ISLAMABAD (ILO News) - A European Union funded and ILO implemented project Combating Abusive Child Labour (CACL-II), 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 in employment”. This applies to both the formal and informal sectors and has been prepared by the respective provincial labour departments.

An award ceremony for the National Photo Competition on Child Labour was organized by Combating Abusive Child Labour project. The photo competition was organized to highlight the fight against child labour in which professionals, students and the general public submitted photographs. An exhibition of the photos will also be held at the PNCA from the 11th – 14th of October.

The Chief Guest for the occasion was the Hon. Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to Pakistan, Mr Lars-Gunnar Wigemark. Other distinguished guests included the Federal Secretary for Human Resources Development, the President of the Employers’ Federation of Pakistan and the General Secretary of the Pakistan Workers’ Federation. Heads of UN agencies, foreign diplomats, employers and workers, and members of civil society, the media personnel and university students showed up to demonstrate their support for eliminating child labour in Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion Ambassador of European Union Pakistan, Mr Lars-Gunnar Wigemark said “Millions of children in Pakistan suffer under a system of child labour that also includes bonded labour. These kind of initiatives leads to change the perceptions on involving children in work and mobilizing the general public to act against child labour”.

Ms Margaret Reade Rounds, ILO Officer-in-Charge, at the ceremony, reiterated that “One child in the workplace who should be in school is one child too many!”

Other participants emphasized 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. Despite important progress over the last decade, the number of children in full-time work world-wide and particularly in hazardous conditions remains high.

Stage and song performances by children, short documentaries by students of Fatima Jinnah and Islamic University and the showcasing of pictures served to remind the audience that child labour is a scourge on society, a hindrance to poverty reduction and an obstacle to social justice, and must be eliminated.

For further information please contact:

Mr M.Saifullah Chaudhry
Senior Programme Officer and Media Focal Person
ILO Country Office for Pakistan
Email
Tel.: +92 51 2276456-8

Mr Zaheer Arif
Programme Officer, Media
ILO-IPEC/CACL II Project
Email
Tel.: +92 51 2276456-8
Cell: +92 333 5178899