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ILO declares Pak soccer-ball industry free of child labour

RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: International Labour Organisation (ILO) has issued a confirmation certificate declaring that there is no child labour in the Pakistani soccer-ball indusrty.

This was disclosed by Prof Amin Javaid, Chairman, Sublime Group of Companies, while talking to newsmen at Sialkot after the inaugural ceremony of the first Pakistani quality control laboratory of the Adidas on Thursday.

He stated that local football manufacturing units in collaboration with the FIFA, ILO and UN organisations had not only eliminated the menace of child labour from this sector on self-help basis but also initiated various projects for the education and uplift of the children of the area. In order to ensure elimination of the child labour, daily monitoring of the manufacturing units has been started.

He said that production of footballs in Pakistan is between one to half lakh per day out of which Sublime Sports (Pvt) Ltd has the highest share with the manufacturing of around 8,000 to 10,000 footballs daily.

He added: "Sublime Sports has the honor that its football are being used in the World Cup of football and we have also obtain the orders till 2000 in this regard."

He said that the government has declared primary education compulsary in Sialkot district, which will go a long way in eliminating child labour.