Exploitation Definition

exploitation :

 refers to social relations where an "actor or character of actors uses others for their own end because of a fundamentally asymmetric power relationship between them".^[1] When speaking about exploitation there is a direct affiliation with consumption in social theory Traditionally, this would label exploitation as unfairly taking advantage of another person because of his or her inferior position, giving the exploiter the power.exploitation is a key word in the English language because it is tightly bound up with the problems to which it refers; and on the other, it is an exemplar of what Williams calls “transfer”—that is, how new kinds of relationships and new ways of seeing relationships appear in languages, in this case by transferring a word from one semantic usage or historical context to another.

There are three broad senses in which exploitation is currently deployed:

•  as a modern form of industrial or commercial land use (or mineral extraction) :

derived probably from its Latin root meaning an “arrangement” or “explanation.” This particular use came into English in the nineteenth century, often in regard to the commercial exploitation of the colonies, building upon the fourteenth– and fifteenth–century meanings of exploit as “successful progress”or “taking advantage.” The meaning of exploitation as making use of resource opportunities for social advancement—the exploration of oil resources in Nigeria, for example—remains commonplace.

• a generic sense of injustice or oppression:

 referring to a potentially wide range of social relations across time and space (e.g., exploitation of men by women, workers by capitalists, slaves by slave owners, low castes by high castes, serfs by feudal overlords). The range of opinion as to what constitutes exploitation is substantial, ranging from the instrumental treatment of humans.The analytical content is of less concern than its moral standing and the moral force of the reasoning (i.e., whether and how the state should prohibit exploitative transactions or refuse to enforce such agreements).

•  which is the focus of this entry:

is explicitly analytical in the sense that it purports to provide a theoretical and conceptual ground on which the claim— A exploits B when A takes unfair advantage of B—can be assessed exploitation 

Marxist exploitation theory:

Marx's exploitation theory is one of the major elements analyzed in Marxian economics and some social theorists consider it to be a cornerstone in Marxist thought. Marx credited the  Scottish Enlightenment writers for originally propounding a materialist interpretation of history.

1. In his Critique of the Gotha Program Marx set principles that were to govern the distribution of welfare under socialism and communism; these principles saw distribution to each person according to their work and needs. Exploitation is when these two principles are not met, when the agents are not receiving according to their work or needs. This process of exploitation is a part of the redistribution of labor, occurring during the process of separate agents exchanging their current productive labor for social labor set in goods received.The exploiters are the agents able to command goods, with revenue from their wages, that are embodied with more labor than the exploiters themselves have put forth. These agents often have class status and ownership of productive assets that aid the optimization of exploitation. the exploited are those who receive less than the average product he or she produces. If workers receive an amount equivalent to their average product, there is no revenue left over. Thus, these workers cannot enjoy the fruits of their own labors and the difference between what is made and what that can purchase cannot be justified by redistribution according to need.

What is Child Labor?

The term “child labor” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.

It refers to work that:

• is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children
• obliging them to leave school prematurely
• depriving them of the opportunity to attend school
• requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

In its most extreme forms, child labor involves children being enslaved, separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses and/or left to fend for themselves on the streets of large cities often at a very early age. Whether or not particular forms of “work” can be called “child labor” depends on the child’s age, the type and hours of work performed, the conditions under which it is performed and the objectives pursued by individual countries. The answer varies from country to country, as well as among sectors within countries. 

The 10 worst countries for child labor:

A new report by risk analysis  which ranks 197 countries, identifies Eritrea, Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Yemen as the 10 places where child labor is most prevalent.

Countries with high poverty rates fare badly in the index due to the need for children to supplement their family income, the report said, but economically important countries like China, India, Russia and Brazil were also found to have extreme risks because child labor laws are often poorly enforced

pakistan:

Pakistan is still among the top ten countries with the child labor issues, as the world observes International Day Against Child Labor on Wednesday (today).

Although the country has had Child Protection Departments and Bureaus since 2004, the departments have had little luck in containing the rapid growth of the menace of child labor.

Where poverty and inflation have played a lethal role in the seemingly uncontrollable increase in Child Labor in Pakistan, there have been other factors that have contributed exponentially to this problem.

The 2005 earthquake, which hit parts of northern Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, pushed millions of families to the wall of economic extinction and their children were left with no choice but to earn their bread and butter themselves. According to United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), out of the 20 million people affected by floods in Pakistan, 10 million are children, 2.8 million of them aged under five.

These factors added hundreds of thousands if not millions of children to the child labor pool. The government departments, however, were not capacitance to deal with the gravity of the situation and the government itself could not foresee this issue being developed as it was too busy working for the damage control, relocation and rehabilitation of the affected.

