SITUATIONAL PORTRAYAL:

"We all know that Child Labor is one of the faces of poverty and that many efforts over many years will be required to eliminate it completely. But, there are some forms of Child Labor today which are intolerable by any standard. These deserve to be identified, exposed, and eradicated without further delay." Michael Hansenne, erstwhile Director-General, ILO stated this a few years ago.

Child Labor in developing nations, such as Pakistan, has over the past many years been subject to harsh criticism and high-profile censure by USA and other Western countries. A barrage of propaganda was and is being unleashed in newspapers and television, with Pakistan being one of the prime targets of hostile lobbies in Europe and the United States. The issue was orchestrated in a manner where the ramifications of this campaign began to severely hurt the socio-economic interests of Pakistan and where it was felt that the foreign exchange earning industries in the country were facing economic squeeze and the threat of loss of global markets.

The enlightened citizens of Pakistan are clear-cut in their view that the exploitation of children is a sin and a colossal waste of human resources. They are definite in their opinion that the children who are introduced into toiling for their family’s livelihood are victims of poverty and misery. They are empathic in their belief that the root cause of children being made to work is deep-seated in socio-economic factors.

There is need to digest essential figures to bring into focus the overall Pakistany situation. The high population growth of nearly three percent, the alarming illiteracy rate, the widening gap between the privileged and those bordering or under the poverty line, the stagnant per capita income of US$ 480, the depressing fall in export receipts from US$ 8.6 to US$ 7.7, the status of the country as a low spender in matters of health and education, and the availability of basic living facilities to only half of the population, while only 60% citizens have access to safe water. Furthermore, the employment opportunities are not keeping pace with the number of new entrants into the job market. The National Survey of Child Labor in 1996 revealed that 3.3 million children out of an estimated 40.0 million in the 5-14 age group are economically active. The Survey also discovered that there are more children working in the rural areas than in the cities and towns, in fact, the ratio is 8:1.

The Employers’ Federation of Pakistan, the representative body of all employers of Pakistan, has been advocating its categorical stand very vociferously at various fora. The EFP:

1. Declares that Child Labor is neither desirable on economic nor on social considerations.
2. Acknowledges with gratitude the efforts being made by various local, national, and international organizations, in general, and by ILO-IPEC, in particular, for elimination of Child Labor in Pakistan.
3. Reaffirms that negative measures such as withdrawal of GSP, boycott of products, and selective application of economic sanctions may prove to be counter-productive.
4. Urges international organizations, such as WTO, EC, etc, to re-examine the complex problem of Child Labor in developing countries in its right perspective and prospective.
5. Feels that the scourge of Child Labor can only be eliminated in a progressive, positive, and pragmatic manner.
6. Calls upon local, national, and international organizations interested in the cause to pool their resources and mobilize their efforts to help resolve the daunting problem of Child Labor in Pakistan.
7. Believes that Child Labor cannot be done away with in a short time in the abject conditions prevalent in Pakistan, but that it has to be progressively eliminated.
8. Implores for its immediate prohibition in its most intolerable forms.
9. Desires that displaced Child Labor shall be rehabilitated in schools and that needy parents be given financial assistance.
10. Insists that law enforcement shall be strengthened, Zakat and Bait-ul-Mal should be fully mobilized for the purpose.
11. Appeals to the Government and the organizations of workers and employers, as well as the NGOs, to ensure that the curse of Child Labor shall be eliminated within an agreed time frame.

MEDIA PROJECTION ROLE:

The presence of media in highlighting an issue is imperative as media has a designated position as the "eyes and ears" of society and also as the representative channel for the collective conscience of the nation. The presence of media is essential to focus on the contentious issues that are pertinent to the existence of any country. The presence of media is important to reflect the attitudinal state of societal policies so as to present these thru realistic coverage.

In Pakistan, there has been a divergence between the national print media and the official electronic media. Over the past years, the issue of Child Labor has been prominently placed in the newspapers and magazines and there has been investigative reporting too. However, many in the print media toed the line espoused by certain NGOs and this version of the NGOs aggravated the issue in a negative manner. The spin-doctors in government went into denial mode but since they were not convincing enough, especially on the international front, the result was detrimental to the nation. The world media took advantage of the figures being quoted by NGOs and after adding spice to these statistics, they succeeded in projecting a frightful scenario of the Child Labor position in Pakistan.

