ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: In a praiseworthy move, the labour departments of four provinces have agreed to draft a new law to eliminate the menace of child labour from the country.

The new provincial law prohibiting child labour will replace the existing Employment of Children Act (ECA) 1991.

The proposed law will be drafted in compliance with the United Nations' (UN) Convention No. 138 and 182 banning the employment of children below 14 years of age, and also restrict the employment of children less than 18 years of age in hazardous occupations and processes.

This was agreed at the conclusion of a two-day tripartite workshop organised by International Labour Organisation (ILO) with the financial support of the European Union (EU) here on Thursday. The workshop was facilitated by a technical team of ILO led by Sujeewa Fonseka, Chief Technical Adviser Combating Abusive Child Labour-II project.

The workshop enabled officials of Child Labour Units of the four provincial labour departments, to jointly develop and enact legislation to prohibit and regulate employment of children and adolescents in country.

The workshop arrived at the consensus that the existing Employment of Children Act (ECA) 1991 was not in line with the government's commitment made on the ratified ILO Convention 138 on Minimum Age of Employment and Convention 182 on Worst Forms of Child Labour.

Participants of the workshop made four key recommendations for the new legislation which explained that children under 14 years of age should be banned from employment; children under 18 years should be banned from employment in hazardous occupations and processes; and the new law should also ensure adolescents' right to minimum wages, compensations and social security benefits.

They also agreed that the list of hazardous occupations should be updated through tripartite consultations on provincial basis.

Punjab Labour Secretary Hassan Iqbal, Central Labour Advisor of the Ministry of Human Resource Development Javed Gill, representatives of the provincial governments of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab and Sindh, and representatives of European Union (EU), Employers' Federation of Pakistan and Pakistan Workers' Federation attended the workshop.

Secretary Labour Punjab said: “Child labour is a social menace that requires concerted efforts of all stakeholders including government, employers, workers and civil society to eliminate effectively from the society and thus it is necessary to address the grey areas in legislation related to child labour.

Representing the ILO, Country Director at the inaugural session, Margaret Reade Rounds stated that the organisation was committed to support its member states to take affirmative action to curb child labour, particularly in its worst forms on priority basis in line with the UN conventions that have already been ratified by the Pakistan.—Amin Ahmed