Employers, Unions, Civil Society In Webinar On GSP+ Call For Measures To Recover From COVID-19

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Jul, 2020 ) :Industrialists, exporters, human rights, labour rights and civil society activists and government functionaries have underlined the need to work in close coordination among all stakeholders to implement international conventions required to be implemented for continuation of Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) for Pakistan.

They were speaking at a Webinar, organized by Democracy Reporting International here on Tuesday, said a statement.

Advisor to Sindh Chief Minister for Human Rights Veerji Kolhi said that the provincial government has established a Treaty Implementation Cell which was overseeing implementation of the international commitment.

It was also creating awareness and promoting values and international conventions regarding human rights and labour rights.

Moreover, he pointed out that the Sindh government's Human Rights Department has recently set up an online 24-hour complaint cell against human rights violation in the province.

Chairperson, Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC) Justice (Retd.) Majida Rizvi said the provincial government has made record legislation pertaining to labour, women and minorities rights. A number of Commissions have been established in Sindh.

She said besides SHRC, the Sindh government has also established Sindh Commission on Status of Women (SCSW), Health Care Commission, Information Commission etc.

She said inter-departmental coordination is important. There was also need to have inter-provincial coordination among human right bodies. She said that due to COVID19, the commission was receiving labour related complaints.

Secretary General of Employers Federation of Pakistan (EFP), Syed Nazar Ali said that after getting GSP+, facility in 2014 the businessmen had fully supported the compliance. GSP-plus is also a tool for improving productivity, he added.

He said, "The EFP itself has developed a mechanism in which we ensure compliance and do social audit about compliance of labour standards." Speaking on the occasion, Executive Director of Pakistan Institute of Labour education and Research (PILER) Karamat Ali said that implementation of conventions under GSP+ Scheme was, in fact for the benefit of Pakistan's economy.

He said both the EFP and TUs should make a consensus law on trade union. The Trade Union Law of 1926 which was made in the united India with the efforts of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah should be re-enacted with a consensus, he added.

Senior businessmen and a former President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries Zubair Motiwala said GSP+ is an asset and blessing for Pakistan.

He said due to COVID-19 crisis the international markets have gone down by 40 percent.

He criticized the Sindh government's COVID-19 law in which the industries have been asked not retrench their workers and pay them full salaries.

Executive Director of NOW Communities and a Member of Tripartite Labour Standing Committee Ms. Farhat Perween said COVID-19 pandemic has created problems for workers.

She recalled that over 26% of unemployed workers were women and majority of them were of the age between 35 and 50 years.

She said the Sindh government had issued COVID-19 Ordinance, which was later made an Act, is not being implemented and the provincial Labour department has not done anything to implement it.

She said that food security was the major problem for the workers families. Health facilities were inadequate and common people were not able to access these facilities, she added.

Country Director of DRI Javed Malik in his welcome remarks said the Human rights should be mainstream issue.

He said textile sector was the main beneficiary, but there were many other sectors in Pakistan which were not taking benefit of the GSP+ scheme.

Zulfiqar Shah said that Pakistan's textile sector was the major beneficiary of the GSP+ scheme. Incentive of the scheme was conditional that the country should have implemented 27 international conventions.

All the participants declared the scheme useful even in time of crisis and committee to work together to retain it.