About 58.6% of children are involved in agriculture, 32.30% in industry and the remaining 7.20% in other services

• The agriculture sector comprises activities in agriculture, hunting forestry, and fishing.
• The industry sector includes mining and quarrying, manufacturing, construction, and public utilities (electricity, gas and water).
• The services sector consists of wholesale and retail trade; restaurants and hotels; transport, storage, and communications; finance, insurance, real-estate, and business services; and community as well as social personal services.

 The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimated in the 1990 s, 11 million children were working in the country, half of which were under the age of ten. In 1996, the median age for a child entering the work force was seven, down from eight years old in 1994. It was estimated that one quarter of the country’s work force was made up of children. In a city of Pakistan, Hyderabad children enter work force at the age of 4 or 5 years old making bangles and bracelets. They make around 12 sets (per set containing 65 bangles) and only receive Rs.40 which takes around 2 to 3 days. This is not just a situation of Hyderabad but all other parts of Pakistan.

labors market issues in Pakistan :

1. unemployment :

In one of the most alarming pieces of macroeconomic data released by the government, the unemployment rate has risen to 8.3% during fiscal 2015, the highest level in 13 years. The unemployment rate has risen for each of the Nawaz Administration’s two years in office, and the number of unemployed people is now 1.5 million higher than when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was sworn into office in 2013.

The last time the unemployment rate was this high was in fiscal 2002, when it stood at 8.3%, during the early years of the Musharraf Administration. During the entirety of the Zardari Administration, the unemployment rate rose by only 1%, rising from 5.2% in 2008 to 6.2% in 2013. By contrast, the rate has already risen by more than twice that much in the first two years of the Nawaz Administration.

A major reason behind growing unemployment in the country is the fact that the pace of economic growth is not sufficient to create more jobs.The ranks of the unemployed are expected to rise by another 400,000 people in fiscal 2016, taking the additional number of unemployed people during the Nawaz Administration to 1.9 million. The unemployment rate is expected to jump up to 8.6%, a number that could be even higher if the government’s target growth rate of 5.5% for fiscal 2016 is missed.

At the end of fiscal 2014, which was first year of the PML-N government, the unemployment rate jumped to 7.3%, as 800,000 more people joined the ranks of the unemployed due to a slow economic growth rate of only 4%. The pool of unemployed people increased to 4.6 million by June 2014. 

 In the current fiscal year, another 700,000 people were added to the unemployed population and the unemployment rate stood at 8.3%, according to Planning Ministry estimates.  The pool of unemployed people has grown to 5.3 million people, as the government again missed its economic growth rate target of 5.1%.

According to various independent and official studies, Pakistan needs annual growth rate of at least 7% to create enough jobs to absorb new entrants into the labor market.

Pakistan Labor	Last	Previous	Highest	Lowest	Unit
Unemployment Rate	6.00	6.00	7.80	3.10	percent
Employed Persons	56520.00	56010.00	56520.00	26961.00	Thousand
Unemployed Persons	3580.00	3730.00	3730.00	903.00	Thousand
Population	188.20	184.35	188.20	45.85	Million

Causes of Unemployment in Pakistan: 

• Growth of Population:

One of the major problems regarding unemployment in Pakistan is uncontrolled growth of population. The population of Pakistan is increasing at very high rate this time. According to the statistical, the population of Pakistan is increasing at the rate of 2.2%. There are plenty of factors responsible for over population such as early marriages, illiteracy, desires for sons, lack of awareness etc. As we all know that the education system of Pakistan is not up to the mark therefore increasing in population means bring more uneducated person into the field of labor. Government or any other company cannot provide jobs or work places to this huge amount of uneducated people. It has been noticed that growth of population is relatively common ruler areas.  Most of people residing in villages are uneducated therefore they are lacking from problems due to over population. 

• Poor Education System:

The education system in Pakistan has been really poor since the creation of Pakistan. Unfortunately any government since independence didn’t take especial steps to make the education system batter. Education system in Pakistan is unbalanced. It has been seen even talented students left study due to injustice of system. You will observe many technical educational colleges and private technical institutions are being found which are only selling degrees because technical education which is being given in these institutions has no value, therefore people are wondering about for jobs due to lack of experience and  skills

• high age of retirement: 

The age of retirement in Pakistan is 60 years and it is really high age of retirement and the government of Pakistan is directly responsible for this factor. There are various educated people are in wait of jobs but high age of retirement is making young ones frustrated.

• afghans refugees:

Afghans refugee to Pakistan is the additional problem of unemployment in Pakistan.  When American army attacked on Afghanistan in 2001 about 13 years ago and due to this plenty of Afghans migrated to Pakistan for making them save till the betterment situation of their country but the situation in Afghanistan is still critical. The migrated people caused labour markets as they are ready to work for fewer wages.

