'K-P has taken legislative measures to prevent child labour'

Due to severe poverty, K-P has highest number of child labour cases

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Minister for Minerals Development and Labour Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli has said the K-P government has taken both legislative and administrative measures to safeguard the future of children in the province.

Due to severe poverty, natural calamities, a weak industrial base and effects of war, K-P now has the highest number of child labour cases.



Addressing the opening ceremony of a three-day consultative preliminary workshop on a K-P Child Labour Survey, she said the government has shown its commitment to address the problem through a number of ways.

The 'Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Prohibition of Employment of Children Act 2015' has been enacted and dedicated inspection staff from the labour department has also been introduced for the first time in the country, said the minister.

Giving the example of Zamong Kor, Zeb said that the initiative of rehabilitation centres like this will also be extended to other districts of the province.

The last survey on child labour in the province, as pointed out by Zeb, was conducted in the province in 1996 and the proposed survey is the first after devolution of the subject following the 18th Constitutional Amendment.

As per the previous survey, over 1.058 million children, i.e. 16 per cent, falling in the age bracket of five years to 14 years were engaged in economic activity. This is the highest rate for child labour in all four provinces. Zeb added that given the severity of poverty, the effects of terrorism, the war in Afghanistan spilling over into FATA, and lack of opportunities, the situation has deteriorated ever more.

The minister hoped the survey would provide a strong foundation for the formulation of an evidence-based policy that will help eradicate child labour altogether.

 



Representatives of UNICEF, ILO, NRSP, the labour department and Planning & Development departments, both from K-P and Gilgit-Baltistan, academics from universities of Mannheim (Germany) and Peshawar are participating in the workshop.