Govt. urged to ratify ILO, UN conventions on migration
The Nation Islamabad
December 19, 2007
By Our Staff Reporter

The panellists of an SDPI function on International Migration Day, while highlighting the contributions of migrant workers, urged the Government to ratify the ILO and UN conventions related to safe migration, and ensure the implementation of these conventions as well as that of existing legislation.

The participants also demanded that the Government’s missions in host countries play a pro-active role to protect migrants’ right to decent working conditions. Migrants need to be provided with information about their rights, including pre-departure briefings, which rarely take place in the remote areas from which most migrants leave in search of better lives and livelihoods for themselves and their families.

Joint secretary Human Rights, Ministry of Law, Justice & Human Rights, Ijaz Ilahi Paracha, Dr Karin Astrid Siegmann of SDPI, a migrant, Badshah Gul from Upper Dir, Muhammad Dahir from a migrant’s household and Maqsood Ahmad Jan of SDPI highlighted the concerns and contributions of migrant workers during celebrations of International Migration Day titled “Making their voices audible” organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on Tuesday.

Ijaz Ilahi Paracha stated the interim government was fully m of the migrants’ difficult human rights situation. According to him, steps are underway to establish a governmental human rights commission as the absence of any such governmental institution to hold inquiry and punish the offenders of human rights has kept the atmosphere cloudy since long.

Badshah sharing the human rights concerns of Pakistani Gulf migrants, deplored that language, lack of skill and education, less salary and extra work in contrast to agreement were the key challenges to him when he landed in Saudi Arabia in search of a better future.” I had been facing a number of difficulties as I had to work for 14 to 18 hours with 600 Riyals salary while I was promised 1000 Riyals with 8 hours work under my agreement adding that exploitative attitude of employer, indefinite promises for salary, no insurance cover, no mechanisms for recovery in case of accidents and difficulties in the process of returning to homeland” he went on saying.

Muhammad Dahir, sharing the experiences of migrants’ families shared some of the challenges he and his family faced different after one of their family members migrated to a Middle Eastern country for a better earning to take care of the poor family. He said they initially borrowed money from their friends for getting a visa and he became more burdened with the added responsibilities of family soon after the departure of his brother.

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He said that the first loss of his brother’s separation from family was death of their father who had a strong association with him.

Maqsood Ahmad Jan, SDPI focused on the gender dimensions of the changes that take place in sending regions due to migration. He shared results of a recent SDPI study on “The role of transnational migration for women and men in North-West Pakistan” that was undertaken in the Upper Dir and Swat districts of rural NWFP. The research sketched a bleak picture regarding the opportunities created for women’s empowerment through trans-national migration. Although women’s overall workload doesn’t increase if their male household members leave to destinations in the Gulf countries, they have to spend more time on heavy tasks such as water hauling and fuel wood collection. “Water is a big problem in the village.

No fittings for pipes are available. If men are available, they go and fetch water. Otherwise women go. The spring is at about 1/2 a mile walking distance. It runs dry in summers”, stated a female respondent.

Although more cash is available due to the hard-earned remittances the migrants send home, this doesn’t mean girls’ and women’s access to education and health care is easier. Due to constraints on their mobility, girls often cannot access schools that are located outside the village. The fact that their husbands have moved often means that no male family member is left to accompany women to health care facilities - even they would now be able to pay for better services.

Highlighting the contributions of migrants and voicing their concerns, the panelists at a seminar urged the Pakistan government to ratify the ILO and UN conventions concerning safe migration and ensure the implementation of these conventions as well as of the existing legislation.

They were also of the view that to shoulder this task, coordination between various ministries and other government bodies needed to be strengthened. The participants also urged the government's missions in the host countries to play a proactive role to protect migrants' right to decent working conditions.

"Migrants need to be provided with information about their rights, including pre-departure briefings, which rarely take place in the remote areas which most migrants leave in search of better lives and livelihoods for themselves and their families," they added.

Organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on Tuesday on the eve of International Migration Day, the seminar was addressed by Joint Secretary Human Rights, Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights, Ijaz Elahi Paracha, Dr Karin Astrid Siegmann of SDPI, a migrant, Mir Badshah Gul from Upper Dir, Muhammad Dahir from a migrant's household and Maqsood Ahmad Jan of SDPI.

Ijaz Ilahi Paracha stated that the interim government was fully conscious of the migrants' difficult human rights situation. According to him, steps are underway to establish a governmental human rights commission as the absence of any such governmental institution to hold inquiry and punish the violators of human rights had kept the atmosphere cloudy. "The ordinance to provide legal cover for this commission might be promulgated after Eid," he added.

He lamented that democracy in Pakistan remained fragile and constrained and legitimacy through elections was superficial and had not created a sense of participation amongst the people, adding that human rights institutions strengthened with the strengthening democracy.

Mir Badshah sharing the human rights concerns of Pakistani Gulf migrants, deplored that language, lack of skill and education, less salary and extra work in contrast to agreements were the key challenges to him when he landed in Saudi Arabia in search of a better future." I had to work for 14 to 18 hours for 600 riyals salary while I had been promised 1,000 riyals with eight-hour work under my agreement, adding that exploitative attitude of employers, indefinite promises for salary, no insurance cover, no mechanisms for recovery in case of accidents and difficulties in the process of returning to homeland," he went on saying.

