FAO and Children of Pakistan 

Islamabad

Dr. Jassim Taqui DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies

Islamabad, 15 December, A strong common collaboration among all the stakeholders is required to define and achieve the common goal of preventing child labor. Thus concluded ‘National Consultative Workshop on Elimination of Child Labour in Agriculture/Cotton, Textile and Garment Value Chains in Pakistan” held in Islamabad on Tuesday. The workshop was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO). 

 

The workshop was held under the “CLEAR Cotton Project: Eliminating child labor and forced labor in the cotton, textile, and garment value chains” (2018-2023). The Project was mainly funded by the European Union. Pakistan is among the four countries including Burkina Faso, Mali, and Peru where the CLEAR Cotton Project is being implemented. In Pakistan, the project is being co-implemented by FAO and ILO.

 

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Khemphone Phaokhamkeo, ILO Country Director (Officer in Charge) in Pakistan said that fighting child labor is important for ILO and has been a priority since its establishment in 1919. Pakistan has also ratified 36 international conventions including the ones on the elimination of child and forced labor. As a member state of ILO, Pakistan should take steps to respect compliance with these conventions. The issue of child and forced labor in Pakistan requires our attention amongst others in three areas; Firstly, we need to ensure that all children have access to quality education; not only up to the primary level but till the time they attain the legal age of being eligible to work. Secondly, a healthy, safe, and protective work environment must be provided for the youth. Thirdly, the poor should be protected under social safety nets and social protection. All adults must be provided decent work so that they don’t have to pull their children into work.

 

Ms. Florence Rolle, FAO Representative in Pakistan while addressing the inaugural session said that; “Looking at the statistics of the out-of-school children and stunting rate in Pakistan, we realize that these are the key issues that we need to address. Nonetheless, the question is how? It is often said that children are the future. In my opinion, they are the present. We need to address the present so that they become the future of Pakistan. Almost 70 percent of the child labor in Pakistan is involved in agriculture, therefore, for FAO this is a major concern. The project was the first of its kind in Pakistan where we worked with awareness raising in communities. Child labor in agriculture is not only about children being out of school, but it is also a major health issue as they are exposed to pesticides. FAO through its various initiatives is also trying to increase the outcomes of the smallholder farmers so that the vicious circle of child labor is broken.”  She reiterated that FAO will mainstream the outcomes of this project in all other projects as well. She concluded on the point that “it is always good to forge partnerships so that difficult subjects like child labor are tackled at multiple levels from different angles”.