Combating child labour in the carpet industry in Pakistan (Phase II)

The project was aimed at eliminating child labour from the hand-knotted carpet industry in Pakistan. However, the project’s action programmes were specifically targeted at the high concentration carpet-weaving areas in the districts of Sheikhupara, Gujranwala and Hafizabad in Punjab province. The project’s aim was pursued through following interrelated components, namely: (i) WORKPLACE MONITORING AND PREVENTION – which itself consists of two interlinked mechanisms, namely; (a) internal monitoring system, which was carried out by the participating manufacturers, to provide information to the ILO; and (b) external monitoring system, to verify the information collected by the internal monitoring system, which was conducted by the ILO. (ii) SOCIAL PROTECTION COMPONENT – which included following sub-components: (a) provision of primary-level education to carpet-weaving children and their siblings through non-formal education centres; (b) pre-vocational education for carpet-weaving children enrolled in the NFEs; (c) income generation and microcredit for families of carpet-weaving children. In addition, a study on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Risk Assessment of Child Workers in the Carpet Industry was conducted by the Centre for the Improvement of Working Conditions & Environment, Punjab Labour Department. A comprehensive survey on child labour in the carpet industry in Punjab was also conducted in 2001 which estimated that more than 100,000 child weavers were active in the industry with the highest concentrations in eight districts, namely, Sheikhupura, Multan, Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh, Kasur, Vehari, Jhang and Narowal.

Project symbol

PAK/02/50/USA

Admin unit

CO-Islamabad

Start date

30/09/2002

End date

30/09/2007

Total allocation

3373674

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

3373674

Development Partners

USA, United States Department of Labor, Bureau for International Labor Affairs, Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking

Country/Countries

Pakistan

Outcomes

Child Labour