Pakistan President Dr Arif Alvi said on Wednesday that the government is committed to solving the problems faced by the working class of the country and honour all the international agreements.
He was talking to a delegation of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research (Piler), a labour rights body, at the Governor House in Karachi.
Piler Director Karamat Ali presented Dr Alvi with a memorandum regarding a key reforms agenda of the civil society about the improvement of human rights and labour rights situation in the country with regard to the implementation of 27 international treaties under the European Union’s Generalised Scheme of Preference Plus.
The president said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government has already initiated a number of welfare projects, such as health cards and the Ehsaas programme, as well as reformed the Benazir Income Support Programme for the poor — all of which are focused on the working class.
He assured the Piler delegation that he would ask the relevant departments under the federal and provincial governments to convene tripartite labour conferences to evolve a coordination mechanism on formulating new laws after the 18th amendment in order to bring them in conformity with the international commitments and constitutional provisions.
Dr Alvi said that the government is also working for the well-being of persons with disabilities, especially children with disabilities, and trying to provide education to students with some disabilities at normal schools so that they can become valuable members of society.
The Piler delegation said the Centre should conduct an immediate review of all the laws concerning labour and human rights to bring them in conformity with the international commitments and constitutional provisions, adding that this may be followed up by making appropriate institutional arrangements to implement these laws and policies.
Piler’s director said the federal government may consider providing a national framework to address the anomalies resulting from the 18th amendment and also to ensure that any policy and legislation at provincial levels are in compliance with the International Labour Organisation conventions and constitutional provisions.
Ali also drew the attention of the president towards the plight of rural workers, especially those associated with the agriculture sector. The Piler director said that a large number of rural populace is landless and without shelter.
“While the government has already started a housing programme for those without shelter and the unprivileged, we believe that land reforms are essential to ending poverty and marginalisation,” he added.
“We urge the government to start distributing state land among landless haris as a first step. There are multiple studies that suggest that enough state land is available to distribute five to seven acres of cultivable land to each landless family.”
Sharing the problems of the civil society with Dr Alvi, he pointed out that the previous governments had introduced a policy for national-level non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international NGOs in 2013 and 2015 respectively.
Both the policies, formulated in a non-consultative manner, are restrictive in nature and in contradiction of Article 17 and the commitments made under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, added Ali.
He said that due to these policies, it is becoming very difficult for civil society organisations to continue working smoothly. He suggested that a task force comprising senior government officials, experts from the private sector and civil society representatives may be formed to find a workable solution to provide an enabling environment to NGOs.