The media image of the child in Pakistan vividly flashed the child as being a vulnerable victim of society’s harsh economic realities and that on the child’s small shoulders lay the onus of the family’s livelihood. The media image of the child in Pakistan intensely showed the child being deprived of education, being subjected to brutal working conditions, and being denied basic facilities of survival. The media image of the child in Pakistan brazenly depicted the child as being disallowed recreational time, of being isolated from children of the same age group, and of being prey to physical, mental, and sexual abuse.

The print media also kept on projecting the press releases of high government functionaries who maintained that there were just a few distorted cases of Child Labor in Pakistan and that the notion that there are a large number of economically active children was just a figment of imagination or the handiwork of NGOs out to procure donor funding. The news of documented cases of Child Labor were discounted vigorously by officials, and those social workers who dared to expose Child Labor activities were hounded, and at times even imprisoned. Zafaryab Ahmed, a Lahore-based journalist, is one such example.

The electronic media, especially television, continued to ignore this issue and the TV censor officials put paid to any exposé on Child Labor. A case in point is the total censorship of a Pakistan Business Update program on Child Labor a few years ago. Until some time back, PTV was flagrantly indifferent towards this issue. Recently, it has brought the issue into limelight thru TV drama serials or thru news projection, such as the Global March on Child Labor in 1998. The organization of this Workshop to discuss the role of media in combating Child labor is a good augury and proves the concern of the PTV hierarchy over the issue.

MEDIA VIGILANCE ROLE:

The national media has to play an important role in presenting before the viewers the ground realities of the issue of Child Labor. It is important that concerted efforts be initiated to assertively deal with the subject. The ostrich-type attitude must be shed and there has to be a proactive approach in projecting the issue in the national interest. The time is ripe to ensure that the positive aspects are strongly emphasized and the negative outcomes are outlined in a way that they become advantage points for the country.

The nation’s soccer ball manufacturers were at the receiving end of the FoulBall campaign initiated in North America. The country was directly targeted thru a heavy bombardment of negative publicity in the Western media, and was on the verge of losing substantial soccer ball orders, especially with the Football World Cup on the horizon. Fortunately, the enlightened manufacturers took the initiative and signed a historical agreement to eliminate Child Labor from stitching soccer balls. The Partners Agreement inked in Atlanta paved the way for a social partnership between the domestic manufacturers and global brand names. The efforts paid off and Pakistan managed to bag orders for over 40,000 soccer balls for the World Cup.

US President Bill Clinton in his keynote address to the ILO Conference on June 16, 1999 in Geneva graciously highlighted the success of the program. Singling out Pakistan’s endeavors, President Clinton stated: "Let me cite just one example of the success being achieved, the work being done to eliminate Child Labor from the soccer ball industry in Pakistan. Two years ago, thousands of children under the age of 14 worked for 50 companies stitching soccer balls full-time. The industry, the ILO and UNICEF joined together to remove children from the production of soccer balls and give them a chance to go to school, and to monitor the results. Today, the work has been taken up by women in 80 poor villages in Pakistan, giving them new employment and their families new stabilities. Meanwhile, the children have started to go to school, so that when they come of age, they will be able to do better jobs raising the standard of living of their families, their villages and their nation. I thank all who were involved in this endeavor and ask others to follow their lead."

The Business Recorder, in its editorial "Prospects of elimination of Child Labor" published in the June 24, 1999 issue, commenting on the President’s statement wrote: "It is flattering indeed for the people of Pakistan to learn of US President, Bill Clinton’s reference to this country as an example of elimination of Child Labor from a segment of its small scale industry. The intensity of his remarks will appear to have been enhanced by the occasion, which had its own importance. It was the first ever speech by an American President to the ILO, providing him with the opportunity to laud its achievements on an issue of great concern to the United States and other developed countries."

