Drug addiction is increasing among children. Child labourers and runaway kids in streets are becoming addict to glue in the urban sprawls of Pakistan, reports UZMA ALEEM
During the mid night hours in a run-down part of downtown Lahore, Muddassar and some boys squat in a dirty alley, getting high on glue. Breathing in fumes from glue-soaked rags and glue-filled plastic bags is a daily ritual for these boys who live rough on the streets of Pakistan’s second largest city.
“The fumes burn the eyes and leave the body dry. It kills your appetite. But after being kicked and treated like a dog it gives you peace,” said Muddassar, who is not an exceptional case as this story as in every major city of Pakistan many kids are seen living on roads and streets.
They can be seen near the garbage cans looking for cigarettes butts to smoke, food to eat, sitting under the broken bridges to get protection from the sun or on the brinks of the gutters, in the ruins, under the trees of graveyards and in the verandas of bus stops. Moreover, they can be seen on almost every major road, every busy traffic junction — begging, washing cars, selling flowers, roaming idly, being chased and harassed by policemen and bullied by petty criminals and thugs. These are the children of the street.
“The term “street children” was introduced in 1980s to refer to the children who live or spend a significant amount of time in the streets of urban areas to fend for themselves or their families through various occupations. This also denotes children who are inadequately protected, supervised or cared for by responsible adults,” a sociologist Sara Hammad explained.
Most of them are between seven to 15 years old while some of them are barely six or seven-year-old. They earn, eat, sleep, and live on the streets. The traffic choked roads are their playgrounds and footpaths their homes. The world is giving lessons to them about life, relationships and the society in the hardest possible way.
In fact the plight and suffering of the street children of Pakistan is hardly news now. Tragic stories float around unnoticed in every major city — be it Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar or Rawalpindi-Islamabad.
Though there is no reliable data available about the exact number of these children who live on the streets. The number of this population is increasing as homeless children’s ranks continue to swell. Save the Children, a non governmental organisation, has estimated that over 50,000 children live on the streets of Pakistan. In Karachi alone, the number of street children is estimated to be around 25,000 while, in Lahore more than 5,000 children live on streets.
“It is pertinent to note that these street children do not include the ones involved in manual labour with the consent of their parents. The children who are into labour under the supervision of parents are certainly better off. At least they are more protected. But those who live on the streets are among the lowest of the low and the most vulnerable to drugs abuse”, Hammad elucidated.
Some limited surveys and interviews conducted by various non-government organisations and by scribe herself show that an alarming 90 to 95 per cent of the street children are drug addicts. The most popular and affordable of the drug is a type of glue — used mostly in home repair and maintenance — which these children inhale by putting it on a piece of cloth.
Iqbal Dethu, National Manager Child rights in SPARC, said that the menace of drugs was increasing rapidly among the youth especially street children of all the major cities of Pakistan. The number of young drug addicts was highest in Karachi, while Lahore and Peshawar were followed by Quetta respectively.
“The cost of glue tin is Rs 50. It easier to get than illegal drugs in Karachi, Quetta, Lahore and Peshawar. According to a research, 90 percent of street children are involved in glue sniffing or in some other solvent abuse. If more is not done soon, Pakistan is heading for a grave crisis on the scale of other countries like Morocco and Brazil,” said Iqbal Dethu.
A vast majority of the children who end up on the roads are driven away from their homes because of domestic violence, corporal punishment, abuse, and poverty. They are usually members of divided or single-parent families. In some cases, simply bad company, the desire of unrestricted freedom, and the pull of the hustle and bustle of cities, prompt them to leave homes in rural areas and low-income localities of our cities, especially from southern Punjab and parts of North West Frontier Province.
It has been reported in a research report of an NGO Sahil that 56 percent of street children run away from their homes due to domestic violence, 22 percent because of hostile behaviour of their parents and 12 percent due to their parents’ drug addiction.
Some of the street children did not do any work. When asked that how they met their expenses? They told “Through begging we get money and food”. Others were doing small jobs like polishing shoes, washing cars, cleaning restaurants, selling cheap commodity items like artificial jewellery, toys and eyewear. Many of these kids are involved in pick pocketing and mobile phone snatching.
According to a report of Sahil, 53 percent were earning less than Rs.50 a day and 26 percent were getting less than Rs.100 a day. Actually lack of income in the home pushed these children on the streets. Statistics recorded during a research showed that the household income of these street children remained Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 4,000, which pushed them to leave home.
The household incomes gave a glimpse of their socio-economic status, and were cited as a major reason for their being on the streets. There were 61 children (34 percent) who belonged to families where there was no bread winner at all. Either the father was dead or an addicted doing nothing to support a large family consisting of 8 to 10 family members. In some of these cases, mothers were earning meagre amounts by doing house hold chores for others, providing domestic services, begging or living on alms. 11 percent children were from households with monthly incomes below Rs.2000, and 19 percent children belonged to the families where father’s monthly income was less the Rs.3,000. The fact that there were 18 percent children who came from households whose income was in the Rs. 4,000 category leads to the next concern of whether there is addiction in the family which has influenced the child.
Statistics show 80 percent of the children had a family history of addiction. Mostly fathers and elder brothers were using drugs like hashish, heroine and cocaine. Few children said that their mothers were smoking, drinking and using other drugs such as heroine.
