PAKISTAN: WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ISLAMABAD 005262 SIPDIS CORRECTED COPY - CAPTION REMOVED SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI PREL PK SUBJECT: PAKISTAN: WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR REF: STATE 149662 ISLAMABAD 00005262 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. Summary: The Government of Pakistan (GOP) continues to pursue a national strategy for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor. A legal framework exists barring children from hazardous labor, and Pakistan has ratified all eight of the International Labor Organization (ILO) core conventions. Resource constraints and a lack of labor inspections, coupled with an inadequate primary education system and pervasive rural poverty, continue to hamper the GOP's efforts to fully eliminate all forms of child labor. End Summary. CURRENT LAWS AND REGULATIONS -------------- ¶2. The 1973 Constitution of Pakistan prohibits the employment of children under 14 in factories, mines or hazardous industries as well as all forms of forced labor. The 1991 Employment of Children Act also prohibits employment of children under 14 and regulates children's working hours, forbidding overtime and night work. The GOP amended the act in 2005, increasing the number of processes banned to child labor from 29 to 34, including carpet weaving, cement production, cloth dyeing and glass bangle fabrication. Forced labor and the exploitation of children are prohibited under the 1992 Bonded Labor System Abolition Act and the 2002 Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance. Pakistan ratified the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, or ILO Convention 182, in ¶2001. The GOP has ratified all eight core ILO labor conventions. ¶3. Children under the age of 14 may work in occupations outside of those listed in the Amendment to the Employment of Children Act but are subject to provincially-mandated universal education requirements and are protected by occupational health and safety guidelines. There is no national education requirement in Pakistan; the Constitution allows each province and territory to independently legislate education requirements. All four provinces of Pakistan - Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and the Northwest Frontier Province - have compulsory primary education laws. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) does not have a compulsory education requirement. Enforcement of these laws is limited due to resource constraints and varies dramatically by province. Access to the education system is also hampered by a dearth of schools in many remote rural areas. COMPREHENSIVE POLICY -------------- ¶4. Pakistan has made significant progress in raising awareness about the problem of child labor. In efforts to remove children from the work place and rehabilitate them, the GOP has undertaken programs individually and in conjunction with international donors and NGO partners. While the GOP does not allocate separate federal budget funds specifically for the elimination of child labor, it has established a fund for the education and rehabilitation of freed child and bonded laborers. ¶5. In 2000, Pakistan enacted a National Policy Plan of Action (NPPA) on child labor, consisting of three components: the withdrawal of children from hazardous professions; the rehabilitation of child workers; and the prohibition and eventual elimination of all forms of child labor. The GOP's long-term strategy includes alternate education opportunities, guaranteed access to primary education and vocational skills training. The government's Poverty Alleviation Strategy also provides families of child laborers with preferential access to micro-credit loans, thus reducing the financial burden of taking a family wage earner out of the labor market. The GOP has established a National Training Bureau at the federal level and vocational education centers at the provincial level. According to the Ministry of Labor, primary school drop-out rates have declined from 15 percent in 2001 to 10 percent in 2005 since the implementation of these policies. ¶6. Pakistani Bait-ul-Mal, the government agency responsible for collecting and distributing the government-levied "zakat" (Islamic charitable giving required by the Koran) operates 151 centers nation-wide to educate working children and rehabilitate freed bonded laborers. Bait-ul-Mal provides free food and educational materials as well as stipends to working children. After receiving basic education, former child laborers are integrated back into the formal education system. Since 1995, Bait-ul-Mal has spent over USD ten million on these projects. Currently, more than 5,000 children are enrolled in education centers and over 5,000 have been reintegrated into the formal education system. ¶7. The benchmark 1996 National Child Labor Survey, conducted with technical assistance from the ILO, found that 8.3 percent of ISLAMABAD 00005262 002.2 OF 003 children aged 5 to 14 were employed, 73 percent of them male. 71 percent of Pakistan's child laborers were concentrated in the agricultural, fisheries, construction and manufacturing industries. There has not been a follow-up survey. According to the Ministry of Labor, nearly all of Pakistan's child labor occurs in informal, family-based or cottage industries. In non-agricultural sectors, 93 percent of working children are engaged in informal activities. Children's contribution to work in rural areas is around eight times greater than in urban areas. The survey also indicated that only one-fourth of all child laborers had any