National workshop on fundamental principles and rights at work and occupational safety & health in the cotton supply chain

The ILO convened a two days National Consultative Workshop on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and Occupational Safety & Health in the Cotton Supply Chain.

Press release | Karachi, Pakistan | 22 April 2019
KARACHI (ILO News): The ILO convened a two days National Consultative Workshop on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and Occupational Safety & Health in the Cotton Supply Chain on 26-27 March 2019 at Karachi with the objectives
  1. to enhance awareness on FPRW in the cotton, textile and garment value chains;
  2. to engage participants for presenting the business case of promoting FPRW in supply chains; and
  3. to share the recent OSH development in Pakistan and its relevance to the supply chains. As a cross-cutting theme the Consultative Workshop looked the role that Labour Inspection can play in reaching in particular the lower tiers of the cotton supply chain.

The consultation was jointly supported by the Dutch funded “Strengthening labour Inspection System in Pakistan", EU & ILO co-funded Project on Eliminating Child Labour and Forced Labour in the Cotton, Textile and Garment Value Chains: An Integrated Approach, and INDITEX funded Project on Promoting Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in the Cotton Value Chains.

This national consultation was organised as a follow-up of the Strategic Planning Workshop held on 11-13 September, 2018 in Islamabad setting priorities for EU & ILO co-funded Project on Eliminating Child Labour and Forced Labour in the Cotton, Textile and Garment Value Chains: An Integrated Approach, and INDITEX funded Project on Promoting Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in the Cotton Value Chains.

The consultation was attended by around 60 participants representing Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Provincial Departments of Labour Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan, Employers’ Federation of Pakistan (EFP), Pakistan Workers’ Federation (PWF) and other trade unions, Agriculture Extension Department, Food and Agriculture Organisation, Better Cotton Initiative, INDITEX, Central Cotton Research Institute, Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association, Academia, Industry and Civil Society Organisations.

To achieve the set objectives of this consultative workshop the first day focused on the Occupational Health and Safety in the Cotton Supply Chain whereas the second day concentrated on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in Cotton Supply Chain. On first day, the technical sessions on “Safety and Health in the Cotton Supply Chain” was led by Ms Ingrid Christensen, ILO Country Office for Pakistan and the second day’s technical session on “The importance of FPRW in cotton, textile and garment value chains”” and “Promoting FPRW in Global Supply Chains” were respectively delivered by the two international experts Mr Insaf Nizam, Specialist, FPRW ILO DWT South Asia and Mr Lorenzo Guarcello, Programme Manager, Fundamentals, Geneva.

This workshop strengthened the participants’ understanding of the FPRW and OSH and the role of labour inspection with particular focus on the cotton supply chain.

During the workshop, a panel discussion comprising of tripartite plus stakeholders i.e. Government, EFP, PWF, BCI, Singh Agricultural University and relevant industries was arranged on the situation of FPRW in cotton, textile and garment value chains of Pakistan defining the way forward.

Speaking to the concluding ceremony, from the Government side Mr Daud Abdullah, Director, DoL Punjab applauded the ILO’s consistent support towards the Government of Pakistan’s all departments mandated to protect the labour rights and promote social justice. Mr Aslam Wafa, representing the PWF spoke about the prevalent challenges being faced by the workers of the rural economy and thanked the ILO, Dutch, EU and INDITEX for coming forward in their support. Mr Ahmed Noorani speaking on behalf of EFP said that such interventions are the need of the hour as 70% of the labour force is dependent upon agriculture sector. He also requested to gear up more practical actions by engaging stakeholders at the grassroots level.

The workshop participants gave recommendations, proposed strategy and actions for federal, provincial and district level interventions under the both cotton projects. The possible recommendations of the stakeholders will be incorporated in the already defined work-plans for the EU and INDITEX funded cotton projects for achieving set objectives of the projects.