By Minahil Makhdoom
ISLAMABAD: Speakers of the international webinar pointed out that increasing child labour gets no appropriate attention of the government and development partners having scope and mandate to curb the menace from society. Deficient and conflicting legislation on child labour and rights is the main hurdle while poor implementation by the local authorities enhances the impact manifolds. Children not only suffer from poverty but physical and mental torture and violence as well. Decades’ old and inefficient data makes the strategies incompetent and irrelevant.
Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) and DTN organized the webinar on the topic ‘covid-19 and Child Labour: the nexus of poverty, population and food security’ on Friday to commemorate the World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL). The panels of experts included the Country Director United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) Pakistan Ingrid Christensen, Senior Programme Officer child labour in agriculture at the Food and Agricltural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome (Italy) Ariane Genthon, Senior Technical Advisor National Parliamentary Taskforce on SDGs and Executive Director Parliamentary Commission for Human Rights (PCHR) Chaudhary Muhammad Shafiq, President Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Muhammad Ashraf Malik, Senior Programme Officer ILO Pakistan Saghir Bukhari, General Secretary Pakistan Workers Federation Zahoor Ahmad Awan, FAO Pakistan project manager Dr Shakeel Khan, FAO Pakistan Social Safeguards and Risk Mitigation Specialist Lubna Tajik, CEO Idara Taleem o Agahi and co-found Children’s Literature Festival Baela Raza Jamil, CEO Hashoo Foundation A Ayesh 11, Ayesha Khan, Ayesha Khan, Executive Director Society for the protection of the rights of the Child (SPARC) Sajjad Cheema, child health expert Dr Seema Mumtaz, International Expert on poverty and food security Aftab Alam Khan and Shoaib Ahmad Shahzad, UNFPA Punjab.
Ingrid Christensen, Country Director ILO Pakistan, warned that in the result of covid-19 more than two million more children would be pushed to child labour in Pakistan as the economy collapses. There is a strong link between child labour and socio-economic conditions. To curb the child labour we need to improve rural economy and working conditions for the daily wagers and other marginalized communities that need long term and sustainable partnerships between the development partners and governments.
She said the child labour survey was started last year in March with Unicef Pakistan taking lead to access the situation on ground, and after the pandemic it might not be completed in time. After the survey we would be able to realize the realities for our future interventions. She said by 2025 we have to eliminate the child labour that seems to be a dream without efficient partnerships of stakeholders and partners. We need ample resources and strong will to achieve the targets to contribute to the success of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Senior Programme Officer FAO (HQs) Rome, Ariane Genthon said: We need more data on the involvement of children in harmful tasks in the different sub-sectors of agriculture to help agricultural programmes and stakeholders take action.
