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

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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
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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
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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

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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
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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.

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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
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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