BY

(Presented at the Seminar on "Protection of Child Labor in Pakistan" organized by PAKISTAN INSTITUTE OF LABOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH – KARACHI at Embassy Hotel, Karachi on Dec. 16-17, 1998)

CHILD LABOR is a multi-dimensional issue with each element more critical than the other. It has social connotations, it has economic ramifications, and it has political implications. CHILD LABOR is a phenomenon that has existed for centuries in nearly all parts of the world and in most of the countries at various stages of their development. CHILD LABOR is a concern that has gripped the contemporary world because of its complexity, its overwhelming presence, and its sensitivity.

The employers are important partners in the program to eliminate Child Labor and that the employers, especially in the formal sector, have a more decisive role to play in ensuring the total elimination of Child Labor. There are five broad categories thru which the employers can assume an action-oriented approach to achieve the objectives in a fairly substantial way.

The following five categories are essential ingredients and can serve as pragmatic guidelines in varied respects for the Pakistany employers:

• Extensive awareness-raising among the business and industrial community.
• Programs to prevent Child Labor in designated sectors.
• Positive assistance for efforts directed towards the removal and rehabilitation of Child Labor.
• Application of sector-based or industry-based codes of conduct.
• Promotion of certification schemes for specific products.

These categories are applicable to all sectors of the economy, organized or unorganized, formal or informal, and industrial or corporate. The Pakistany employers, as a rule, hired workers of all ages as per their requirements or as per the culture prevalent in their organization. The issue of Child Labor did not concern employers as this problem was more a domain of the NGOs or other Human Rights associations. The issue of Child Labor took on intensity for those employers who were involved in the export business since their buyers began to stipulate that children should not manufacture their products. The issue of Child Labor became a serious matter when some factories were raided and the owners penalized by the Labor Departments.

The industrial and business community, especially in the formal sector, began to take the issue of Child Labor in its true perspective when the governments in Western countries took cognizance of the campaigns initiated by the Western media, the trade unions, and the myriad human rights organizations. The involvement of ILO thru adoption of ILO Convention 138 and the establishment of International Programme for Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) energized the issue and generated a powerful debate all over the world.

The Pakistany government downplayed the problem by continuing to deny the gravity of this issue and gave tacit support to those industries where Child Labor was more intense. The carpet manufacturers, the soccer ball manufacturers, and the brick kilns were primarily targeted by the Child Labor activists. These industries did not accept the accusations levied against them and considered all this hullabaloo as mere propaganda and a campaign to drive the country out of the world market.

However, the manufacturers realized that the time had come when they had to be pragmatic and had to do some serious rethinking if they wanted to stay competitive in the global market and if they wanted their products to be universally acceptable. This wisdom dawned on them after they became aware of the steps taken by the Americans and the Europeans to induce and agitate the process of elimination of Child Labor.

The employers’ organizations took upon the mantle to raise awareness among the employers and to inculcate the social, moral, and humanitarian ramifications of the issue. The Employers’ Federation of Pakistan took the rightful lead in bringing the issue to the fore and to coordinate with IPEC, government, and the NGOs, to bring about a more acceptable and systematic way to raise the conscious of those employers who were apathetic to the seriousness of the problem. At the same time, the enlightened industrialists in the soccer and carpet industries also took the initiative to gradually eliminate the use of children to produce their products.

The following are some of the projects and efforts undertaken by employer organizations to eliminate Child Labor:

1. : EMPLOYERS’ FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN:

The EFP is the representative body of all industrial and commercial organizations and deals with issues related to Human Resources Development. It is a member of International Organization of Employers and its President is the titular member of ILO Governing Body. Its nominees are on various boards and committees and it has played a definitive role in the formulation of labor policies and in lobbying for the cause of industries and corporations.

The EFP has been the first employer organization to set up a Network of Employers for Protection of Working Children in association with ILO-IPEC. The EFP organized 14 seminars all over the country to raise awareness among different segments of society. It now plans to establish a network of focal points at all of the 14 cities in which seminars were held. In 1999, six more seminars will be held in other cities and then these 20 places will be designated as focal points. The strategy of this programme is to set up an alliance that can serve as an observer and pressure group at local levels. EFP will support the 20 focal points by providing training, information, and advocacy material, and coordinate the activities of 60 volunteers (3 per focal point).

