LAHORE: A provincial consultation with parliamentarians concerning issues of home-based workers (HBWs) was held on Saturday. Members of District Action Committees (DACs) also participated to take forward the policy recommendations of the workers.

Punjab Labour Director Syed Hasnat Javed said there were no labour laws that recognised the rights of HBWs in Pakistan or abroad.

“We are burning the midnight oil to ensure the rights of the HBWs and presently working on Punjab Home-Based Workers Act after considering all recommendations from the government and other stakeholders,” he said. “The new law will properly define the middleman and his role and what will be the proper procedure to decide their wages.”

He said they tried to incorporate the International Labour Organisation conventions and basic clauses of the international human rights law in the law.

“Next week, the policy and the HBWs act will be finalised and it will be sent for approval to the chief minister. We have already started the process of registering HBWs across Punjab and initially 10,000 of them will be registered,” Javed said.

Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) Chairperson Fauzia Viqar said she had managed to listen to the problems of women home-based workers.

“I’m happy to see the commitment of the labour department to consider the problems faced by the HBWs and recognise them as workers for the first time by coming up with the HBWs Act and a policy for them,” she said.

Fauzia said the PCSW had the powers of a civil court to address issues in case of any misuse of power by the state against women in Punjab.

“If women have been tortured and police are not registering a case all of you must inform the commission which will get the FIR registered,” she added. “We have also established a toll-free helpline for women that will address the problems faced by women HBWs.”

Fauzia urged the HBWs to benefit from Punjab Skill Development fund and enroll themselves, saying it would not only help them financially but also provide skills.

Uzma Quresh of UN WOMEN said it was good to see waves of women’s empowerment reaching everywhere.

“We are here today to highlight the problems of the home-based workers who are not even recongnised as workers. We request parliamentarians to take up the issues in parliament and play their part in getting the law on HBWs approved as soon as possible,” Quresh added.

She said the policy and law for the betterment of HBWs needed to be implemented on war footings and for that the support of parliamentarians was important.

Umme Laila, executive director of HomeNet Pakistan, said ‘Home-Based Workers Day’ is observed in South Asia every year on Oct 20. She added that in 2012 the Punjab government had developed a comprehensive law for the workers, which was still with the law department and needed to be approved as soon as possible. Once the law was passed the workers would get social security and right to association, she added.

“The Punjab government should take up the policy and law for HBWs in the next session of the assembly and approve it on war footings,” Umme Laila said.

MPA Ayesha Javed said the HBWs and DACs were working hard to earn for their families.

“We are here to interact with you and listen to and address your problems,” she said.

She requested the bureaucracy to share policy and laws with parliamentarians beforehand so they could address and talk about these issues on the floor of the house effectively.

PTI MPA Saadia Sohail appreciated the efforts of Umme Laila for HBWs and paid tribute to the workers across Punjab.

“She urged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to take up the issue of HBWs as well but appreciated them for working towards empowering the marginalised communities,” Saadia added.

She also said the middlemen needed to be done away with if HBWs were to be empowered.

“It is the right time for the governments across the country to stop making tall claims and instead start working for the betterment of HBWs. They must be allowed to take decision for themselves on their own,” the MPA said.

Dr. Zarqa Taimoor, president of the PTI women’s wing, said: “We need to take up the workers’ issues in the media also and urge TV channels to arrange talk shows about them.”

She urged the HBWs to arrange protests and rallies for their rights.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2014