A young boy sorting waste on a roadside. A girl working quietly in a home, unseen and uncounted. Children selling, carrying, cleaning, surviving. These are not isolated images. They are the everyday reality for millions of children in Pakistan.
On this World Day Against Child Labour (12 June), we are reminded that behind every statistic is a childhood interrupted.
Recent estimates indicate that 8.6 million children aged 5–17 are engaged in child labour in Pakistan, with the vast majority in rural areas. At the same time, over 25 million children remain out of school, creating a direct pipeline into labour.
These numbers are not just alarming; they are interconnected. When a child is out of school, the likelihood of entering labour increases. When a child works, the chance of returning to education diminishes.
Child labour in Pakistan spans across sectors:
Many of these are not just forms of work, they are hazardous, exploitative, and invisible.
Child labour is often misunderstood as a standalone issue. It is not.
It is the outcome of a deeper structural equation:
Poverty + exclusion from education + weak social protection = child labour
For many families, sending a child to work is not a choice, it is survival. Rising poverty, inflation, and limited livelihood opportunities push households to prioritize immediate income over long-term education.
This is why interventions such as education stipends, school feeding programmes, and social protection schemes are critical. When these supports weaken, children are the first to be pulled out of classrooms and into work.
The video from POCAR Project by Islamic Relief Pakistan highlights the lives of “invisible” children, those surviving on the streets. But invisibility extends far beyond that:
These children often fall outside formal systems of protection. Their invisibility is not accidental, it is systemic. Child labour is not simply an economic issue. It is a fundamental violation of children’s rights.
It denies them:
Globally, despite progress, millions of children remain in labour, and the world has already missed its 2025 elimination target.
Pakistan now stands at a critical juncture: continue incremental efforts, or accelerate systemic change.
What Needs to Change
Addressing child labour requires more than isolated interventions. It demands a whole-of-system response:
A Call to Action
World Day Against Child Labour reminds us that progress is possible, but not inevitable.
The question is not whether we can end child labour.
The question is whether we are willing to address its root causes with urgency and commitment.
Because every child working today represents:
These children are not invisible.
We have simply not looked closely enough.