All the children knew the harmful and serious effects of drug abuse. So there are great chances that someone introduces street children. When S+ probed about it and asked from some of the street children, they replied that they indulged in drugs due to the influence of their friends and peers.
Moreover talking about the increasing usage of drugs among youths Iqbal Dethu, national manager child rights SPARC said that most of the street children were introduced to drugs by the drug sellers. Although most of the family members may not have given the children access to drugs, it is evident that the environment was conducive to the availability of drugs.
Khadija Najmi, clinical child psychologist of Children Hospital Lahore, said that street children used some unbelievable chemical based solvents like glue, pilla and petrol along cigarettes, herion, naswar, alcohol, drug coated supari, and opium drink. “Some children use more than one drug. The most used drugs are also the most easily available and inexpensive. Since alcohol is a ‘prohibited’ item it is not consumed in large quantities. Pilla is a term used for any new combination of these drugs,” she elucidated.
There is an immediate need to control this growing menace among children. Though some non-governmental organisations are working at limited scale to highlight this grave issue yet serious structural changes at government level are required to combat this menace. Federal law does not deal exclusively and separately with street and neglected children.
While explaining the constitutional provisions regarding street children in Pakistan Rashid Aziz, legal advisor of Society for the Protection of rights of children said that there was no provision in the constitution of Pakistan regarding street children or destitute kids. Though the provincial laws of Punjab and Sindh provided protection to street children and destitute youth yet on partial basis, as Punjab destitute and neglected children Act 2004 and Sindh Children Act 1955 could be practically implemented to protect street children. “The emphasis of provincial law of Punjab remains on beggars and their rehabilitation while the major chunk of destitute remained unaddressed. There is need to broaden the horizon of this Act and proper implementation of law to secure the future of ours, indeed children,” Aziz was of the view.
Poor human development, especially among women and children, because of poverty, social disparities, has pushed back Pakistan in Human Development Index (HDI) rating as Pakistan ranks 136 out of 177 countries with an HDI of 0.551.
Moreover increase in population of drug addicts especially children addicts is also a contributing factor in low HDI ranking. In Pakistan, population of drugs addicts is 3 million and 1.8 million out of them are children (under 18 years). Easy availability of drugs in down turn areas of Lahore and other cities, cheap narcotics substance, high number of immigrants or refugees are the pushing factors for drugs addiction among children.
National Child Protection Policy was prepared in consultation with stakeholders and submitted to the Cabinet for approval. The approval was expected next month after which the Bills would be presented before the Parliament. Proposed national child protection policy sent to the cabinet then it was reversed for some revision without outlining the objection. “Now hoping that within few days it would again go to the cabinet then to the floor of parliament. Because Child Protection Bill would be a ray of hope for many children including these drugs addicted street children and it would eventually brighten our future. By promulgating the Child Protection (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, a child friendly and protective environment will be created. The perpetrators will be brought to justice under various sections inserted in the Pakistan Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure,” Aziz told.
Iqbal Dethu told S+ Child Protection Bill would provide justice to street children as these children were not only vulnerable rather they were used as narco-drug mules (transporting agents to supply drugs). “When these children caught by police selling narcotics substance, police file the case in court under Articles 12 & 13 r/w Control of Narcotic Substances Act (XXV of 1997) as section 9 C of the said Act prohibits the transportation and use of drugs. Then trails and environment of jail instead of rehabilitating them worsen their lives and make them criminals. So we need proper implementation of juvenile justice system in Pakistan. Along laws, structural and organizational changes are also need of the hour. Government should evolve a separate ministry for children, as 48.3 percent population of Pakistan is of children (people under 18 years), to address the issues of youth for the betterment of country’s future,” said Dethu.
Young people may see drug use as a solution to their problems, rather then as a problem in itself. Even though using drugs may lead to serious problems, many children and youth still use drugs because it either adds something to their lives or helps them to feel that they have solved their problems however fleeting this feeling might be. It is evident that children on the streets have major problems within their families. Drug addiction, lack of education, and poverty are significant factors common to all the street children.
Health, food, and lack of shelter, lack of resources, harmful effects of drugs, rejection from the family and poverty all contribute to the existence of these children on the streets.
These problems can and must be solved. Firstly, it is necessary to address and eradicate the causes of these problems. There is a need to provide a range of support services including laws and infrastructure which will protect children.
Raising awareness on this issue is imperative for changing attitudes in the society. Of course, this is not an over night possibility. A continuous effort has to be made to ensure that the communities at large are fully cognizant of this menace and crime against children.
There must be consistent political will and commitment to the welfare of children to achieve these goals. The idea of separate ministry for child welfare can be implemented.
The most important step is to help the children in their present situations. A safe shelter is required to provide them the haven that is needed for a happy and healthy outlook on life.
The provision for education and the learning of a vocational skill must de provided to ensure that their lives are in their control.
There is a dire need to develop some strategies to prevent children from suffering, from drug abuse and often untimely deaths. Government should take immediate actions for their rehabilitation by establishing support systems. Drop in centres with all health facilities should be available for them. Educational and vocational amenities should be provided to them. Civil society and the families of these children should be involved in the remedial process for the children.
This investigative feature was published on April 18, 2010 in S+ of Daily The Nation.
