The total number of child labourers in Pakistan has exceeded 12 million, which will drastically affect the progress and development of the country both social as well as economic in the long-run. This was the crux of a ceremony titled "Combating Abusive Child labour II Project: Award Distribution Ceremony National Photo Competition on Child Labour' organised by International Labour Organisation (ILO) in collaboration with the European Union.
The project has announced a national level photo competition on the fight against child labour and has encouraged the professionals, students and general public to submit their photographs related to child labour in the competition. The Ambassador of European Union in Pakistan, Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, General Secretary Pakistan Workers' Federation, and Federal Secretary Ministry of Human Resource Development attended the workshop. Moreover, heads of various UN organisations working in Pakistan, foreign diplomats, representatives of employers' and worker's organisations, members of civil society, media personnel and university students were among the participants.
'Combating Abusive Child labour II Project' has supported that the minimum age for employment should be set at 14 years. This is in compliance with the ILO Convention No 138 on "minimum age of employment". This applies to both the formal and informal sectors and has been prepared by the respective provincial labour departments. Lars-Gunnar Wigemark said "Millions of children in Pakistan suffer from a system of child labour that also includes bonded labour. This kind of initiatives leads to change the perceptions on involving children in work and mobilising the general public to act against child labour."
Other participants emphasised that the world has entered the 21st century but in developing countries including Pakistan, child labour is still prevalent. Child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally harmful. It is noteworthy that employers in favour of child employment justify that it reduces the production costs of many export commodities and make them competitive in international markets. But in reality these businesses exploit children by paying them very low wages and in turn earn exorbitant profits without adequate investment in human capital.
The participants said that the sky-rocketing inflation and poverty has become one of the main reasons behind the increasing number of child labour in Pakistan that has exceeded to 8-10 million while the government's negligence towards this very important issue can be judged by the fact that not even a single step has been taken so far for the betterment of the working children.
It is noteworthy that people in favour of child employment justify that it reduces production cost of many export commodities and make them competitive in international market. But in reality these businesses exploit children by paying them very low wages and in turn earn exorbitant profits without adequate investment in human capital. Despite important progress over the last decade, the number of working children world-wide and particularly in hazardous work remains high.
An award ceremony for the National Photo Competition on Child Labour was also organised. The photo competition was organised to highlight the fight against child labour in which professionals, students and the general public submitted photographs.