Launching in 2025: Child Rights Action Hub to Combat Child Labour in Pakistan’s Textile and Leather Sectors

Photos: The Centre’s CEO during a recent trip to Pakistan

Pakistan’s textile and leather industries, employing over 19 million workers, play an important role in the global supply chain. However, these sectors face ongoing challenges, including child and forced labour, exploitation and inadequate worker protections.

To address these issues, a new European Union-U-funded Child Rights Action Hub will officially launch in the second half of 2025. Implemented by the NGO, Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), with the technical support from The Centre for Child Rights and Business, the Action Hub will focus on two key production centres: Karachi and Multan. This initiative aims to strengthen human rights due diligence (HRDD) and promote child rights across Pakistan’s textile and leather supply chains. The Pakistan Hub will join a growing network of similar initiatives in Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Malaysia.

Pakistan Action Hub Objectives and Activities

The Pakistan Child Rights Action Hub will focus on:

• Establishing child rights and youth action hubs – creating two hubs in Karachi and Multan to promote decent work for youth and prevent child labour

• Capacity building – equipping supply chain actors, local civil society organisations (CSOs), and government authorities with the skills and knowledge needed for effective HRDD

• Decent work promotion – ensuring fair, safe and equitable work opportunities for young and vulnerable workers

• Accessible grievance mechanisms – implementing systems for workers to safely raise concerns and seek support

• Stakeholder collaboration – fostering dialogue among businesses, workers, local communities and governments to enhance transparency and accountability

• CSO strengthening – enhancing the technical and management capacity of local CSOs to effectively engage with the private sector

Expected Outcomes

• Reduced gender discrimination, unequal pay and workplace harassment

• Eliminated child labour and improved educational access for children

• Strengthened job security, fair wages and protections against exploitation

• Stronger regulatory compliance with EU due diligence requirements, driving sustainability and industry growth

Earlier in 2025, The Centre’s CEO Ines Kaempfer undertook her first official trip to Pakistan to lay the groundwork for the Pakistan Action Hub’s launch. The trip included visits to 10 factories and workshops, along with close to a dozen meetings with government departments, industry associations and CSOs.

“While I observed first-hand that child labour is a significant challenge in Pakistan’s leather and textile sectors, I was encouraged by the transparency of both private sector and government actors, as well as their determination to address this issue,” Ines remarked

About The Centre’s Global Child Rights Action Hubs

Child Rights Action Hubs are designed to break the cycle of child labour by:

• Mobilising collective action and collaboration to prevent and remediate child labour

• Building strong, locally led networks to sustain the Action Hubs long-term

• Scaling impact through shared resources and best practices

• Engaging local governments and key stakeholders to drive sustainable change

How to Get Involved

The Pakistan Hub is currently in its inception phase and will officially launch later in 2025. Companies can already get involved by:

• Become an Action Hub investor

• Nominate suppliers for inclusion in Hub activities to strengthen their human rights practices

For more information or to discuss partnership opportunities, please contact us.