LAHORE, Aug 28: Pakistan, home to 3.3 million child labourers, is experiencing the worst forms of child labour and this is a cause of “serious concern” for all stakeholders, International Labour Organisation (ILO) National Project Manager Saba Mohsin Raza said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a capacity building workshop entitled ‘Activating media in combating worst forms of child labour in Pakistan’ here, Ms Raza said there were 3.3 million child labourers in Pakistan between the age of 5-14 and added that 60 per cent of them were in Punjab. She said that 73 per cent of these child labourers were boys and the remaining girls. She said thousands of poor child labourers were being exploited by their employers, mainly in the domestic servitude.

The ILO official said the Frontier province had 20 per cent of the total child labourers, Sindh 14 per cent and Balochistan six per cent. She said 70 per cent of the working children were totally illiterate. She asked the media to highlight this situation.

The ILO workshop was aimed at building the capacity of media persons so that they can contribute to national efforts to eliminate child labour from Pakistan.

Punjab Child Labour Resource Centre Director Saeed Awan said the government was committed to eliminate worst forms of child labour.

Pakistan Workers Federation President Chaudhry Talib Nawaz said child labour ratio was quite high in carpet and bangle industries. He said child labourers were being exploited at several other industries. He said children working in unhealthy environment for long hours were suffering from many physical disorders. —Reporter