Socioeconomic Aspects of Child Labour- A Case Study of Children in Auto Workshops

Abstract

Federal Minister for Labour Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis, Omar Asghar Khan has announced the draft of the labour policy. The policy focuses on the law to eliminate child labour in the country. According to the Minister the law would be implemented from January 2001 and before the year 2005 there would be no child or bonded labour in Pakistan. Moreover, Under ILO obligation Pakistan has to achieve the objective of elimination of child and bonded labour by the year 2005. ILO plans to impose sanctions on the exports of those countries where child and bonded labour continues. Furthermore, the country has to abide with the convention of the International Labour Organization as a member of this club1. Most of the studies about child labour in Pakistan are based on micro-data. The present study/survey is another addition to the previous studies with some additional variables. The focus of the study is socioeconomic aspects of child labour in auto-workshops, as 18 per cent of child labour is engaged in this establishment2. Some comparisons between the conclusions of the present survey and that of the previous ones have also been made. On the basis, policy recommendations have also been proposed.