Integrated development partnerships urged to eliminate child labour

Islamabad : Speakers of the international webinar pointed out that increasing child labour gets no appropriate attention of the government and development partners having scope and mandate to curb the menace from society.

They were of the view that deficient and conflicting legislation on child labour and rights is the main hurdle while poor implementation by the local authorities enhances the impact manifolds. Children not only suffer from poverty but physical and mental torture and violence as well. Decades’ old and inefficient data makes the strategies incompetent and irrelevant.

Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) and DTN organized the webinar on the topic ‘COVID-19 and Child Labour: the nexus of poverty, population and food security’ here on Friday to commemorate the World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL).

The panels of experts included the Country Director United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO) Pakistan Ingrid Christensen, Senior Programme Officer child labour in agriculture at the Food and Agricltural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome (Italy) Ariane Genthon, Senior Technical Advisor National Parliamentary Taskforce on SDGs and Executive Director Parliamentary Commission for Human Rights (PCHR) Chaudhary Muhammad Shafiq, President Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Muhammad Ashraf Malik, Senior Programme Officer ILO Pakistan Saghir Bukhari, General Secretary Pakistan Workers Federation Zahoor Ahmad Awan, FAO Pakistan project manager Dr Shakeel Khan, FAO Pakistan Social Safeguards and Risk Mitigation Specialist Lubna Tajik, CEO Idara Taleem o Agahi and co-found Children’s Literature Festival Baela Raza Jamil, CEO Hashoo Foundation A Ayesh 11. Ayesha Khan, Ayesha Khan, Executive Director Society for the protection of the rights of the Child (SPARC) Sajjad Cheema, child health expert Dr Seema Mumtaz, International Expert on poverty and food security Aftab Alam Khan, and Shoaib Ahmad Shahzad, UNFPA Punjab.