RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: Child labour has reduced in Pakistan as the country has shown noticeable progress in cutting the child labour.

According to the Global Childhood Report 2019 issued by Save the Children, Pakistan’s score on the Childhood Index has gone up from 540 in 2000 to 626 in 2019 as the country has shown significance progress in cutting child labour; however there is still a lot of work to be done.

The Global Childhood Report 2019 which was launched on Monday during the closing ceremony of the “Children’s Action Against Oppression and Neglect” (CHAON), a project funded by the IKEA Foundation, evaluates 176 countries on children’s access to healthcare, education, nutrition and protection from harmful practices like child labour and child marriage.

As per the report, the vast majority of the world’s refugees – 85 percent – are hosted in developing countries, with one-third of the global total in the world’s least developed countries. This compares to about 70 percent in developing countries in the early 2000s.

Turkey hosts more refugees than any other country (3.6 million), followed by Pakistan (1.4 million). There are also more children living in conflict zones today, and those children are more at risk than at any point in this millennium, it says.

The report says that at least 280 million children have a better chance to grow up healthy, educated and safe than at any time in the past two decades.

Ambassador of Sweden Ingrid Johannson speaking on the occasion said all children have a right to education but unfortunately still too many are without.

“I would like to stress that the first and foremost priority issue needing undivided attention in this country is providing access to primary education especially by creating opportunities for children,” he said.

He said that effective steps are mandatory for abolishing child labour. The Government of Pakistan and all institutions must mobilise around effective legislation and also effective implementation of already existing legal rights to free and compulsory education for children, he said.

MNA Nafeesa Khattak said that well-being of children is something that the government alone cannot do. The organisations and civil societies have to come out and be the eyes and ears for the government, she said.

Farhatullah Babar, former senator, said that there are better facilities for children worldwide than there were a decade ago but in Pakistan unfortunately, things are not good for the children because it has not been on the agenda of the government and political parties.

Ghufran Hashmi from Save the Children shared the process of analysing the situation of children in Pakistan and formulating a country strategy to address their needs.

He also explained motivation behind the Global Childhood Report 2019 of how it demonstrates positive change for children and analyses gaps in 176 countries in terms of provision of child rights.

Deputy Head DFID Kemi Williams said, “Non-governmental organisations serve the poorest and are able to get to the places that larger organisations like the one I work for cannot reach, they have the support and trust of the local communities they serve and they have been here for long.”

Mohammad Qazalbash of Oxfam said that the problem here does not lie with the legislation or the constitution; it lies with the implementation of those directives, in which the government along with the civil society has a role to play.

“But for me, as a citizen of Pakistan it is also my role to uphold the rights of children in Pakistan,” he added.