Daily Times

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Labour Department on Thursday has launched its first ever Child Labour Survey 2022-23 conducted across all districts of the province including the newly merged districts in a ceremony held here at a local hotel.

KP Child Labour Survey 2022-23 is the second provincial survey in Pakistan, after Punjab, it was said during the event attended by the officials of various government departments, representatives of UN agencies, civil society organizations, donor agencies and academia.

This survey collected data from 49,734 households including 5,976 urban and 43,758 rural, achieving a response rate of 92.5 percent despite harsh weather and security challenges, especially in the Newly Merged Districts.

According to the survey report, the child population of age between 5 and 17 years is approximately 8.28m in the province, adding that 11.1 percent of them are working children; of which 80 percent are in child labour while 73.8 percent of them are working in hazardous conditions.

Referring to the population from 14 – 17 years, it said that 21.6 percent were working children and 15.5 percent were in child labour or hazardous work respectively.

The report revealed that the major four industries for child labour included agriculture, forestry and fishing at 51.6 percent; water collection at 19.1 percent; wholesale and retail trade at 9.7 percent and manufacturing at 7.7 percent.

The causes of children being in labour are multi-dimensional, it said adding that these include, head of household having no or primary education only 44.7 percent, household being in the poorest wealth condition 31.8 percent, household being the beneficiary of BISP’s assistance 26.3 percent, migration of the head of household 14.6percent, and household losing at least one parent 6.6 percent.

The KP-CLS report also provided a detailed analysis of the effects of child labour on children which include physical and psychological effects, limiting their equitable opportunities to be fully educated, abuse at work places, economic exploitation and health consequences, etc.

It said child labour has been historically a huge issue with negative consequences on the development and wellbeing of children and a challenge for government and other actors to address. Having greater realization of this, Labour Department with the support from UNICEF and Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) took a bold step towards filing the evidence gap and conducted an in-depth survey across all districts of the province, including New Merged Districts (NMDs). KP Child Labour Survey 2022-23 is the second provincial survey in Pakistan, after Punjab.

The chief guest of the event Riaz Anwar Khan, Advisor to the Chief Minister for Labour Department, while addressing the forum said, ‘now that we have the findings from this unique survey and its recommendations, it becomes utmost important and obligatory on all of us especially those engaged in the policy making to take these findings serious and utilize it for wider policy reforms and programmes necessary for the eradication of child labour’.

Secretary Labour, Muhammad Fakhre Alam, emphasized that the enormous amount of resources invested in the KP-CLS was just the beginning of a new long-term initiative and commitment of KP government and Labour Department. Now that we have sufficient understanding of the child labour issue in the province, the next logical step is ensuring the full utilization of this evidence for policy reforms and designing programmes to eradicate child labour and provide children decent living and equitable opportunities for education and development, he said and added, to achieve this vision, we look forward and welcome collaborations and support from all relevant stakeholders and partners.

Mrs. Jo Moir, Development Director, British High Commission Islamabad said child labour is a global issue but of particular importance in Pakistan.

She also highlighted that approximately 35 percent of reported child abuse cases across Pakistan were in the workplace, adding the drivers of child labour are complex including poverty and social behavior that push children into labour which in turn deprive them of their right to education and health.

She also emphasized that the drivers of child labour were multi-faceted and call for multi-sectoral and collective response.

She appreciated the Labour Department’s efforts and urged for improving the governance to deliver on the international and national commitments and engaging communities to change social norms that condone child labour.

She also emphasized on the need for supporting parents and families to access better opportunities for their children.

Abdullah Fadil, Representative UNICEF Pakistan extended his appreciation of the Labour Ministry and the Labour Department for successfully completing the KP-CLS and launching its report to a wider group of government department, donors, UN agencies, academia and civility society.

He urged the audience to use this data and evidence for further in-depth scientific studies, policy analyses and influencing equitable allocation of public resources to help address the issues of children involved in labour and their families.

He also addressed the stakeholders from various civil society organizations, academia and social activists and asked them to use this data to generate social discourse around this social problem and positive social and behavior change aiming at the eradication of child labour.

He also emphasized on the fact that since eradicating child labour would require long term commitment and investments therefore invited the donor fraternity and other investment agencies for taking advantage of this rich data and evidence and supporting policies, programmes and social change initiatives to help government address this issue comprehensively and holistically.

He urged all the stakeholders and the government to take pragmatic steps while using this evidence of the survey to change the conditions in which these children are living and promise them better future’.