Over one million in bonded labour at brick kilns: ILO

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Shahid Husain

KARACHI: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that there are over one million men, women and children employed as ‘bonded labour’ in brick kilns in Pakistan but despite a Supreme Court judgment of 1992, bonded labour continues to grow.

Bonded labour is a form of slavery prevalent in Pakistan and other South Asian countries. It exists in various sectors of the economy, most notably agriculture, but also in brick kilns, carpet weaving, fisheries, mining and probably others. Geographically speaking, most of the bonded labour is found in the southern parts of Sindh and Punjab, nevertheless, anecdotal evidence suggests that bonded labour exists in all four provinces of the country.

“Bonded labour exists very much in Pakistan despite a 1992 Supreme Court verdict against it,” said Dr Badar Soomro, professor of Mass Communications at Sindh University, Jamshoro and a council member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) since 1986.

“I along with late Shakeel Pathan got thousands of bonded labour freed in Sindh but landlords are not ready to pay heed to the Supreme Court verdict and most of the officials of district governments protect the landlords,” he said. “Manno Bheel came to us when he had black moustaches but today he is an old man and nothing has changed.”

He said the HRCP tried to set up a ‘harinagar’ in district Hyderabad but during harvesting season the freed labour would return to their former masters and work there despite the fact that they got one-fourth of the crop. He said 35,000 bonded labour were ‘liberated’ after the Supreme Court verdict from Sanghar, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Thatta, Tando Allahyar, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tharparkar, etc and “most of them are now working in urban areas in the construction industry, as drivers and at petrol pumps but the vast majority are still bondage.”

The primary reason for bonded labour is debt owed by an employee to his employer. The employer gives loans to his workers and in return workers (and their families) are ‘bound’ to work for the same employer until the loan is repaid. Due to extremely low wages and manipulation of the debt by the employer, taking advantage of most labourers’ illiteracy, the amount owed typically does not decrease, and can even be passed on from one generation to the next.

The majority of bonded labourers belong to religious or lower caste minorities in the country. Usually, the entire family works, hence, child labour is widespread. Physical and emotional abuse of labourers is common.

“Human trafficking is also a factor in the bonded labour system,” said Syed Shamsuddin, Secretary Pakistan Social Forum (PSF) which is striving to abolish bonded labour. “Buying and selling of workers between employers is a common practice in both the agriculture and brick kiln sectors.

The new employer agrees to take on the labourers’ debt and pays the previous employer,” he said.“PSF has launched a campaign against bonded labour, which is still widespread in the country due to lack of political will,” he said.

“It is the responsibility of the state to make sure that it is abolished and in this regard the PSF is mobilising its members and supporters to send post cards to the prime minister and file applications with the president, prime minister and leader of the opposition for lobbying against bonded labour,” he said.

“PSF members and supporters are calling for compliance with the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992 and the recent judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in civil appeals no. 1139 to 1141 of 2002,” he added.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=171098