Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Wednesday said that the government was pursuing a policy that builds upon a multi-pronged approach focusing on legislative development, administration measures and direct interventions to eliminate child labour.
Addressing a media workshop on 'Activating Media to Combat Worst Forms of Child Labour', he said that a number of labour laws contain provisions which prohibit child labour and intend to regulate the working conditions for the children and adolescent workers.
The workshop was organised by International Labour Organisation (ILO) in collaboration with Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to sensitise electronic and print media managers how to highlight child labour issues through their programmes and writings.
Highlighting the efforts of the government, the Minister said the 'Employment of Children Act, 1991' is a major piece of legislation, which specifically aims at curing the menace of child labour. Sarwar said that comprehensive institutional arrangements have been put in place for implementation of these laws and monitoring of various related issues.
He said that the Ministry of Labour was playing the co-ordinating role at federal level, whereas the departments of labour at the provincial level are directly involved in implementation of these laws. The involvement of worker and employer organisations and NGOs at all levels of interventions is also an integral part of the policy, he added.
Th Minister said that the National Policy and Plan of Action was launched in 2000 by his Ministry for progressive elimination of child labour from all sectors of employment in Pakistan.
"A wide range of measures have been initiated by the government for tackling the problem of child labour. These measures include the indigenous activities as well as those implemented in collaboration with different donor organisations", he added.
He appreciated the efforts of ILO and said that its International Programme for Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), that is in operation in Pakistan since 1994, and the National Time Bound Programme for Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour have played a significant role in shaping the strategies and activities in the country.
"Under IPEC, we launched 114 small and medium size projects targeting more than 73,000 working children and through Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal, 151 centres have been opened throughout the country, which are imparting non-formal education (free of cost) to ex-child workers," the Minister said.
At present, 15,000 ex-working children are benefiting from this programme, whereas more than 5000 students have already passed out and 4500 have been admitted in the government schools for further education, he added.
Sarwar said that the 'Child Care Foundation' has established 291 centres and is providing non-formal education to more than 13,000 children working within the carpet industry.
Besides, he said, six projects have been launched for elimination of most hazardous forms of child labour from the tanneries, surgical instruments manufacturing, and glass bangle industry, and deep sea fishing and coal mining in different cities.
"Through this programme, social protection is being provided to 11,800 children," he added. The government has also ratified the ILO Convention No 138 on 'Minimum Age' by which Pakistan has become country that has ratified the entire 8 core Conventions of ILO.
The law on child labour has also been modified to enhance its coverage/scope. ILO Director Dongline Li, ILO National Project Manager Saba Mohsin Raza and other officials and representatives from NGOs were also present on the occasion.
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