The government should take immediate measures for the approval and implementation of the National Child Protection Policy (draft) to combat child labour in Pakistan.
These were the views of the speakers at a Media Coalition meeting on Wednesday of Islamabad and Peshawar Chapters of 'Media Coalition Against Worst Form of Child Labour' organised by 'Journalists for Democracy and Human Rights (JDHR)' in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation and the Federal Ministry of Information.
The participants included officials of Ministry of Labour and Manpower, representatives of ILO, civil societies and journalists. Speakers said that the Child Protection Bill is pending in Parliament for the last four years and the government is paying no heed to it.
They urged the need for a fresh child labour survey to realise in true sense the goals set in the national plan of action as all policy is being carved on the basis of 1997 child labour survey data. The professionals said media could influence authorities to take stern action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour that hamper development and growth of children.
Speakers said that the government has adopted number of laws and policies, like many other social regulations, but enforcement of these laws is challenging. They said that child labour is clearly detrimental to individual children, preventing them from enjoying their childhood and hampering their upbringing.
It undermines national development by keeping children out of the school, preventing them from gaining the education and skills that would enable them as adults to contribute to economic growth and prosperity.
Speaking on the occasion Zaheer Arif, representative of International Labour Organisation (ILO) said that like many other development countries child labour is common phenomenon in Pakistan and is widely spreading. It is mainly because of poverty and lack of awareness among the masses.
Arif said that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is implementing 'Activating media in Combating Worst form of Child Labour in Pakistan' with financial assistance from Government of Norway through ILO. The first phase of the project has been completed whereas the phase -II is in progress.
He said that a number of children in the country have become victim of child labour and they are working in hazardous situations and conditions where their physical, emotional, social growth is badly affected. Arif said that a separate subject of child labour would be included in the curriculum of all the educational institutes offering Mass Communication.
Sharing the details he said that according to the only Child Labour Survey conducted in 1996 by the Federal Bureau of Statistics, 3.3 million children aged 5-14 are economically active, which is 8.3 percent of the total population of this age group.
About 46 percent of the children do labour work for more than the normal 35 hours per week, children make up about 7 percent of the total work force on the country. 70 percent of the working children work as unpaid family helpers in agriculture sector.
Khalid Jamil from Aaj TV and Shafqat Munir, Editor Infochange News Agency spoke about story ideas and available media space and formats for writing stories and preparing TV reports on the issues involving children and the child labour. Shaista Malik from Journalists from Democracy and Human Rights (JDHR) gave a briefing about joining Media Coalition online group and sharing of research, articles and story ideas online.
The Media Coalition's Islamabad chapter elected Business Recorder reporter Sehrish Wasif as its convenor and Humera Sharif as deputy convenor and a committee comprising seven members Shafqat Munir, Khalid Jamil, Riaz Thahim, Nokhaiz Sahi, Aftab Ahmed, Fariha Rehman and Zaigham Naqvi.
The Media Coalition will work with journalists and help them write stories or produce television and radio reports on child labour issues. On this occasion Journalists for Democracy and Human Rights (JDHR) announced to confer awards on journalists for their fantastic stories and images (including documentaries and TV reports) on child labour issues. The Employer Federation of Pakistan had also announced award for best media products exposing the hazardous and worst forms of child labour in various sectors.