Country Director of International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Pakistan Ingrid Christensen and Assistant Regional Director General for Asia and Pacific Tomoko Nishimoto met with Provincial Minister for Labour and Human Resource Raja Ashfaq Sarwar here on Wednesday. The Punjab Labour minister expressed gratitude for technical assistance of ILO in elimination of child and bonded labour and promotion of decent work in the province.
Ingrid Christensen lauded the efforts of Punjab government on its welfare-oriented projects for labour community, especially elimination of child labour from brick kilns, auto workshops, petrol pumps, hotels and restaurants besides enrolment of children of these sectors in government schools, non-formal basic education centres, partner schools of PEF, vocational training institutes of the Punjab Vocational Training Council at TEVTA, provision of free education, books, uniforms, shoes, stationary and other facilities along with monthly stipends.
She expressed dissatisfaction on the status of implementation of labour laws linked with the ILO conventions in Punjab and said that the province has taken lead in the country in providing facilities to the labour community. Meanwhile, the Punjab minister for labour and human resource also inaugurated the Provincial Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) at Industrial Relations Institute to redress the grievances of migrants such as underpayment of wages, confiscation of passports, substandard working conditions and confinement to the workplace. Migrant Resource Centres in all the districts of the province will also be established in near future.
The department of labour and human resource, Punjab, established the Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) in Lahore in 2015 with the support of the EU-funded "South Asia Labour Migration Governance Project (SALM)" implemented by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the EU-funded project "Silk Routes Partnership for Migration" implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development. The MRC provides a range of support services to (potential) migrants, migrant workers, and their families, including information, counselling, referral and pre-departure orientation.
Head of Cooperation, European Union Delegation to Pakistan, Bernard Francois, Ottó Fábrik, representative of the ministry of interior of Hungary Tomoko Nishimoto, Assistant Director General/Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, International Labour Organization, Ingrid Christensen and Country Director, ILO Country Office for Pakistan Sedef Dearing were also present.
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