August 29, 2007 (Daily Times) LAHORE: Pakistan is experiencing the worst form of child Labor, but with a total of 3.3 million child Laborers, a point of concern for all stakeholders, efforts are being made to control this menace by implementation of laws and more public awareness, speakers at a one-day capacity-building workshop titled “Activating media in combating worst forms of child Labor in Pakistan” remarked. The workshop, arranged by MediaMark, was organized by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

ILO National project manager Saba Mohsin Raza said, “There are 3.3 million child Laborers in Pakistan between the ages of 5 and 14 years. These workers, which include 73 percent boys and 23 percent girls, are being exploited by their employers mainly as domestic help”.

She said “The Punjab has the highest percentage of child workers with a staggering 60 percent followed by 20 percent in the NWFP, 14 percent in Sindh and 6 percent in Balochistan. More alarmingly, 70 percent of the all working children were found to be illiterate”.

She said that the situation needed to be highlighted through the media. She added that the ILO project was aimed at strengthening the capacity of media personnel and contributing towards national efforts to eliminate child labor.

Government of the Punjab spokesman Saeed Awan said that the Government of Pakistan was working extremely hard under the ILO conventions 182 and 136, ratified by Pakistan in 2001 and 2006 respectively. He also said that his government was committed to end child labor and strongly urged a “coherent social action to provide our future generations with a bright future”.

Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF) president Chaudhry Talib Nawaz said “The child labor ratio is high particularly in areas such as the carpet industry, the bangles-making industry, surgical instruments manufacturing, tanneries, coal mines, and deep sea fishing”. Columnist Javed Chaudhry said “Controlling child labor is the need of the hour, as living with this curse would be a far cry from stability in the national economy”. “Major responsibility lies with the national media, as it can effectively highlight the negative impact of child labor”, he added.

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