formal education. ¶8. The GOP, in conjunction with the ILO, has been planning to update the 1996 national survey of child labor for several years. The reluctance of international donors to commit funding for the project decreases the likelihood that a comprehensive national child labor survey will be conducted in 2008. ILO representatives expressed a desire to build a child labor survey into the next national census, scheduled to begin in October 2008. This survey would focus on district, not provincial, child labor trends, and would collect industry-specific information. While Ministry of Labor officials are reluctant to speculate on the outcomes of any future survey, they hope increasing primary school enrollment rates are an indication that child labor is on the decline. ¶9. The ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) provides technical and financial support to GOP agencies for capacity building. IPEC funded sector-specific initiatives have successfully targeted child laborers the in carpet, soccer ball, surgical instrument and domestic industries. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has provided USD 15 million for ILO-IPEC projects since ¶1997. DOL currently funds the ILO-IPEC "Time-Bound Program on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor," a child labor-focused program in the earthquake affecting regions and "Mitigating Child Labor through Education in Pakistan." This education project, scheduled to last through 2009, funds project sites in Balochistan, the Northwest Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The limited survey conducted in 2006 in association with the project indicates that 65 percent of working children belong to lower income groups and the average income per child is approximately Rs. 1,800 (USD 30) per month, a significant portion of family income. The survey identifies poverty and the lack of access to the educational system as the two main reasons that children enter the workforce instead of attending school. IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT -------------- ¶10. The protection of children falls under the purview of the Ministry of Labor and Manpower and the Ministry of Social Welfare. The GOP formulated a National Labor Inspection Policy in 2006, supporting an extension of labor inspection activities to the informal sector. The Policy encourages the involvement of the private sector in the provision of labor inspection services through licensing and accreditation arrangements. Several private sector-led labor inspection organizations currently operate in export-oriented sectors. One such organization, the Independent Monitoring Association for Child Labor (IMAC),monitors child labor conditions in the sporting goods industry. The association is funded by its soccer ball manufacturer members. ¶11. However, enforcement of child labor laws remains weak due to inadequate resources devoted to labor condition monitoring. Provincial Labor Departments are required to carry out labor inspections but do not have inspectors devoted specifically to child labor. Child labor complaints are adjudicated through separate labor courts. Workers can directly lodge complaints with these courts regarding working conditions and grievances. Issues related to industrial relations are heard by the National Industrial Commission. Child Labor violators can be fined up to Rs. 20,000 (USD 333) and/or receive up to one year in prison. To date, most punishments have been limited to small fines. ¶12. Since 2003, labor inspections have been heavily regulated in the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and the Northwest Frontier Province. Inspection teams must request permission from provincial chief labor inspectors prior to visiting factories. Local businesses are informed in advance of impeding inspections, limiting the effectiveness of the labor condition monitoring. The Ministry of Labor has not received inspection reports from the three provinces since the regulations were put into effect in 2003. External child labor monitoring mechanisms in the export-oriented soccer ball, surgical instrument, leather tanning, and carpet weaving industries have been introduced with ILO support in Pakistan. External monitoring entities maintain public records of companies found using child labor that are shared with law enforcement agencies and potential foreign and domestic investors and consumers. ISLAMABAD 00005262 003.2 OF 003 ¶13. GOP information on the current state of labor inspections in Pakistan is incomplete. The Ministry of Labor reports that the federal government has not received information on provincial labor inspections in 2007. Data from previous years indicates that inspections are on the decline, particularly in the Punjab. COMMENT -------------- ¶14. The GOP has worked actively with international organizations and NGOs to reduce the incidence of child labor in Pakistan. A comprehensive legal framework and action plan are in place for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor but enforcement is lacking. Ministry of Labor officials report that while the federal government is dedicated to curtailing the employment of children, in some instances, district-level governments have yet to get the message. Additionally, the government's ability to significantly reduce child labor continues to be constrained by a lack of funding and an inadequate primary education system, particularly in rural areas. The biggest impediment to combating the worst forms of child labor remains economic as persistent poverty drives families to send their children into the workforce. PATTERSON