background preloader

Iqbal

Facebook Twitter

English. Iqbal Masih and Craig Kielburger: children against child labour. Young people have the power to make a difference The single biggest problem we've had is adults who will not take us seriously, who think that because we are young we will oversimplify the issue of child labour and not do our research.

Iqbal Masih and Craig Kielburger: children against child labour

Many of our members are as young as nine or ten years old but we do our research as well as taking action. Child labour is a very complex problem, that's the truth. But that can't be used as an excuse not to take action. Consumer pressure can change things. We're a group of young people who volunteer to give up some of their spare time to work on this issue.

NI: You're only 14 years old, but you've travelled all over the world, you've often been interviewed on TV, you've talked to prime ministers and senators - isn't this difficult for a fourteen year-old? Well, I've met children who work 12 hours a day in agriculture, or sweatshops, or fighting a war. Laura Hannant is a girl aged 12, from Ottawa. Free the Children NI interviewed Craig in 1997. » Child Labour: Five Fascinating Facts and the Legacy of Iqbal Masih Call Me Hannah. A School for Iqbal - A Bullet Can't Kill a Dream. Iqbal Masih - Moral Heroes. In the mid 1990’s, a bright young youth made a global impact on Child Slavery.

Iqbal Masih - Moral Heroes

Iqbal Masih’s life was cut short just shy of 13 years but his powerful and eloquent speeches encouraged thousands of bonded laborers and child slaves to follow his example. He brought awareness and promoted education so that others could stand up for their rights and end the injustice in sweat shops around the world. In 1983, Iqbal Masih was born in the poor community of Maridke outside of Lahore, Pakistan. His family was financially burdened, and his father Saif Masih decided to leave when Iqbal was young. When he was 4 years old, Iqbal’s mother Inayat needed funds to pay for his older brother’s wedding. Iqbal became one of the many child bonded laborers at the carpet factory.

“Children should have pens in their hands not tools” – Iqbal Masih When Iqbal was 10 years old he made up his mind to escape. At the age of 12, Iqbal found away to attend a freedom day celebration held by the Brick Layer Unions. Iqbal Masih. Iqbal Masih (Punjabi, Urdu: اقبال مسیح‎; b. 1983, d. 16 April 1995) was a Pakistani child who became a symbol of abusive child labor in the developing world.

Iqbal Masih

Childhood Iqbal was born in 1983 in Muridke, a very small, rural village outside of Lahore in Pakistan. At age four, he was sold into bondage by his family .[1] Iqbal's family borrowed 600 rupees ($16) from a local employer who owned a carpet weaving business, and in return, Iqbal was required to work as a carpet weaver until the debt was paid off. Every day, he would rise before dawn and make his way along dark country roads to the factory, where he and most of the other children were tightly bound with chains to prevent escape. He would work 14 hours a day, seven days a week, with only a 30-minute break. Escape and activism Death Iqbal was fatally shot in Muridke on April 12, 1995, shortly after returning from a trip to America.

Legacy References External links.