BUSINESS COMMUNICATION II

Child Labor in Carpet

Industry
Roadmap for the Elimination of Child
Labor
Natalia Naveed L13-4985

Roadmap for the Elimination of Child Labor

Contents
Background....................................................................................................... 3
Problem............................................................................................................ 3
How is child labor in carpet industry a problem?.................................................................3
Poverty............................................................................................................................. 4
Class-based education system......................................................................................... 4
Large Families.................................................................................................................. 4
Social Deterioration.......................................................................................................... 5
Why is child labor in carpet industry a problem?.................................................................5
Unjust pay scale of children............................................................................................. 5
Health and social issues of children..................................................................................5
Deprived from their basic right- Education.......................................................................6
Laws which prohibit child labor in Pakistan.........................................................6
Perspective to the problem and alternative solutions..........................................7
Recommendations............................................................................................. 8
Reasons............................................................................................................ 8
Qualitative and Quantitative evidence................................................................9
Conclusion....................................................................................................... 10
Bibliography....................................................................................................11
Appendices...................................................................................................... 12

Roadmap for the Elimination of Child Labor

Background

Problem
According to ILO, Child Labour is defined as work that has the potential to deprive children of
their childhood, their dignity and is also harmful for their physical, moral and mental
development and it interferes with their education, also when he becomes ready to labour on a
very low pay. One of the worst forms of child labor is carpet weaving, which is the most popular
export from Pakistan. (Child Labour and Pakistan n.d.)
Child labor in carpet industry is a crucial issue in the developing countries as millions of children
are exposed to work activities that are detrimental to their physical and emotional development.
Child labor prevents children from realizing their basic right to education- a right which can
safeguard their future and ensure their protection against violence and economic exploitation.
(Child Labor 2012) Unfortunately up to 1,000,000 children working in the carpet industry are not
able to avail this opportunity and are deprived of this basic right. No doubt these children are
contributing to the GDP of Pakistan but this is not their actual role, their actual role is to gain
education.
Three key stakeholders in this problem are the children themselves, their family and the society
off course. It is clear that a communication gap exists between the three, elimination of which
will result in elimination. The problem can both stem from and affect these children, which
ultimately lead to improper care for children suffering from child labor in carpet industry.

Why is child labor in carpet industry a problem?

Various elements that add to this problem are:

Roadmap for the Elimination of Child Labor

Poverty
Class-based education system
Large families
Social Deterioration

Poverty

Child labor actually makes poverty worse. By driving down adult wages and depriving children
of education, child labor ensures that poverty will be passed down from generation to
generation. The International Labour Organization (ILO) states, Born to parents who
themselves were uneducated child workers, many child workers are forced to continue a tradition
that leaves them chained to a life of poverty (ILO, United States Policies to Address Child
Labor Globally, 2010). Not only does child labor lead to a perpetual cycle of poverty for a
family, it also depresses the economy. (Child Labor and the Rug Industry n.d.)
Class-based education system

Class-based education system is another reason for increasing child Labour; villages lack
standardized education systems and as a result, child Labour is on increase in rural areas. The
government has not put its laws into practice to stop child Labour in our country. Employers
after exploiting child Labour, extract a large surplus, whereas child Labour, despite increasing
poverty, unemployment and other problems, are pressed to do anything and everything for their
livelihood and the survival of their families. (Arshad 2007)
Large Families

Most of the children working in carpet industries belong to a poor family with a considerable
number of family members. So they are not only supposed to earn for themselves but for all
those who are a part of that child. Though children are not well paid, still they are major
contributors of income to family.

Roadmap for the Elimination of Child Labor

Social Deterioration

Family body made up of husband, wife and their children. This relation provides stability and
support to children if coordinated properly. However when there is no such coordination among
these relations then the result is a broken family or often divorce. Family breakdown or marriage
or death of any one of the parents mostly results in child labor making the children responsible
for family income. Previous studies show that conflicts among parents regarding non fulfillment
of the family necessities, and loans debt dependencies force children to work at a very early age.
(Dr. Arab Naz n.d.)

Effects of child labor in carpet industry

Unjust pay scale of children

A child earns Rs. 20,000 on average over a time span of five years but this is very low
considering the fact that they are sent by their parents to earn for their family. The industry
owners take out the cost of their equipment from the pay of these children and the rest of it is
sent at their homes. A survey of 120 respondents was conducted in Faisalabad to get an idea
about the income (ANILA KOUSAR n.d.) of the children working in the carpet industry. The
results showed that about 84% children were earning between 500-1000 rupees, 10% were
earning between 1100-1500 rupees and 5.8% were earning between 1600-2000 rupees. Although
the sample size was small yet it was enough to depict the reality.
Health and social issues of children

Health is a serious problem for children working in carpet a industry which is why it is a
problem. Children working over there suffer from various health disorders for instance captive
child syndrome due to long working hours.