Muhammad Dahir, sharing the experiences of migrants' families, said he and his family faced problems after one of their family members migrated to a Middle East country for a better earning to take care of the poor family. He said they had borrowed money from their friends for getting a visa. "I became more burdened with the added responsibilities of the family soon after the departure of my brother," he said and added that the first loss of his brother's separation from the family was the death of their father who had a strong association with him. He added: "Suddenly, I felt so many responsibilities on my shoulders in the absence of my brother as I had to take care of education of our children, ensure provision of daily usage items, looking after agriculture and attending different family events. I started getting older and exhausted with added responsibilities. "I first paid back the borrowed money. My brother is sending Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 monthly."

According to him, the provision of health insurance for migrants as well as their families would be a quantum leap towards lesser migration-induced risks. Maqsood Ahmad Jan of SDPI focused on the gender dimensions of the changes that took place due to migration. He shared the results of a recent SDPI study on "The role of transnational migration for women and men in North-West Pakistan" that was undertaken in the Upper Dir and Swat districts of rural NWFP. The research sketched a bleak picture regarding the opportunities created for women's empowerment through transnational migration. Although women's overall workload doesn't increase if their male household members leave to destinations in the Gulf countries, they have to spend more time on heavy tasks.

"Water is a big problem in the village. No fittings for pipes are available. If men are available, they go and fetch water. Otherwise women go. The spring is at about half a mile's walking distance. It runs dry in summers," stated a female respondent. Although more cash is available due to the hard-earned remittances the migrants send home, this doesn't mean that girls' and women's access to education and healthcare is easier. Due to constraints on their mobility, girls often cannot have access to schools that are located outside the village. The fact that their husbands have moved often means that no male family member is left to accompany women to healthcare facilities.

Pakistan’s cotton-picking women are exposed to chronic pesticide poisoning with symptoms ranging from mild headache and skin allergies to cancer of internal organs, a study shows.

Blood samples of 42 per cent women cotton-pickers after the last harvest season show amount of pesticides in their blood exceeding than the normal range.

Carried out by the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), the study says that blood samples of only 10 per cent of the female cotton pickers were in the normal range after the harvesting season.

An estimated two million cotton-pickers harvest the cotton in three to five waves from August to February.

It is estimated that about 80 per cent of the total pesticides consumed in Pakistan are applied on the cotton crop. So, the most significant health risk the cotton-pickers face is their chronic exposure to pesticides spray, which remained in their working environment.

“The cuts and skin rashes of cotton-pickers further expose them to the hazards of pesticides,” the study published in the SDPI research journal said.

It said that picking cotton was also common during pregnancy and breastfeeding, which posed additional risks to the health of women and their children.

The study said that pickers and their family members consumed water which was also contaminated with pesticides and these pesticides also entered the food chain because of exposure of soil and livestock to them and the cotton seeds that were processed to produce edible oil.

“Cotton stalks are also used as fuel wood in the cotton belt of the country. Residuals are thus inhaled by cotton-pickers and their communities. Equally hazardous effects of pesticide exposures have been found among farmers as well as non-farmers during research in southern Punjab,” the study said.

“This comes as no surprise that people living in a village often use water from the same wells for drinking situated in a nearby field.”

It also highlighted low wages of cotton-pickers and their exploitation by feudal lords, adding that wages of women cotton-pickers were lower than those of their male counterparts because men had other choices of work as well.

The extreme poverty in which women cotton-pickers lived compelled them to sell their labour as the only productive asset they possessed, it said.

“On an average, a fast picker can harvest 40kg of cotton in a day. In 1996-07, in southern Punjab a cotton-picker was paid Rs1 per kilogramme of cotton in southern Punjab, meaning thereby that a fast picker could earn only Rs40 a day.

“These wages saw an increase last year. And during the last picking season, Rs50 to 80 were paid to a labourer for picking 40kg cotton. But, benefit of this increase is offset by unbridled rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) between 2000-01 and 2005-06.

“Cotton-pickers are trapped in a vicious circle of poverty, fuelled by low wages they receive and the health hazards they are exposed to. The low wages are restricting pickers to buy and use such equipment which can protect them from harmful effects of pesticides,” it noted.

The study has called for implementation of the Agriculture Pesticide Rules, 1973, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides and the 2005 National Environment Policy which promote and integrates pest management and discourages the use of agro chemicals.

Cotton-picking women exposed to pesticide poisoning
Dawn Karachi
December 17, 2007
By Sher Baz Khan

Pakistan’s cotton-picking women are exposed to chronic pesticide poisoning with symptoms ranging from mild headache and skin allergies to cancer of internal organs, a study shows.

Blood samples of 42 per cent women cotton-pickers after the last harvest season show amount of pesticides in their blood exceeding than the normal range.

Carried out by the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), the study says that blood samples of only 10 per cent of the female cotton pickers were in the normal range after the harvesting season.

