Strengthening capacity of constituents to address unacceptable forms of work focusing child labour, bonded labour and informal economy workers

At a glance

Partners
Federal Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Provincial Labour and line Departments, Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP)and Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF)

Target beneficiaries

Federal and provincial governments are the direct beneficiaries; workers engaged in unacceptable forms of work, employers’ and workers’ organizations would be benefitted, indirectly.

Geographical focus

National


Project Objectives

Pakistan is one of the countries with high prevalence of child labour and low rates of school participation, particularly for girls whereas bonded labour is commonly found in form of debt bondage. However, there is a strong political will to address child and bonded labour issues. The constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan prohibits both. Pakistan has ratified ILO’s core conventions including the conventions on elimination of child and bonded labour. Pakistan is also signatory to the related UN Conventions.

In partnership with the Government of Pakistan, ILO has successfully implemented technical cooperation projects in collaboration with provincial labour departments, employers’ and workers’ organizations and other key stakeholders for the prevention, withdrawal and rehabilitation of child labour and elimination of bonded labour in Pakistan, over a period of two decades.

In the wake of the18th Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, the subject of labour has been transferred to realm of the provinces. This has created an enhanced need for capacity building of the provincial labour departments, together with strengthening International Labour Standards [ILS] reporting at the federal level. Further, the elimination of child and bonded labour is on demand list of GSP plus status to Pakistan.

Thus, this project builds on the ILO’s previous interventions on child labour and bonded labour and will largely provide support to: developing policies and strategies on child and bonded labour; implementing the Government of Punjab’s Integrated Child and Bonded Labour Project wherein the ILO is recognized as a Technical Partner and will provide consistent advice on the elimination of child labour and measures to address bonded labour; and formulate the right approach to addressing child labour in the province of Baluchistan.


Main Activities

Federal Level
  • Drafting policies on child and bonded labour in line with the legislative reform agenda of the Government of Pakistan;
  • Development of a Child and Bonded Labour National Strategy draft;
  • Establishment of a child labour cell under the existing ILS reporting Unit at Federal Level.
Provincial Level
  • Support to strengthening coordination mechanisms (horizontal and vertical) on child and bonded labour issues through a mapping exercise and develop proposals for improvements including a gaps and needs assessment;
  • Design and rollout inter-ministerial training for officials in specific thematic areas of CL and BL;
  • Awareness raising on the relevant ILS on Child and Bonded Labour;
  • Establish consultative mechanism (including communities) for the Child and Bonded Labour Monitoring and Reporting and design a system;
  • Assist in preparations for Child and Bonded Labour Survey in Punjab;
  • Finalisation of PC-1 document on elimination of child labour in Baluchistan;


Project Outcomes

  • Strengthened capacity of tripartite constituents on progressive elimination of Child Labour, Bonded Labour and other unacceptable forms of work;
  • Enhanced knowledge on child labour and bonded labour issues facilitated by research, survey, data collection and awareness on child and bonded labour issues;
  • Enhance institutional capacity and coordination to ensure effective monitoring and reporting for improved implementation of the ILS;
  • Enhanced capacity of government to design effective interventions for the prevention and elimination of unacceptable form of works ;
  • Supplement the ILO’s commitments under Decent Work Country Programme in Pakistan


For further information please contact:

Muhammad Benyameen,
National Project Coordinator
Email