Roadmap for the Elimination of Child Labor

Deprived from their basic right- Education

Child carpet weavers are supposed to work all day and hence they cant take out time to study at
all, ultimately adding nothing to their career and that is why child labor in carpet industry is a
serious problem because it is their basic right and working at such a place would never give them
a chance to better their living or add to this nations literacy.

Laws which prohibit child labor in Pakistan

Before we talk about labor laws, lets first have a look at the constitutional provisions pertaining
to child labor.
Article 3: the state shall ensure the elimination of all forms of exploitation and the gradual
fulfillment of fundamental principle, from each according to his ability and to each according to
his work.
Article 11(3): No child below the age of 14 years shall be engaged in any factory or mine or
any other hazardous employment.
Article 25(A): The state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age
of five to sixteen years in such manner as determined by law.
Article 37(e): The state shall make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work,
ensuring that women and children are not employed in vacations unsuited to their age or sex, and
for maternity benefits for women in employment.
Following instruments of legislation deal exclusively with the subject of child labor.
The Employment of Children Act 1991
The Employment of Children Rules 1995
Other than these two, there are other laws as well which deal with the employment of children
and regulate the working conditions for employed child workers.

Roadmap for the Elimination of Child Labor

Mines Act, 1923

The Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933
The Factories Act, 1934
The Road Transport Workers Ordinance, 1961
Shops and Establishments Ordinance, 1969
Merchant Shipping Ordinance, 2001 (Labor Laws That Prohibit Child Labor in Pakistan 2016)

Perspective to the problem and alternative solutions

It is no secret that child labor exists on an extensive scale in Pakistan. The problem of child labor
in carpet weaving has various perspectives which are affecting these children. There is thus an
acute need to do everything possible to eliminate the possibility of employing children as an
available option. Laws to prohibit, and regulate, child labor are accordingly important (Jillani
2011). Moreover, child labor is often a symptom of other problemspoverty, inadequate
education systems, discrimination within families, ethnic conflicts, inadequately protected
human rights, weak democratic institutionsthat will not be eliminated by banning child labor
(Satz n.d.). There are different perspectives to child labor according to the literature we have out
of which the prominent ones are inadequate wages and health hazards. (David Parker n.d.)
Now child labor in any form cannot be completely eradicated but perhaps certain steps can be
taken to lessen it as much as possible. First of all Government should keep a check on all carpet
manufacturers that they abide by the rules and regulations for child. In the light of the above
mentioned rules and laws, the owners of carpet industries should hire adult labor instead of child
labor and make sure that they are fit to work health wise. Children working day and night are
victims to low income. Their parents are constrained to do so because they dont have any other

Roadmap for the Elimination of Child Labor

choice. The Government should play its role and should take the responsibility of providing
education to these children so that they arent constrained to work instead they should get
education which in long run will help the children and their families and will also give valuable
contribution to the prosperity of the country. NGOs should also try to educate those families
who arent willing to educate their children and convince them to should send their children to
school so that they can build a bright future for themselves and their families. In carpet making,
their small, agile hands are highly valued by manufacturers and for this to stop Government
should promote both the supply of and demand for child-labor-free rugs.

Recommendations
Based on the problem at hand, the recommendation would be that the Government should take
strict action to implement child labor laws in Pakistan and take steps towards introducing
educational reforms to enable every child attend school. If we successfully implement these
action plans then Pakistan can be one of those very few countries where children are not
demoralized and given equals rights due share in the economy.

Reasons
Nobody can deny the fact that some countries do face the issue of child labor but over the years
they have established child labor laws which prohibits young children from working. Our
neighbor and rival India has acted upon this thing and passed a law in 2006 that no child would
be employed under the age of 14 and this has come into act although up till now, it isnt being
totally implemented because we know people violate government laws but its a step towards to
a good thing (National Legislation and Policies Against Child Labour in India 2015). China, our
friend also has a policy that no child would work under the age of 16 so it is no wonder to say

