Minister launches drive for curbing child labour

Main cause of child labour is increasing unemployment, Ansar Majeed says

Punjab Minister for Labour and Human Resources Ansar Majeed Khan yesterday launched an awareness campaign to combat child labour.

Addressing the launch ceremony here, he said approximately 180 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 around the globe were working as labourers. He said that child labour was a crime and those responsible for it must be penalised.

Majeed said that the main cause of child labour in Pakistan was increasing unemployment, which had pushed many families below the poverty line.

The minister said the government was making efforts to eradicate child labour, and that was why the issue was given priority in the 100-days agenda of the government.