A 12 year old at a brick kiln
Picture a boy of 12 carrying bricks at a kiln in Punjab. Or a girl of 10 washing dishes in a house in Karachi. This is not a rare scene in Pakistan. It happens every day. The law says it should not. But a law only works when someone uses it. This post tells you what the law actually says, where it falls short, and what you can do.
What the Constitution says
Article 11 of the Constitution of Pakistan is the top layer. Clause 2 bans all forms of forced labour. Clause 3 is specific. No child below the age of 14 shall be engaged in any factory, mine or any other hazardous employment. This sits in the fundamental rights part of the Constitution. So it beats any ordinary law that goes against it. You can read the full text of Article 11 on pakistani.org.
The main law: Employment of Children Act 1991
The Employment of Children Act 1991 is the main federal law on this. It sets the minimum working age at 14. Below 14, a child cannot work in the occupations and processes listed in the Schedule of the Act. The list has 4 occupations and 34 processes.
What is on the list? Carpet weaving. Brick kilns. Construction. Stone crushing. Deep sea fishing. Work at railway stations and ports. Mixing and applying pesticides. Scavenging and hospital waste. Boiler houses. The glass bangle industry. Cement, explosives, and work with toxic substances. Transport of passengers or goods. These are the jobs that wreck a child's body and stop their schooling.
Employing a child under 14 in a listed job is a crime. Under section 14 of the Act, the punishment is imprisonment up to one year, or a fine up to 20,000 rupees, or both. The Act also sets hours. A child cannot work between 7 pm and 8 am, and no overtime. The full text is on nasirlawsite.com.
The Factories Act 1934
Factories have their own rule. Section 50 of the Factories Act 1934 says no child who has not completed 14 years may work in any factory. So a factory owner who hires a 13 year old breaks two laws at once. The rule is explained in the WageIndicator guide to minors and youth in Pakistan.
After the 18th Amendment, the provinces took over
Labour became a provincial subject after the 18th Amendment in 2010. Each province now has its own law. Punjab has the Punjab Restriction on Employment of Children Act 2016. It also has a separate law against child labour at brick kilns. Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have their own versions.
The provincial laws go further in some places. Night work and overtime are banned for children in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Bonded labour is a separate crime
Some children work because their family owes a debt. That is bonded labour, and it has its own law. The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992 abolished the system. It says no one has to work off a debt. The punishment for keeping bonded labourers is imprisonment of 2 to 5 years, or a fine of 50,000 rupees, or both. Every district has a vigilance committee to watch over this.
Where the law falls short
Here is the honest part. The laws exist. The enforcement is weak. Inspections are rare. Most child labour happens in homes, small workshops and on farms, and inspectors rarely reach there. So most working children never see an inspector at all.
There is also a loophole. The 1991 Act lets a child work as a member of the family in a process that is not on the hazardous list. Many employers use that to argue the work is fine. And domestic work, where thousands of girls work, only got added to the hazardous list in recent years, after international pressure.
What the international side adds
Pakistan has ratified two ILO conventions on this. Convention 138 sets the minimum working age. Pakistan fixed it at 14 and ratified it on 6 July 2006. Convention 182 covers the worst forms of child labour, and Pakistan ratified it in 2001. Worst forms include bonded work, trafficking and work that harms a child's health or safety. The ratifications are listed on the ILO NORMLEX page for Pakistan.
The US Department of Labor has also tracked this area for years, and its reports pushed Pakistan to add child domestic labour to the hazardous list.
What you can do if you see it
You do not need to be a lawyer to act. If you know a child is working in a hazardous job, report it to the labour department of your province. For bonded labour, complain to the district vigilance committee or the police. You can also go the criminal route. A complaint can lead to an FIR, and the police must register one. Read how to check your FIR online in Pakistan so you can track what happens next.
Keep proof. Note the place, the dates and the child's age if you can. A written complaint with details gets a better response than a phone call. And if you want the full picture of what counts as child labour and what the numbers look like, our guide to child labour law in Pakistan covers it in depth.
What it means for you
The law in Pakistan has the right words on paper. The gap is in enforcement. That does not make the law useless. It makes it a tool that needs someone to pick it up. When people report, the law starts moving. That is the real way to stop child labour in Pakistan. One complaint at a time.
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