UN Women to empower home-based workers in Pakistan

UN Women to empower home-based workers in Pakistan

Karachi (Kashif Shamim Siddiqui): Sindh Labour department has started the registration of Home-based workers under the Sindh Home-based workers act 2018. This information was shared by the Director Labour dept Sindh Reejumal Sajanani at a provincial working group meeting organized by HomeNetPakistan (HNP) here in Karachi on Thursday, June 1st.

Reejumal said that with the support of UN Women, the registration process has been started in Hyderabad from 25thMay this year, as well as in Sukkur from June 1st. This is a landmark process under the long-awaited implementation of the HBW act 2018.

“Labour dept has made focal points in site areas of Sukkur and Hyderabad. 4 to 5 facilitation centres will further be set up in districts at the divisional HQ level for the workers’ registration. After the verification of the HBWs by the Labour inspector, the form will be sent to provincial headquarters for data entry and issuance of cards. Sindh government is committed to implementing the law phase-wise in the province,” elaborates Reejumal.

Speaking on the occasion, Director HNP Ume Laila Azharmentioned that Pakistan becomes the first country in South Asia for enacting four legislation on HBWs. Provincial forum meeting is a continuation of the efforts taken collectively by HNP for the Sindh HBWs policy and legislation advocacy under the Provincial Working group and District. Laila said we have come a long way from policy to public participation in the context of HBWs. With the initiation of long-awaited HBWs registration in Sindh, we appreciate the efforts of Sindh government in ensuing inclusion of HBWs as a major workforce.”

Kapil Dev, Provincial Coordinator of UN Women, highlighted challenges in the delay of registration process. UN Women under its mandate is committed to support GoS for the registration of HBWs and ensuring their economic empowerment. We have worked together with Sindh Labourdepartment and HomeNet Pakistan in getting the policy and HBWs law enacted and now it’s time to get the registration done. Kapil stressed the need for coordination amongst Civil Society Organizations and workers’ federations for getting the HBWs registered with the labour department.

Speaking on the occasion, Dastigir from Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institutions shared that HBWs will be covered by SESSI and employers will be registered and shall be liable to pay Rs.1500 per worker. Under this existing mechanism, the workers and their families will be covered by health facilities.

Workers’ leader Sadaf said that due to the less monthly income of poor HBWs, it would not be possible for a woman to pay Rs.1500 on a monthly basis to social security. She demanded reducing the amount of contribution. “The employer of HBWs is a self-account worker and she herself is not earning enough to pay monthly such a huge amount on behalf of her workers. Govt should think about a suitable mechanism for the social security of home workers,” explains Sadaf

Giving support to Sadaf’s views, Ume Laila said that to ensure the HBWs access to social security it’s important to have a separate scheme for the workers. It is high time that the social security law should be amended and ensure inclusion of HBWs and other sectors from informal economy. Sindh govt should also allocate funds for the data collection of HBWs for better policy development and implementation of HBWs act.

Nuzhat Shirin, Chairperson of the Sindh Commission on the Status of Women said that the commission is committed to support and facilitate the process of implementation of law by creating awareness raising throughout the province. It’s important to have gender-responsive budgeting for HBWs to ensure proper implementation of the law and registration of the workers.

Speaking on the occasion, Habib Junaidi applauded the efforts taken by HBWs organizations, HomeNet, Federations, and UN Women for supporting the workers’ legislation and initiating the registration process in Sindh. Junaid further added that it is important to review the challenges faced by the Labourdepartment in implementation of the labour law. He said the situation of workers is deteriorating due to the lack of implementation of labour laws.

Mahnaz Rehman of Aurat Foundation stressed the need forcollaboration in the registration process. “It’s an important legislation and it took decades of hard work of labourorganizations to bring it to the policy table. CSOs stand together in supporting the implementation of HBW act,” highlights Rehman

The participants demanded setting up a ‘provincial directorate’for informal economy in order to further ensure effective implementation of the law. The government should allocate funds for the data collection of HBWs across the province. The social security act needs amendment to ensure inclusion of HBW and other vulnerable groups, induction of women labourinspectors for monitoring of HBWs acct as well as the launch of media campaigns for awareness of HBWs law and the registration process.