ILO identifies six new areas of intervention: Child labour
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has decided to increase substantially the scope of its International Programme on Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) in Pakistan.
Speaking at a press briefing at the ILO office after conclusion of his three day official visit here on Wednesday, ILO-IPEC's director operations in Geneva, Guy Thijs, said the international agency had identified six new areas of intervention in child labour with the collaboration of the government including rag picking, coal mines, tanneries, deep sea fishing, glass bangles and surgical instruments manufacturing.
To eliminate child labour under the Time Bound Programme (TBP), Mr Thijs said ILO-IPEC was looking forward to an intervention amounting to $20 million till 2008 in collaboration with the government and donors, including the European Commission, United States and Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund.
During his stay in Pakistan, Mr Thijs met the officials in the ministries of labour, women development and the interior. In reply to a question, he said issues related to child trafficking came under discussion during a meeting with the interior ministry officials.
Mr Thijs said the purpose of his visit was to carry out a reality check of the ongoing projects. Talking about the progress of the various programmes, Mr Thijs said ILO-IPEC intervention in collaboration with the stake holders had led to a near elimination of child labour in the soccer ball industry in Sialkot but an occasional instance could still be found.
Mr Thijs said during the past 10 years since he helped initiate the child labour programme in Asia, advocacy of the issue had led to an increasing awareness of the problem in the society.
Asked about figure of child labourers in India and Pakistan, Mr Thijs said the new figures were not available. However, he said according to government surveys carried out in both the countries a few years ago, there were some 11.2 million child labourers in India while in Pakistan the figure stood at 3.3 million.
Mr Thijs said the issue of child domestic labourers was not receiving the attention as helping hands were living a shackled life, hidden in the homes. He said the theme of international child day, "helping hands or shackled life," was also featured to focus on the pain and sufferings of the domestic child labourers
In reply to another question, ILO-IPEC national senior programme manager, Muhammad Saifullah, said ILO-IPEC in collaboration with the government identified 29 hazardous occupations out of which six priority areas of intervention had been selected for implementation of the TBP.
Answering a question, Mr Saifullah said since 1994 when ILO- IPEC launched its programmes in Pakistan, the world organization initiated more than 30 mini programmes, more than 40 core action programmes and six larger projects, which have been implemented or in various stages of implementation.
To a question about the amount of funds spent for elimination of child labour, Mr Saifullah said approximately $22 million were made available to ILO-IPEC interventions since 1994.
He said a rapid assessment on child labourers in Pakistan found an estimated 89,500 to 106500 children working as rag pickers in the four provincial capitals and Islamabad. He said upto 4000 rag-pickers were found working in the federal capital.
