LAHORE, May 4: Punjab Labour Secretary Hasan Nawaz Tarrar has said the government is committed to eradication of child labour.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of the second ILO global report on child labour at the Child Labour Resource Centre, Township here on Thursday, he said poverty and ignorance were the major causes of child labour. There was a greater likelihood of the children of the poor turning to labour due to financial constraints. The children started helping their parents in their work in rural areas at an early age.

He said the government was making all possible efforts for the eradication of child labour. It had been eliminated from soccer ball and surgical instruments with the ILO’s assistance. A major programme had now been launched for placing over 25,000 carpet weaving children in non-formal schools. There were 3.3 million child labourers according to a survey undertake in 1998. The next survey would be undertaken next year.

He said the government had not only made primary education free but also started providing free books to children and scholarship to girl students in backward areas for ensuring maximum enrolment. It had also decided to open schools for bonded labour children near clusters of brick kilns. The Child Protection Bureau would help the destitute children after undertaking survey.

He said the number of child labourers in the world had decreased by 11 per cent from 246 million to 218 million till 2004 after publication of the first ILO global report on child labour in 2000. The number of children and youth in hazardous work had decreased by 26 per cent from 171 million to 126 million. Drop in the number of child labourers between five and 14 years of age was 33 per cent. The greatest decrease in child labour had been observed in Latin America and the Caribbean. Success in Asia had been marginal and situation in Sub-Saharan Africa had worsened.

ILO representative Taseer Alizai said the organisation was assisting Pakistan in identification and rehabilitation of child labour from hazardous sectors under its international programme for elimination of child labour. Over 70,000 working children had been rehabilitated under the programme so far. The government should ratify the ILO convention on minimum age for improving the image of the country world-wide. —Reporter