Pakistan begins to reduce child labour, but still have a lot's of problems to solve

In only six towns along the Arabian Sea coast in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, some 5,000 children work as deep sea fishermen, said Saifullah Chaudhry, an official with the International Labor Organization.

Photo: Pakistan begins to reduce child labour, but still have a lot's of problems to solve

In recent years, Pakistan had faced international pressure to eliminate child labor in the making of foot balls, famed for their quality and they exported to Europe and the United States.

By 2001, Pakistan had been able to achieve "100 percent reduction in child labor" in stitching soccer balls, said Ahmet Ozmirak, a consultant with ILO in Pakistan.

Ozmirak said child labor has also been reduced in weaving carpets and in the manufacture of surgical instruments, an industry that like soccer making is based in the eastern city of Sialkot.

The decline inchild labor has been achieved in part by consumer pressure and efforts jointly by ILO and the Pakistani government, he said.

In 2003,Pakistan had 3.3 million child workers between 5 and 14-year-old, according to the ILO.

The organization did not have latest numbers for child workers in Pakistan or how many of them worked in making foot balls at that time, the AP reports.

Chaudhry and Ozmirak were speaking at the launch of ILO's report on global child labor.

A massive earthquake that struck Pakistan's northwest and its portion of Kashmir in November last year also put more children into the workplace, the report said.

The magnitude-7.6 quake left more than 80,000 people dead and over three million homeless.