A NATIONAL action plan is defined as an “evolving policy strategy developed by the state to protect against adverse human rights impacts by business enterprises in conformity with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights”.
In June 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to address adverse human rights impacts resulting from business activity. The UNGPs were the culmination of several years of consultations amongst states, business enterprises and civil society organisations, led by the UN.
As a first step, a formal commitment by the government of Pakistan to develop such a national action plan was announced in November 2018 by the Ministry of Human Rights at the Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva. In March 2021, the draft national action plan was circulated for comments to various federal ministries and provincial departments, as well as national human rights institutions and other stakeholders.
The draft was also uploaded on a dedicated business and human rights website hosted by the Ministry of Human Rights, with an open call for public feedback from civil society, academia, and international development organisations.
A national action plan offers an opportunity to simplify labour laws.
The UNGPs provide a global standard for addressing and preventing human rights abuses resulting from business activity. They do not create new international obligations for the state but substantiate those already ratified. Pakistan aims to strengthen mechanisms to ensure victims are provided adequate remedies where business activity violates human rights. The UNGPs are based on the ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework’, which rests on three pillars:
Pillar 1: States’ existing obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Pillar 2: The role of business enterprises as specialised organs of society, required to comply with all applicable laws and respect human rights.
Pillar 3: The need for rights and obligations to be matched with appropriate and effective remedies when breached.
Besides the US, Germany and France, other prominent European and developing countries have adopted NAPs, while some are in the process of doing so. In Pakistan, much emphasis is placed on compliance with labour welfare laws.
These include eradication of child and bonded labour, protection against harassment of women at the workplace, enforcement of the rights of home-based workers, gender equality and provision of decent work in accordance with several ILO conventions, along with occupational health and safety.
There is consensus on abolishing child labour, but what remedial action has been taken to educate the 26 million out-of-school children? This figure has remained unchanged for years. What options do these children have, except to roam the streets?
A national action plan requires the business community to ensure compliance with labour laws, conferring rights on workers. With around 160 labour laws and accompanying rules, how are entrepreneurs to know which rights must be safeguarded? Following the devolution of labour laws under the 18th Amendment in April 2010, provinces promulgated their own acts, largely derived from the federal laws.
Federal labour laws continue to apply to trans-provincial organisations with establishments in more than one province. However, they have become obsolete, with no amendments since 2010 except for the promulgation of the Industrial Relations Act, 2012.
Since the mid-1980s, several labour commissions have been formed to simplify and consolidate labour laws. Their work was shelved by successive governments. More than a year ago, Punjab and Sindh codified labour laws but have not promulgated them due to protests from labour federations against regularisation of the contract labour system.
After devolution, labour laws have become so complex that even HR practitioners have lost interest in compliance. Entrepreneurs, struggling for survival, place workers’ rights low on their priorities. Uniformity has eroded, with provinces amending laws according to their own interests.
Despite this, the plan offers an opportunity to prepare two simplified and consolidated codes for employers outlining workers’ rights under specific labour laws.
One code should cover labour welfare laws; the other should address terms and conditions of employment, industrial relations, factory and establishment laws, wage laws, workplace harassment, available remedies and access to court.
The writer is a consultant in human resources at the Aga Khan University Hospital.
Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2026