportedly afraid of being accused of blasphemy by religious clerics if they take action against the sexual abuse of children in madrassas. (26,54,122)

Of particular concern, in July 2019, a 14-year-old domestic worker reported substantial indicators of trafficking by her employer, a parliamentarian in Punjab, including sexual abuse and torture. While police registered the charges, they did not arrest the parliamentarian, allegedly because the provincial government did not allow them to do so. (46,123) The parliamentarian continued to pressure the victim to drop the charges. In January 2020, the Supreme Court set aside the extended three-year sentence imposed on a judge and his wife for cruelty to a child for subjecting a 10-year-old girl to torture and domestic servitude—the government's first reported conviction of an official complicit in trafficking-related offenses in 10 years—and reinstated the initial sentence of one year's imprisonment. (46,123)

The government has established mechanisms to coordinate its efforts to address child labor (Table 8). However, gaps exist that hinder the effective coordination of efforts to address child labor, including fulfilling mandates to establish coordinating mechanisms.

* Coordinating body responsible for coordinating government efforts on child labor was created during the reporting period.

The federal government had not established the National Commission on the Rights of the Child as mandated by law at the end of the reporting period. (3,46) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has 12 CPUs, however, none were active during the reporting period due to a lack of finances. Balochistan established one CPU in Quetta, however, they have not yet instituted the remaining 33 CPUs despite passing legislation in 2016 to establish units in each district. (41,46)

The government has established policies related to child labor (Table 9). However, policy gaps exist that hinder efforts to address child labor, including mainstreaming child labor issues into relevant policies.

‡ The government had other policies that may have addressed child labor issues or had an impact on child labor. (136–140)

Research was unable to determine whether the provincial or federal governments have educational policies and, if so, whether such policies include child labor elimination and prevention strategies. (136–139)

In 2019, the government funded and participated in programs that include the goal of eliminating or preventing child labor (Table 10). However, gaps exist in these social programs, including the adequacy of programs to address the full scope of the problem.

† Program is funded by the Government of Pakistan.

In 2019, the Provincial labor departments of Khyber Paktunkhwa and Balochistan dedicated approximately $1.53 million and $1.37 million of their budgets, respectively, to conduct surveys on child labor. The Khyber Paktunkhwa labor department began conducting its child labor survey Child labor survey during the reporting period. (46,101) Child labor surveys are also being carried out in Sindh and the ICT, while the child labor survey project in Balochistan is still being planned. (21) In addition, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh Provinces established rehabilitation service centers for street children in 2019. These centers provided street children with education, health, career, and psychological counseling services. (46,128)

The social programs of the federal and provincial governments are insufficient to address the prevalence and scope of Pakistan's child labor problem. Existing programs also do not provide enough protection and rehabilitation services for bonded child laborers and victims of human trafficking. (109,125) Government initiatives are needed to specifically target child labor in the informal sector, including child labor and forced child labor in domestic work. (119) Furthermore, additional social programs are necessary to raise awareness and provide assistance to children used by non-state militant groups to engage in armed conflict. (148) In addition, there is no significant social program to address sexual abuse of child workers or children learning in madrassas in Pakistan.

Based on the reporting above, suggested actions are identified that would advance the elimination of child labor in Pakistan (Table 11).

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108. The Express Tribune. LHC orders govt to pay school fees of kiln workers. March 29, 2019.
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109. U.S. Embassy- Islamabad. Reporting. April 12, 2019.

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118. U.S. Embassy- Islamabad. Reporting, January 19, 2018.

119. U.S. Embassy Islamabad official. E-mail communication to USDOL official. June 6, 2016.

120. ILO Committee of Experts. Individual Observation concerning Forced Labour Convention, 1947 (No. 81) Pakistan (ratification: 1953) Published: 2018.
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127. The Frontier Post. Govt appoints members of KP Child protection, Welfare Commission. November 14, 2016. Source on file.

128. ILO CEACR. Individual Observation concerning Worst Forms of Child Labour convention, 1999 (No. 182) Pakistan (ratification: 2001). Published: 2020.
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129. Government of Pakistan. Islamabad Capital Territory Child Protection Act. 2018.
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