The EFP is also a member of the National Steering Committee which has held nine meetings since its formation. Moreover, the EFP has published an EFP Newsletter on Child Labor. The author is the Editor of this newsletter. The Managing Committee members of EFP have represented Pakistany employers at various forums around the world and in Pakistan too and they have forcefully projected the issue with sincerity and with a sense of purpose.

The EFP has also set up the Skill Development Councils in association with the Government of Pakistan, ILO, and the World Bank. The SDCs in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta are also planning to take up projects for the removal and rehabilitation of Child Labor.

2. : SPORTS GOODS MANUFACTURERS:

On February 14, 1997, the ILO-IPEC, UNICEF, and the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (in association with All Pakistan Sporting Goods Association) signed an historical Partner’s Agreement for the creation of a Project to Eliminate Child Labor in the Soccer Ball Industry in Pakistan. The total cost of the project is US$ 1.5 million and it will also have the cooperation of Save The Children – UK, Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal, and Bunyad Literacy Community Council.

The project entered its third phase on October 01, 1998. By this time, the participating manufacturers were required to shift 50% of their estimated annual production to the stitching units/centers. The progress report reflects the news that the target has been achieved. The project has been widely acclaimed as an effective and worthwhile venture and it will surely culminate in the elimination of working children in this industry. Even the sporting goods industry of India in Jullundhar has decided to adopt this agreement and they are sending a team to Sialkot to study the progress of the agreement.

The BLCC, a NGO run by Shaheen Atiqur Rahman, has also achieved its target of opening 154 Umang Talimi Centers under the Social Protection Program of the Partner’s Agreement. 120 of these Centers are fully functional and are providing non-formal education, counseling, and health services to 5400 children, besides creating awareness among the communities.

3. : CARPET MANUFACTURERS:

The ILO-IPEC and the Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Association also signed a Partners Agreement on October 22, 1998 during the visit of Mr Kari Tapiola, Deputy Director-General ILO, in Islamabad. This Agreement is on the same pattern as the one signed by soccer manufacturers. This is also a time-bound agreement under which Child Labor will be eliminated within 24 months. The total cost of this project is also US$ 1.5 million and the funds will be provided by the United States Government.

The PCMEA and BLCC have also implemented IPEC supported programs for child carpet weavers in two villages in districts Sheikhpura and Hafizabad in Punjab. This project provided rehabilitative services, such as non-formal education, counseling, skill development, and recreation. The success of this project led to its replication in four new carpet-weaving communities in Shareefpura (Lahore district), Talwandi (Narowal district), Vern (Sheikhpura district), and Kaleki Mandi (Hafizabad).

There is a need to ensure that the various programs and plans are not only visualized but put into practice and then sustained. The Social Protection Program as envisaged under the Partner’s Agreement with the soccer ball manufacturers is designed to guarantee that the children and the families do not undergo negative after-effects following removal from the workplace. The main components of the program are:

• Savings and Credit Scheme: The families of Child Labor are organized into village associations which manage pooled money and use this pool to start new income generating projects. Vocational training and other training programs to manage money are provided so that new skills are developed.
• Education: Bunyad and Bait-ul-Mal are establishing 18 Village Education and Action Centers to provide non-formal education and literacy training. Communities will be involved to determine their educational needs and School Management Committees will be formed in every village.
• Women’s Stitching Centers: Save the Children – UK in collaboration with soccer manufacturers is establishing women’s groups to stitch soccer balls near their homes. This is a practical move because of cultural constraints which make it difficult for women to travel to stitching centers away from their villages. This plan will ensure that women supplement the family income since their earning powers are retained.
• Social Monitoring: This segment seeks to follow children and their families during the duration of the project to determine the impact of the changes in industry on them. It will keep detailed records of family incomes, education, school attendance, and changes in attitudes, etc.
• Awareness-Raising: This is an UNICEF project which will continue to provide awareness-raising programs about Child Labor to residents of rural communities. This project will insure that the villagers do not take recourse to sending their children to work to supplement their incomes.