Solution of Unemployment in Pakistan:

It will be tough ask for government to solve one of the major problems of Pakistan “Unemployment” due to huge population but still we have given some solutions to reduce the unemployment in Pakistan and we are hopeful by following these solutions the ratio of unemployment in Pakistan can be reduced or decreased.

1. The first thing to do to reduce unemployment in Pakistan is the proper planning by the government of Pakistan.
2. The education system of Pakistan should be equal and well managed. 
3. Well recognized training and technical institutions are need to be established where skills programs are offered.
4. The age of retirement should be at least 55 years.
5. There should be peace across the country so foreigners will not hesitate to invest in Pakistan.
6. Jobs should be given purely on merits.
7. Encourage multinational companies to business in Pakistan.
8. Family planning centers should be opened to control the flow of over population.

2. bonded and forced labor in Pakistan : 

Bonded labor, also known as debt bondage, is probably one of the least known forms of slavery today but responsible for enslaving millions of people around the world.  A laborer becomes bonded when his or her labor is demanded in repayment for a loan. This advance is known as `peshgi’ in Pakistan. The person is then tricked or trapped into working for very little or no pay, often for seven days a week. The value of their work is invariably greater than the original sum borrowed. A child is considered bonded labor when he/she inherits debt; when the child is used as collateral for a loan; and when the child takes an advance on expected future wages.

The bonded laborer essentially forfeits his/her right to employment, right to move freely, and right to appropriate and sell his or a family members’ property or product of his labor at market value. These are a range of violations of internationally recognized human rights and further include the right not to be held in slavery, the right not to be imprisoned arbitrarily and the right to freedom of association as in trade unions.

Additionally, bonded laborers are routinely threatened and subjected to all kinds of physical abuse by employers. Threats and violence, both by the employer and the local police are used to coerce and discourage the bonded laborer from attempting legal redress or physical escape.

Bonded laborers suffer a range of violations of internationally recognized human rights including: 

• the right not to be held in slavery or servitude
• the right not to be imprisoned merely on the ground of inability to fulfill a contractual obligation 
• the right not to be arbitrarily arrested 
• the right to liberty of movement 
• the right to freedom of association, including the right to form and join trade unions. 

Prevalence of Bonded Labor in Pakistan:

Bonded labor is a form of slavery prevalent in Pakistan in various sectors of the economy, most notably agriculture but also brick kilns, carpet weaving, fisheries, mining and probably others. Geographically speaking, the most widespread bonded labor is found in the southern portions of Sindh Province and Punjab Province, nevertheless, anecdotal evidence suggests that bonded labor exists in all four provinces of Pakistan.

Unfortunately, there are currently no reliable statistics on the number of bonded laborers in Pakistan. Indeed, the difficulty involved in obtaining accurate numbers gives some indication of the magnitude of the problem. Brick kilns, which are located on the outskirts of most major cities and towns in Pakistan, operate almost exclusively on the basis of debt-bondage. The ILO estimates that there are over one million men, women and children employed as bonded laborers in brick kilns. The same study estimated that over 1.8 million sharecroppers (agricultural workers) are bonded to landlords in Pakistan

Where is Bonded Labor mainly found?

Under the auspices of an ILO project PEBLISA-PEBLIP: Promoting the Elimination of Bonded Labor in South Asia and Pakistan, the Ministry of Labor coordinated with the ILO in 2004 to produce a series of rapid assessment surveys in ten economic sectors including agriculture, hazardous industry, carpets, mining, brick kilns, and domestic work and begging. Although the rapid assessments were unable to numerically assess the magnitude of the problem, the surveys provide a general picture of the relevant issues at work in each sector, and where further research is required. Issues raised in this overview and its recommendations can be used to develop workshop training themes for specific target audiences.

Debt Bondage in Agriculture :

The chronic and growing debt (mainly because of chronic deficits in household budgets) that the tenant or worker incurs while working in the agriculture sector is the main reason for bondage. The lack of alternative employment opportunities in rural areas is also an important cause, where more and more small and marginal farmers are becoming agricultural laborers. The growing population is an obvious reason, but so is the lack of administrative and economic management ensuring minimum wages for the agricultural workers. 

Bonded labor was found to be most prevalent among agricultural sharecroppers in parts of Sindh and Punjab. In Punjab, a permanent group of workers, called `series’ and mainly from non-Muslim castes, were found to be particularly at risk. This was also largely because their homes were located on employer land and the threat of eviction was a powerful coercion tool. Detailed surveys are recommended for these areas and in Southern Punjab, where tenants are also exploited through bad maintenance of accounts and delayed clearance.

