ISLAMABAD, Nov 4: Root causes of bonded child labour are ignorance, illiteracy and liberal use of cheap labour in production processes, Director-General of the Federal Judicial Academy Chaudhry Hasan Nawaz said here on Thursday.

He said this while opening a 'sensitization workshop on bonded labour' for judicial officers.

The situation aggravates because of anti-people development paradigms, environmental degradation, lack of political will for effective social change, inadequate legislative framework, lack of meaningful and quality education, inadequate living wages, absence of child-oriented family, social values and the prevalence of education systems that perpetuate social inequalities and injustices, he said.

Judicial officers from across the country are attending the seminar which is being organized in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Ministry of Labour here at the Federal Judicial Academy.

He said the government was going to maintain a proactive approach to the issue of forced or bonded labour in the country and was implacably committed to its total eradication in the shortest possible time.

He insisted upon more changes in the institutional mechanism, procedure of implementation and amendment to the laws as to achieve the desired results of making 'Pakistan bonded labour-free country'.

Gagan Raj Bhandari, officiating ILO director, Islamabad, said the ILO was a specialized UN agency which sought to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equality, security and human dignity.

"Globally ILO works on four strategic objectives covering labour standards and rights, employment, social protection and social dialogue," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Foreign Ministry Director Dr Syrus Qazi said bonded labour violated human dignity.

It hinders holistic development and healthy competition in society and fuels poverty, violence, adult unemployment, illiteracy, population growth, ill health and socio-economic inequalities.

Bonded labour system is a modern form of slavery which combines feudal values, traditions and practices with contemporary exploitative labour relations. Almost all South Asian societies bear the brunt of this, one way or the other. However, it is more prevalent in a few South Asian countries.

"Solution to the problem lies in effective implementation of the laws of the land and the international conventions coupled with adequate political will," he said.