Realising the need for highlighting the issues of child labour and denial of the right of education to children, the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) organised a street theatre performance in front of Karachi Press Club.

The theatre group comprised 18 children from the Child Rights Club, Mithi (Tharparkar). The participants of the group, through profound expression and convincing argument, demonstrated the alarming increase in child labour all over the province, particularly in the carpet looms located in Tharparkar district. The miseries and privations of bonded child labour were poignantly highlighted.

The denouement of the theatrical performance was that the social structure and social values are largely to blame for the pernicious phenomenon. Besides, it highlighted the way bonded child labour increases violence in society.

Akhtar Balouch, the Regional Manager (SPARC, Sindh), also the organiser of the event, said Child labour is an invasive problem throughout the world. However, in developing countries particularly, the state of child rights is deplorable and millions of children are denied their fundamental rights.

He added, It is estimated that 246 million children are engaged in child labour worldwide. Of these, almost three-quarters (171 million) work amid hazardous situations. In Pakistan, according to the UNICEF report 2003, eight million children under the age of 14 are engaged as labourers, while as many as 25 million school-age children are not going to school.