An estimated two million cotton-pickers harvest the cotton in three to five waves from August to February.

It is estimated that about 80 per cent of the total pesticides consumed in Pakistan are applied on the cotton crop. So, the most significant health risk the cotton-pickers face is their chronic exposure to pesticides spray, which remained in their working environment.

“The cuts and skin rashes of cotton-pickers further expose them to the hazards of pesticides,” the study published in the SDPI research journal said.

It said that picking cotton was also common during pregnancy and breastfeeding, which posed additional risks to the health of women and their children.

The study said that pickers and their family members consumed water which was also contaminated with pesticides and these pesticides also entered the food chain because of exposure of soil and livestock to them and the cotton seeds that were processed to produce edible oil.

“Cotton stalks are also used as fuel wood in the cotton belt of the country. Residuals are thus inhaled by cotton-pickers and their communities. Equally hazardous effects of pesticide exposures have been found among farmers as well as non-farmers during research in southern Punjab,” the study said.

“This comes as no surprise that people living in a village often use water from the same wells for drinking situated in a nearby field.”

It also highlighted low wages of cotton-pickers and their exploitation by feudal lords, adding that wages of women cotton-pickers were lower than those of their male counterparts because men had other choices of work as well.

The extreme poverty in which women cotton-pickers lived compelled them to sell their labour as the only productive asset they possessed, it said.

“On an average, a fast picker can harvest 40kg of cotton in a day. In 1996-07, in southern Punjab a cotton-picker was paid Rs1 per kilogramme of cotton in southern Punjab, meaning thereby that a fast picker could earn only Rs40 a day.

“These wages saw an increase last year. And during the last picking season, Rs50 to 80 were paid to a labourer for picking 40kg cotton. But, benefit of this increase is offset by unbridled rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) between 2000-01 and 2005-06.

“Cotton-pickers are trapped in a vicious circle of poverty, fuelled by low wages they receive and the health hazards they are exposed to. The low wages are restricting pickers to buy and use such equipment which can protect them from harmful effects of pesticides,” it noted.

The study has called for implementation of the Agriculture Pesticide Rules, 1973, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides and the 2005 National Environment Policy which promote and integrates pest management and discourages the use of agro chemicals.

Opening session of the Tenth Sustainable Development Conference, Title "Missing Links in Sustainable Development: South Asian Perspectives Organised Sustainable Development Policy Institute, at Best Western Club Road, Islamabad, 9 am. – 10:45am.

A Book Launch Title "Missing Links in Sustainable Development: South Asian Perspectives by the Chief Guest of Tenth Sustainable Development Conference, Organised by SDPI at Best Western Hotel, Islamabad

Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) will organise its 10th Sustainable Development Conference from today (Monday) to December 12 (Wednesday) here at a local hotel.

The title of the conference is "Sustainable Solutions: A Spotlight on South Asian Research", which will bring together some 40 scholars from South Asia as well as from Europe and USA.

Some of the prominent personalities invited to present keynote lectures include Shoaib Sultan Khan, Chairman National Rural Support Programme (NRSP), Islamabad; Syed Babar Ali, Vice President Emeritus, World Wide Fund (WWF), Lahore; and Dr Vandana Shiva, physicist, ecological campaigner, women's rights activist and writer from New Delhi.

By Mohsin Babbar
Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) Executive Director Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri informed Tuesday that SDPI would be holding its Tenth Sustainable Development Conference from December10-12, 2007 here. Titled "Sustainable Solutions: A Spotlight on South Asian Research", the conference will bring together some 40 scholars from South Asia as well as from Europe and the USA.

Prominent personalities invited to present keynote lectures include National Rural Support Program (NRSP) chairman Shoaib Sultan Khan, Vice President Emeritus Syed Babar Ali, and Dr Vandana Shiva, Physicist, Ecological Campaigner, Women's Rights Activist and Writer, New Delhi, India.

Besides the keynote lectures, another 14 panels are being organized under the sub-themes of globalisation; gender; environment and disaster management; health; and, history. Addressing a press conference here Tuesday, Dr Suleri stressed that the Sustainable Development Conference series of the SDPI had become a vital means of outreach to the general public and policy makers where emphasis was placed on the emerging trends in sustainable development. It also provides an ideal opportunity to involve representatives of the government, community, NGOs and INGOs, and donors to engage in a dialogue with scholars, he explained.

Dr Suleri encouraged university departments, teachers and students to attend the event. SDPI publications, as well as stalls of other NGOs will also be set up during these days.

He said the SDPI will also be launching its anthology based on peer reviewed papers presented at last year's conference.

The book titled, "Missing Links in Sustainable Development: South Asian Perspectives" will be launched on 10 December 2007 at the opening of the Tenth SDC 2007.

The published anthologies form the curricula on development of South Asia as well as western educational institutions are also quoted in research publications.

The book focuses on three sub-sections including Gender and Human Security, the Economics of Globalization, and People's Rights and Livelihoods.

The 10th SDC is being financially supported by the DFID Pakistan, HBF, SDC, AA-P, CIDA-PAGE and FES, Dr Suleri added.