Roadmap for the Elimination of Child Labor

that child labor in China is an outdated issue. China has one of the highest GDP in the world at a
staggering amount of 9.24 US trillion dollars. Its been fifteen years that China successfully
achieved the objective of universal primary education and thus managed to wipe out most of
child labor occurring in the country- at least up to a certain age (Child Labour in China,Factories
& Child Trafficking 2012). America who is the super power has also some strict child labor laws
which states that children under the age of 14 will not be employed, children between the age of
14-16 can be employed for some jobs under limited hours and children between the age of 16-18
can do any job without any limitation of time and this hasnt affected them because America has
the highest GDP i.e. 16.77 US trillion dollars (Athreya 2014).
Pakistan should take examples from countries like USA, China who have such educational
reforms that every person and child is gaining education and to be on the safe side they have
strict child labor laws as well. The literacy rate in USA as of 2014 is 99% which means that out
of 100 people, 99 are getting education and with this high literacy rate, there is no chance of
child labor. The literacy rate in china is 96% which is an incredible amount and shows that with
this high amount, there is bound to be no child labor. Pakistan has a low literacy rate of 57%,
which means that out of 100 people, 43 are being deprived from education and with this high
amount, why wont a country experience child labor? If the literacy rate is high like Chinas and
USAs and with strict enforcement of child labor laws, there will be no child labor and Pakistan
should adapt both of these strategies.

Qualitative and Quantitative evidence

Because of the implementation of child labor laws and access to education, the child labor rate in
USA is virtually zero, yes children tend to work on part time basis but that is purely on their own
will and for that they do get paid. With that fact kept in mind, children arent working in any of

Roadmap for the Elimination of Child Labor

USAs industry and yet they have the highest GDP which means they have qualified adults
working for them. If a country has a high literacy rate, there will not be any form of child labor.
As mentioned out of every 100 people, 99 are getting education in America which means they
will be inclined to get a good job and provide benefits to the country in a positive way. Same
could be said for China who has a literacy rate of 96% and has the second highest GDP in the
world. As of 2012, the Gallup survey reported that 75% parents are satisfied with the education
their children are receiving which is huge amount considering the fact that USA is a big place.
This implies that if they are highly satisfied with the education their child is receiving, this
means that they are happy with the efforts of the government and they have no second thoughts
of diverting their child to somewhere else instead they are solely focused on providing him the
education.

Conclusion

Roadmap for the Elimination of Child Labor

Bibliography
ANILA KOUSAR, SAIRA AKHTAR, SHAHZAD F. KHAN, ASMA SAFDAR, NOREEN AKHTAR
AND SHAGUFTA NIGHAT. "Causes and Consequences of Child Labor in Carpet
Weaving." JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE & SOCIAL SCIENCES 58-59.
Arshad, Rizwan. "CHILD LABOR IN PAKISTAN." December 2007.
Athreya, Bama. "Ending Child Labor | USAID Impact." USAID. June 12, 2014.
https://blog.usaid.gov/2014/06/ending-child-labor/ (accessed april 21, 2016).
"Child Labor." literature review, 2012, 63.
"Child Labor and the Rug Industry." GoodWeave.
https://www.goodweave.org/child_labor_campaign/child_labor_handmade_rugs_carp
ets (accessed April 19, 2016).
Child Labour and Pakistan. http://www.paycheck.pk/main/labour-laws/fairtreatment/minors-and-youth/child-labour (accessed April 19, 2016).
"Child Labour in China,Factories & Child Trafficking." POVERTIES. December 2012.
http://www.poverties.org/child-labor-in-china.html (accessed April 21, 2016).
David Parker, MD. "A Haunting Picture of Poor Health." GoodWeave.
http://www.goodweave.org/index.php?pid=9239#slideshow (accessed April 21,
2016).
Dr. Arab Naz, Waseem Khan. "The Role of Family Disorganization in Promting Child
Labor."
Jillani, Anees. "Child Labor : The Legal Aspects." Labor Watch Pakistan. april 26,
2011. http://labourwatchpakistan.com/child-labor-the-legal-aspects/ (accessed april
21, 2016).
"Labor Laws That Prohibit Child Labor in Pakistan." PayCheck.pk. POWERED
BYWEBCOP Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research (PILER) .
WageIndicator Foundation. 2016. http://www.paycheck.pk/main/labour-laws/fairtreatment/minors-and-youth/child-labour (accessed April 20, 2016).
"National Legislation and Policies Against Child Labour in India." International
Labour Organization (ILO). 2015.
https://www.ilo.org/legacy/english/regions/asro/newdelhi/ipec/responses/india/nation
al.htm (accessed April 21, 2016).
Satz, Debra. "Child Labor: A Normative Perspective." Oxford Journals 17, no. 2: 297309.

Roadmap for the Elimination of Child Labor

Roadmap for the Elimination of Child Labor

Appendices

Figure 1

Figure 2

Roadmap for the Elimination of Child Labor