In Sindh bonded labor was found to be a serious problem in certain districts: Mirpurkhas (including Umerkot), Sanghar and Badin. The survey suggests that the key problem is that of rural landlessness and poverty and that a reassessment of land reform and the enforcement of tenancy regulations as prerequisites for improving the tenants’ lot. An immediate measure has been singled out as improved access to credit and alternative sources. Improvements are also essential in all provinces in record-keeping and third party vigilance over these. In view of illiteracy levels among the laborers, the report suggests that Vigilance Committees at the district level could be used. Resettlement approaches have been used primarily by HRCP and some NGOs in Sindh to help laborers escape the bondage trap. More attention needs to be given to the long term success of this if the laborers are not to fall back into the debt trap with ineffective social and work rehabilitation and assurances.

Bonded Labor in Brick Making :

There is a high prevalence of indebtedness in the brick making industries since virtually all unskilled and semi-skilled laborers get advances from kiln owners `jamadars.’ These debts are particularly high and essentially un repayable for low status migrant workers, the `patheras’ who prepare the clay and unbaked bricks. These workers, including women and children are paid piece rates well below legislated rates of pay for the sector, and because they are internal migrants and do not enjoy the support of extended families and communities and are therefore especially vulnerable to exploitation. Suggested remedies include increasing income for the worker to reduce the need for loans, and/or some adherence to a minimum piece rate which would require registration of workers as well as significant monitoring.

Bonded Child Labor (BCL) :

The children start working alongside their parents at a young age, between 6 and 8. They work long hours, starting at dawn during the hot season and working until late in the afternoon with a short break during the day. There is typically no shade in the working grounds and they are exposed to the scorching sun in the summer and suffer severe cold in the winter. They work barefoot and continuously inhale fine dust from the clay and noxious gases from the coal burning kilns. What makes the situation of the majority of the children of brick-kilns laborers especially untenable, however, are the particular circumstances arising from the indebtedness system under which they and their families live and work. The children cannot wait indefinitely for new laws and the social climate to make a difference in their life. Efforts to break their isolation, to integrate them in the surrounding schools, and accelerated programs of education must start immediately.

Child labor in the carpet industry has been estimated by various organizations and studies to amount to 1.2 million children in Pakistan. In fact over 80% of carpet weavers in the country are estimated to be children below the age of 15 years. The low cost of Pakistani carpets internationally requires maintaining low labor costs domestically which results in bonded and child labor. While legislation prohibits the use of child labor in the formal industry, middlemen have advanced money to families to set up home based weaving units, or carpet weaving centers are encouraged to break up into smaller units employing less than 10 workers who are outside the purview of the law, or units are moved to rural settings, remote from government vigilance. Indebted rural families keep children in forced labour conditions for years. They sit in cramped positions for long periods of time deforming their spines, they inhale wool dust affecting their lungs, and they work in poor light destroying their eyesight, and contact with chemicals and dyes damage their fingers. Those working outside their families are psychologically, physically and sexually abused. They are often threatened by violence for disobedience and punished for failing to make deadlines on deliveries or making mistakes in orders.

conclusion :

More than 40 child rights activists from across the country gathered in Islamabad to review the state of child rights in Pakistan and plan that how will they respond together as Child Rights Movement (CRM) Pakistan to improve the situation. CRM Pakistan is a coalition of more than 100 civil society organizations working for the promotion and protection of child rights across Pakistan having its national and AJ&K, Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtun khwa (KP), Punjab and Sindhi chapters.

The CRM Pakistan planned policy advocacy initiative focusing on child rights at the federal and provincial levels and called upon the federal and provincial governments to take serious and committed steps to improve the deteriorating state of child rights in Pakistan.

The CRM meeting noted with concern that a number of children related legislation are pending at the provincial level and urged the provincial governments to enact the Baluchistan Child Protection and Welfare Bill, the Punjab Commission on the Rights of the Child Bill, the Right to Free and Compulsory Educations Bills in Baluchistan, KP and Punjab and the Prohibition of the Employment Children Bills in the all the four provinces. It was also decided that advocacy campaigns will be launched at the federal and provincial levels using various means to put pressure on the parliament for the enactment of all pending bills.

The CRM Pakistan also called upon the Government of Sindhi and KP to notify rules of the Sindhi Child Protection Authority Act 2011, the KP Child Protection and Welfare Act 2010 and the KP Borstal Institutions Act 2012 and make proper budgetary allocation for the effective implementation of these laws. 

The CRM also decided to get involved in debate related to Pakistan’s achievement of the MDGs and the post 2015 agenda for sustainable development. The coalition has planned to develop a Child Protection Monitoring Mechanism and regularly generate research reports and quarterly or bi-annual situation reports /newsletters and factsheets etc. It was also decided that meaningful child participation in CRM’s advocacy initiatives will be ensured.

The Child Rights Movement called upon the federal government to ratify the Optional Protocols to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and Communications Procedure for Children and decided to launch a campaign in this regard.

: