May 23, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 06, 1428

ISLAMABAD, May 22: Pakistan is fast emerging as a growing economy, particularly after the result-oriented reform policies in all development sectors but it is still facing the problem of child labour that seems to be growing and needs a radical approach from all segments of society to discourage this illegal practice.

Child labour is a grave violation of a child’s recognized rights and provision of these rights is the basic responsibility of every state. However, progress on the issue in Pakistan is lacking despite government’s initiatives as about one million children in the country were still engaged in child labour.

These views were expressed by speakers at a one-day capacity- building workshop for radio producers and reporters here.

The workshop was organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the ministry of information and broadcasting under the national media plan of action to sensitise journalists about issued pertaining to child labour in the country.

The minister of state for information and broadcasting, Tariq Azim; minister of state for labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis, Raza Hayat Harraj; national project manager, ILO, Saba Mohsin Raza; secretary general of Pakistan Workers Federation, Zahoor Awan; ILO chief technical adviser, Ahmet Ozirmak and columnist Javed Choudhry spoke at the workshop.

Mr Azim acknowledged that the child labour existed in the country but said the government was not oblivious of it as it had to achieve national development targets.

He linked the issue to lack of awareness about the importance of health and education of children in nation-building and said the media had an important role in highlighting these issues.

“The child labour issue is directly rooted in poverty and financial conditions of people to which government is paying due attention,” he added.

The initiatives taken by the government included enhancement in salaries and pensions of government employees, he added.

Referring to children being used as camel jockeys in the UAE, the minister said about 650 boys had been brought back to the country due to the government’s efforts. In addition, laws were introduced to banish this crime, he added.

He said child labour is a universal issue and according to ILO report about one child out of six has been a victim of this problem whereas 218 million children worldwide suffer its effects.

Enumerating the government’s steps for eradication of child labour the minister said, these include approval of the National Plan of Action by cabinet, ratification of the ILO Convention 182 and 138 in 2001 and 2006, establishment of 125 schools for children of labourers and grant of a monthly stipend and the International Programme for Elimination of Child Care.

Lauding the role of the media in resolution of social issues the minister expressed the hope that it would further help the government by identifying and creating awareness among the masses.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister of state for labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis Raza Hayat Harraj, said the government was working on the ILO Convention 182 and the ILO Convention 136 about the minimum age.

He urged a coherent social action and stressed upon the media to keep highlighting the issues.

In her address, ILO project manager, Saba Mohsin Raza, said the government-ILO partnership was going “very strong.” She hoped that this cooperation and commitment would continue as “child labour is a challenge to Pakistan and ILO, government and the media will jointly handle the challenge to ensuring a better future for children.”

According to a 1996 study by the Federal Bureau of Statistics, there were 3.3 million child labourers in the country. But in 2007, it is feared that the number has grown alarmingly which is a threat to the health, education and rights of the children.

The study noted that among those being exploited by their employers 73 per cent were boys and 23 per cent girls, mainly in as domestic servants due to the poverty and deprivation of their families.

Punjab was found to have the highest number of the child workers with a staggering 60 per cent in the national aggregate followed by 20 per cent in NWFP, 14 per cent in Sindh and six per cent in Balochistan. More alarmingly, 70 per cent of the total working children were totally illiterate.

These statistics are worrisome for the society and the government.

Surgical instruments manufacturing, glass bangles, tanneries, coal mines, rag picking/scavenging, deep-sea fishing, domestic servants, child trafficking, carpet weaving, street children, bonded labour, beggary were the areas where children were working in hazardous conditions in Pakistan.

Under its national media plan of action, the ILO is holding a series of workshops in seven cities for 550 media professionals “to sensitise them about the problems and issues of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Pakistan.”

These cities are Islamabad, Karachi, Quetta, Multan, Hyderabad, Lahore and Peshawar.

In these workshops, ILO expects that a comprehensive media policy would be developed. The project is directly aimed at highlighting the importance of the role of media in projecting the child labour issue and how could the media assist to reaching out to the target groups in society.

Javed Choudhry suggested that media professionals must observe the important principles of reporting on child issues, which meant protecting the identity of children.

He also encouraged a closer interaction between the government and civil society so that children’s issues are highlighted properly.

ILO chief technical adviser Ahmet Ozirmak said child labour is a common issue in the third world countries where poverty ratio is high with fewer opportunities for employment.

However, he was of the view that the child labour could only be tackled in gradual steps.

He suggested a proactive role from all segments of society particularly the media.

The Pakistan Workers Federation secretary-general Zahoor Awan said the child labour was a serious challenge that societies all across the world face.

Secretary Webcop, ZA Jaffary, urged the social organisations to invigorate their efforts and extend cooperation to the government in its initiatives for the elimination of the child labour from the country.

Senior research officer at the ministry of labour, Iftikhar Javed also spoke on the issue.

In the concluding session, producers from Radio Pakistan and FM channels also floated their presentations on issues including ‘Reporting child labour issues and the role of Media,’ ‘Principles of media ethics towards formulating a media policy on child labour’ and ‘Strategy and TORs for setting up a media network against child labour.’—Agencies