The foreign importers are resorting heavily on establishing codes of conduct with their suppliers in Pakistan. The codes of conduct are commitments by the suppliers that they will have proper working conditions, that they will refrain from using children as workers, that they will provide health and safety features, and that they will abide by the labor laws of the country, etc. Most of the foreign buyers also demand disclosures, inspections, and monitoring systems by independent observers nominated by these buyers.

Another approach is the use of labels, such as "Rugmark" etc, which have specific social meaning for its sponsors. A labeling or certification scheme, often referred to as "voluntary social labeling", is meant to denote that the product has been produced in conformity with the labor standards of the producing country. Labeling has been developed by many retailers and manufacturers who have come under the criticism of governments and human rights organizations for getting products made in developing countries where Child Labor is involved.

However, the International Organization of Employers has certain technical misgivings about the use of social labels:

• The labeling schemes simplify the gravity of the problem by identifying only a small percentage of Child Labor. There is a strong possibility that the children will be taken away from organized units and transferred to cottage industries where conditions are generally less favorable.
• The labeling schemes may make the buyers "feel good" that the product is Child Labor free and the manufacturer may sustain or increase the product’s market share, but this "quick fix" will not solve the problem. The children may not be beneficiaries of educational opportunities, alternative sources of family income, or a marked increase in quality of life. In effect, the scheme may seriously damage the development of the child.
• The labeling scheme that promotes "No Child Labor" is no guarantee that children were not used in the manufacture of that particular product. Moreover, it is a fact that the whole component is not made by children anyway, and that it is difficult to distinguish between a totally "Child Labor Free" product and one in which some element of Child Labor was used. Furthermore, labeling or trade restrictions could punish genuine producers too who are not employing Child Labor.

The fact of the matter is that the enlightened employers sincerely understand the imperative need to eliminate Child Labor and they are gradually moving towards that direction. There is self-protection involved in this too, as is evident from the steps taken by the soccer ball manufacturers and the carpet producers.

The EFP has always maintained that it is for total elimination of Child Labor but that it cannot be done overnight nor it can be done as per the dictates of the Western governments. The pragmatic way is to first eliminate it in totality from hazardous industries or from those industries where there is a high risk of injurious nature to health and safety and to the human morale. The age of working children should also be proportionately increased.

The EFP has always maintained that the problem of Child Labor should be solved in a positive and active manner. It should not be made a subject of politics and polemics, stringent laws, withdrawal of trade benefits, or coercive measures. These will be counter-productive and will create negative reactions and difficulties.

The EFP has always maintained that mega problems such as over population, high illiteracy rate, massive unemployment, rising poverty figures, etc, have a direct bearing on the issue. It advocates a two-channel approach which should be adopted to deal with Child Labor. The governments have to attack these mega problems with a vengeance as only thru alleviation of these problems there can be effective implementation of programs to eliminate Child Labor, etc. The second approach is the gradual elimination of Child Labor at the micro-level. It advocates the elimination of Child Labor from organized sectors in the first phase as this is an attainable objective in the short-term. The removal of children in unorganized units may take extensive efforts and may involve a major operation.

The IOE has enumerated the following key lessons that has been learned by employer organizations:

1. It makes better financial and business sense for employers and their organizations to be involved in the issue of Child Labor proactively rather than reactively.
2. The importance of building effective alliances by involving like-minded partners to combat Child Labor.
3. The importance of prioritizing action since there is a much greater awareness of the scope and magnitude of Child Labor than ever before.

The time has come for the employers and the workers to join hands in taking the lead to solve this scourge of Child Labor. The task is difficult and there are many roadblocks. The commitment must be there in words and deeds. The resources are scarce but the objective is sacrosanct.

SITE ASSOCIATION OF INDUSTRY DEC. 16/1998

H-16, SITE, KARACHI, 75700