KARACHI, Feb 24: A humanist and pragmatic approach was suggested towards the elimination of child labour in the country, as though a manifestation of poverty it further aggravated unemployment among the adult population.
Speakers at a workshop on "Activating Media in Combating Child Labour" , jointly organized by ILO sponsored International Program on Elimination of Child Labour and Pakistan Ministry of Information and Broadcasting here on Thursday, called for a multi-dimensional approach to address the issue.
The speakers seeking strong will to end the plight and vulnerability of a significant number of kids who were also denied of their childhood suggested elimination of the rural feudal system as well as urban mafias - playing havoc with masses in general and women and kids in particular.
We need to hit the root causes of child labour ranging from feudal structure to urban mafia and over all levels of poverty," senior journalist, Sajid Mir observed. He said proper reporting on this issue could only be possible through appropriate understanding of its social perspective.
Mr Mir maintained that the post moderation phenomenon gaining roots across the globe was supportive of statuesque and protective of capitalist interests with little consideration towards major issues threatening the fabric of social well being in the third world.
An ILO official, Salma Majeed Jafar, in her presentation on "Situation analysis of child domestic labour" referred to the available data revealing no less than 3.3 million kids engaged in economic activities with 250 thousand serving as domestic labours.
According to recently compiled statistics of the Federal Bureau of Statistics every fifth house had a child worker feared to be at high risk of exploitation ranging from child abuse, in varied forms, to being underpaid or taken upon as bonded labour.
She dispelled the impression that there existed lack of will on part of the government towards this issue. Ms Jafar also mentioned that a draft had been prepared to combat the menace of child domestic labour and was presently being reviewed by the parliamentarians including members of the provincial assemblies, National Assembly and senate respectively before being adopted as a law.
Earlier Project Coordinator Saba Mohsin Raza in her presentation mentioned that the constitution of Pakistan prohibits child labour (Article 11 (3) and Article 37 (e)), and the country had also ratified a number of ILO Conventions prohibiting child labour.
In the year 2000, the Pakistan government developed its national plan of action to combat child labour which puts clear emphasis on taking immediate measures to eliminate the worst forms of child labour.
Similarly, it was mentioned that the education sector reforms to achieve "education for all" target by 2015 also identifies child labour as a target group to be catered. Ms Jafar added that the government ratified ILO Convention 182 in 2001 and requested the ILO to provide technical assistance to eliminate the menace.
The speaker claimed that the present government was committed to achieve a high level of growth and reduce poverty. According to her poverty reduction strategy was an integrated and comprehensive approach, which dwells not only on economic development policies but also on greater involvement of the poor. -APP