The television authorities should have taken a tip from the US President’s commendation for Pakistan’s program and should have produced and telecast a documentary on this mammoth achievement. The utilization of PTV World for this program would have scored substantial points for Pakistan. The efforts of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry, ILO-IPEC, UNICEF, Save the Children Fund (UK), and certain NGOs, should have been glorified. PTV has not taken advantage of this pivotal endorsement of the country’s program to eliminate Child Labor.

About four years ago, the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry sent a query to the ILO office in Islamabad regarding the source of the figures on Child Labor/Bonded Labor in Pakistan quoted by ILO in its "World Labor Report 1993". The report stated that: "The ILO’s committee of experts has noted reports which estimate that 20 million people (of whom 7.5 million are children) are working as Bonded Laborers." In reply, the then ILO Islamabad Director, Rueben Dudley, wrote: "On investigation, it was found that it was based on an NGO report from Pakistan, which was presented at the international conference, quoted in international publications and in turn reported by ILO. We have since found that the original report was not based on any scientific study by any organization or the ILO. Therefore, we wish to categorically state that the figures are not ILO figures."

It was later revealed that the NGO was the Bonded Labor Liberation Front run by Ehsanullah Khan, of Iqbal Masih fame, who is now a fugitive from justice. Moreover, what was disheartening was that other NGOs also adopted this figure for their own ulterior motives, completely disregarding national interest. Luckily, the bubble of anti-Pakistan propaganda campaign in a section of the Western press was burst by ILO’s own admission that the figures were cooked up. The fact of the matter is that neither PTV, nor most of the print media, seriously made moves to assist in denouncing those who presented these outrageous figures to the world community.

The June 16, 1999 issue of the prestigious The Washington Post carries an article entitled "Pakistani Youth Become Focus of a Campaign Against Child Labor: Hazardous Conditions Cited in Shops Making Surgical Tools" by William Branigin, a Staff Writer. This article focuses on the child workers of Sialkot who are employed in the manufacture of surgical tools. It states that according to ILO and the Punjab Labor Welfare Department, about 7,500 children under the age of 14 help make surgical instruments in Sialkot, accounting for 15% of the town’s 50,000 workers in that industry. What is more ironic is that on the same day as this article was published, US President Clinton was applauding the elimination of Child Labor in soccer ball stitching also in Sialkot.

It is imperative upon PTV and the newspapers to counter the new propaganda being unleashed against another foreign exchange earning industry of Pakistan. After the carpet weaving and the soccer ball stitching negative campaign, this new scenario could hurt the surgical tools industry severely and it could prove very disastrous. There is need to initiate damage control steps urgently, and the media can play a decisive role in this matter.

MEDIA PROACTIVE ROLE:

The critical application of mass communication channels and the active participation of journalists and communicators can be strategically beneficial in disseminating of ideas and creating consciousness raising situations in a short time frame. The media has the outreach, competence, and the ability to reach the maximum number of people who are crucially wanted to arouse public opinion. The media must be in possession of hard data and also official encouragement to determine the modus operandi for popularization of the issue and also for the initiation of investigative reporting. The mobilization of the media, especially the government-controlled electronic media, has become an important necessity because the conventional legal and regulatory approaches have not succeeded in the manner. Extensive coverage on PTV can be the catalyst that is so imperatively needed to induce strengthening of the regulatory enforcement system because public opinion will definitely sway favorably towards tackling the scourge of Child Labor due to this widespread coverage. It would also be considered official sanction or approval if the issue were broadly telecast on PTV.

PTV can embark upon a synchronized program schedule on this subject. There are various avenues available towards achieving the goal. The first and foremost step is that gradually the authorities must bring into the open the tragic issue of Child Sexual Abuse. Although societal norms in Pakistan are hindrances towards speaking out openly on this issue, the time is right to shed these inhibitions that society has put on. The blackout of news on Child Sexual Abuse must end, open forum discussions must be organized, and horrid anecdotes must be brought up front.

PTV must also take concrete steps to flash the issue of Child Labor thru various means. PTV shows telops and commercials for various social causes, such as AIDS, population planning, smoking, etc. This is a simple method that PTV can utilize to convey the message that the child has the right to childhood and that the future generation of Pakistan should not be sacrificed at the altars of a brick kiln, soccer ball stitching, carpet weaving, and begging on the streets, etc. Media advocacy can be a powerful tool in steering positive opinions and persuasive arguments for any cause. In fact, success stories can be shared with the viewers and these can be channelized as pragmatic motives towards elimination of Child Labor.

