Minister Labour vows to end child labour in Punjab

Lahore: Provincial Minister for Labour & Human Resources Raja Ashfaq Sarwar has said that under the leadership of Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, planning and policy is being formulated speedily for eliminating child labour, rehabilitation and financial assistance of less-privileged persons in the province. He said that Punjab Chief Minister has given approval of launching a pilot project at a cost of Rs.6 billion under elimination of child labour and rehabilitation programme in Punjab and more than three lakh 75 thousand poor women and children will benefit from it.

He said this while addressing a consultative seminar of stakeholders regarding “Punjab Prohibition of Employment of Children Act 2014” arranged by Labour & Human Resource Department with the cooperation of UNICEF at a local hotel today. UNICEF Chief Child Protection Section Pakistan Smaranda Popa, Federal Commissioner for Child Protection Ijaz Qureshi, Secretary Labour Punjab Capt. Retd. Muhammad Yousaf, labour sectaries from Sindh, Balochistan, representatives from NGOs, employers and labour organizations attended the seminar and presented their proposals about legislation for eliminating child labour.

Raja Ashfaq Sarwar said that Punjab government has given final shape to the Forced Labour Act of 1991 by making amendments, removing clauses against ILO Convention, existing flaws and making more comprehensive and harmonizing it with international standard which will be called “Punjab Prohibition of Employment of Children Act 2014”. This Act will be enforced after approval by Provincial Cabinet. He said that Chief Minister Punjab has already given approval in principle to this new law. He said that strict punishments would be awarded to the violators of this law whereas working timings, non-formal education, protection measures and monitoring system have also been improved.

UNICEF Chief Child Protection Section Pakistan Smaranda Popa said that the cooperation of Punjab government and its political support for eliminating child labour is of great importance. He said that Punjab government has taken lead over other provinces through its steps for eliminating child labour. He expressed the hope that due to the efforts of Chief Minister Punjab and his team, child labour will soon be eliminated from the province.