Mapping Labour Unions in Pakistan registered trade unions in the United India which claimed 900,000 union members. A study by ILO“A Profile of Trade Unionism and Industrial Relations in Pakistan” cites there to be 7,096 trade unions with a membership of 1,414,160 for a workers population of 60 million workforce(estimates till December 2016). It is pertinent to note that senior trade union leadership disputes with the ILO figures as they believe less than one per cent of workers in Pakistan are organized under trade unions. Because of the lack of data and non-reporting by the trade unions to the registration authorities, authentic data about the number of trade unions is not available. Even updated statistics of the trade unions membership is not available with the registration authorities. 1.3. Constitution and Right to Freedom of Association Pakistan has ratified core conventions of ILO, which also includes C087 ­Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 and C098- Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949. C087 and C098 are directly linked to the trade unions. In addition, Pakistan has also ratified C11, the convention granting freedom of association rights to agriculture workers. It is pertinent to note that the principle of freedom of association is not only enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR) and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(ICESCR). In the Constitution of Pakistan, the right to unionisation is outlined in Article 17, which establishes the fundamental right to freedom of association and the right to form unions. Article 17 states: “(1) Every citizen shall have the right to form associations or unions, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan, public order or morality.” Furthermore, other labour rights such as the right to livelihood, prohibition of bonded labour, eradication of slavery are also provided for in the Constitution. As a framework of fundamental rights, the state has the basic responsibility 9