There is a growing stress on the fundamental human, moral, and ethical concern for children and it should be noted that this concern cannot be argued away as a "protectionist strategy" of Western countries. A ILO document prepared in 1994 states: "Social clauses are the guarantees that a growing number of advocates wish to incorporate in international trade agreements to ensure that the gradual liberalization of markets is accompanied by improvements in conditions of work, or atleast by the elimination of the most flagrant abuses and forms of exploitation. Through the social clauses, either the access of exporting countries to international markets is made conditional on compliance with certain basic ILO standards, or more concretely: a link is established between the lowering of barriers to trade and compliance with certain labor and social protection standards to the extent that the latter affect production costs." This is proof positive that that Pakistan has to pursue a genuinely active policy in order to ensure social progress since trade liberalization and social advancement tango together.

Since PTV is gradually going global, is viewed in over 35 countries, and with more official encouragement, there will surely be wider coverage of the PTV network. The growing universal concern for social clause enforcement, e.g. Child Labor, especially in targeted countries like Pakistan, is a serious matter. The hostile propaganda against use of Child Labor in this country can be neutralized if successful efforts, such as the Sialkot soccer ball manufacturers’ initiatives to totally eliminate Child Labor, the carpet manufacturers’ drive to cut down Child Labor, and the effectiveness of NGOs, like Bunyad, Sudhar, Insan Foundation, SPARC, etc are projected with sincerity. At the same time, activities of the three social partners of IPEC, such as Employers’ Federation of Pakistan, Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research, Bait-ul-Mal, Pakistan National Textile, Leather & Garments Federation, and Pakistan Paediatric Association, etc need to be given the spotlight.

The Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention states that "the worst forms of Child Labor" comprises use of children in:

• All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage, forced labor, etc.
• Prostitution and pornography, etc.
• Illegal activities, such as trafficking of drugs, etc.
• Work activities that are likely to harm the health, safety, or morals of children.

In this connection, there is need for massive publicity for government-sponsored schemes to generate income and promote self-employment. The various programs announced by the government can also be effectively profiled to find alternate income generation for displaced Child Labor. SMEDA is a case in point. This organization can be useful in assisting families to set up small ventures on family basis or on cooperative basis, and that thru the expertise provided by SMEDA, the families can channel their resources and talents to productive use. PTV can be of immense assistance in promoting SMEDA activities and showing how children can study and at the same time put in some hours at the workplace. Research has shown that children usually benefit from a generally stable home environment and supportive family relations. This is a whole lot more preferred than a situation where children are subjected to authority in a non-familial setting, and where they are exposed to all kinds of abuse.

PRIORITY RESOLUTION:

The national media is thus at a vantage position to be the watchdog in attaining the objective of combating Child Labor. To recapitulate the role of media in this respect, the following Priority Resolution needs to be adopted:

• Spearheading the process to recognize the importance of the rights of children.
• Emphasizing the in-depth coverage and reportage of child-related issues thru investigative and anecdotal stories.
• Influencing assertive decisions by policy planners affecting children’s interests.
• Formulating self-imposed codes of conduct in projection of children issues.
• Establishing programs to sensitize the public and to achieve change in attitudes and perception towards child-related matters.

Finally, it is imperative that the views expressed by Ms. Bilge Ogu n Bassani, Deputy Director, UNICEF, Geneva, are noted:

"The goal of eradicating Child Labor is complex, and a great challenge to all involved. First and foremost, the developing countries, their governments, people and industries must act against Child Labor. But in this new global village --- instantaneously connected by satellite, internet, CNN and, not least, the workings of the global economy --- all of us are interconnected and cann contribute to achieving this goal. If all sectors of society, including governments, NGOs, private sector industries, trade unions, employer’s organizations and international bodies like UNICEF and the ILO, collectively decide it’s no longer acceptable that children carry the burden of helping to feed their families or contribute to their country’s export economy, the first and foremost step will have been taken: the call and will for action."