700,000 children among 1.7m bonded labourers working in Sindh's farm sector.

KARACHI -- More than 6.4 million children are out of school in Sindh, most of them engaged in the worst forms of indecent child labour, depriving them of their right to health, education, protection and development.

This information was shared by the Hari Welfare Association (HWA) on the occasion of World Day Against Child Labour on Sunday.

According to HWA's estimates, of 1.7m bonded labourers in Sindh, 700,000 are children, working under indecent and inhumane working and living conditions imposed on them by their landlords in the agriculture sector.

According to the data collected by the HWA, from 2013 to 2021, on the orders of courts in Sindh, 3,329 children, including a few-week-old minors, were released along with their adult family members from the custody of landlords in the agriculture sector.

'Besides the agriculture sector, children under 15 years of age are exploited, abused, and tortured in bangle, brick kiln, fisheries, auto workshops, cotton picking, and chilli picking sectors/activities in the province,' informed HWA's president Akram Khaskheli.

He said that labour inspectors, social welfare officers, and child protection officers had completely ignored the future of these children and do not reach them or rescue them.

He added that most...