Parents renting children out to gangs: Report
Parents renting children out to gangs: Report
Web posted at: 1/30/2007 0:34:19
Source ::: Internews
KARACHI • Various reports compiled by different child rights organisations in Pakistan suggest that renting children by the parents to gangs is becoming a common practice in the country with Karachi having ample contribution to the menace.
These reports say these gangs use these children for begging by paying specific amount to their parents and taking their share from the child’s earnings.
“This menace is on the rise and the reason might be increasing poverty in the society,” Akhtar Hussain Baloch, regional manager of a private charity, Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc), says. He said that the gangs paid more money for a girl child than boys given the fact that girls attracted more attention of people for alms.
According to him, reports such as this should come as no surprise when everyone is aware of the existence of child beggar rackets.
“This nonetheless exasperates a situation where a child escapes the violent private domain to seek refuge in the sanctum of the public where all is visible, where indiscriminate violations are conducted less hastily for fear of reprise from the law,” he said.
Baloch said that such situations were increasing escapism among the children. They escape from a non-life of begging and abhorrent abuse at the hands of the adults of their society who are meant to protect them, he added.
Referring to such reports, he said as early as four, these children beg and scavenge around rubbish dumps or industrial waste sites and took on menial jobs as cart-pushers or dishwashers working 12-15 hours a day to earn around Rs75 — enough to buy a meal.
A report compiled by the Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) said most children survive by prostituting themselves and stealing, making them vulnerable to contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as HIV/Aids.
“They are also at high risk from health problems such as tuberculosis, jaundice and kidney disorders.”
The report suggests that 83 per cent of street children were sniffing glue between the ages of eight to nineteen. Some 54 per cent left home at age
10-12 while 45 per cent children living on the streets are involved in crimes and 49 per cent are at high risk of HIV/Aids.
Baloch referred to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime assertion that 72 per cent of all street children had no contact with and 10 per cent had no knowledge of their families.
A large proportion of these children sniff cheap readily available glues to starve off hunger, loneliness and fear. He said some 35 laws pertaining to child rights existed in Pakistan but it seemed the authorities were doing a lot but to no avail.
According to him, since independence successive governments had passed and promulgated 27 laws pertaining to child rights while eight laws existed already including the Female Infanticide Prevention Act of 1870.
