"The Third World countries, including Pakistan, are being plagued by child labour in terms of education and weak awareness, and this grave situation desperately needs more concerted efforts on the part of stakeholders to control this menace for solid ground." This was the moral of a one-day capacity-building workshop here on Wednesday.
At the workshop for reporters, titled 'Activating media in combating worst forms of child labour in Pakistan', and arranged by 'MediaMark', and jointly organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the ILO National Project Manager, Saba Mohsin Raza, said that child labour ratio in Punjab was comparatively higher than that in other provinces. But efforts were there to improve the living conditions and create more public awareness, she added.
She said that the government was working hard, under ILO Convention 182, which Pakistan had ratified it in 2001, and also under ILO Convention 136, on minimum age in 2006. "If the level of commitment from all stakeholders remains positive, this social curse can be controlled in near future," she added.
Columnist Munoo Bhai said that low level of awareness about child labour had forced the ILO to start a 'national media awareness plan' in the country since the media could develop public opinion on certain issues.
He termed child labour as a black spot on the face of modern society and called for a revised effective strategy by the government to eliminate this social menace. He said the government alone could never accomplish this difficult task, and urged other organisations to cooperate.
WEBCOP Chairman Iftikhar Mehmood Randhawa said more efforts were still needed to create public awareness about child labour since a majority of parents are ignorant of the negative effects of sending their children for petty jobs.
Columnist Javed Chaudhry suggested that with the surfacing of more newspapers and magazines the importance of media ethics for child reporting had increased. He said journalists should avoid disclosing identity of a child of sexual abuse since it would negatively affect his or her personality. He also encouraged a closer government-civil society interaction.
Public Relations Director General Farrukh Mehmood Shah said the ILO and the government's partnership was going strong and the latter's cooperation was exemplary in helping eradicate the child labour.