Bonded Labor

ILO Forced Labor Convention, 1930 (No. 29) definesforced or compulsory labor as:

 “All work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily”.

 Pakistan has ratified the following core ILO conventions on forced labor;

Bonded Labor in Pakistan:

Source: Walk Free 2023, Global Slavery Index 2023, Minderoo Foundation. https://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/

According to the 2023 Global Slavery Index, an estimated 10.6 in every thousand people were in modern slavery in Pakistan at any point in 2021. In other words, 2,349,000 people experienced forced labour or forced marriage in Pakistan in 2021. In terms of prevalence of modern slavery, Pakistan ranks 18th globally and 4th within Asia and the Pacific.

Bonded labor is a form of modern slavery arising as a result of the peshgi system where a family member takes advance payment from an employer and in return pledges the families to work until the loan is paid off. Poverty is at the heart of debt bondage. From taking loans for marriages and medical assistance to simply surviving and feeding themselves, individuals not only pledge themselves but their entire families into bonded labor. Illiteracy has played its part in worsening the situation as poor people are tricked into taking loans that are impossible to pay off in the given time frame, therefore, are passed on down in the family. High interest rates, low wages, and the employers’ negligent attitude toward laborers are just some of the reasons a loan is impossible to pay off.  Caste, discrimination along ethnic, religious, gender lines, and continuing feudal agricultural relationships are also key to the existence of bonded labor and in allowing it to thrive. Debt bondage is increasingly linked with the trafficking for labor exploitation. Rural poverty, coupled with population growth and rapid urbanization, leads to bonded labor.

Detailed below is the situation of bonded laborers in various sectors in various provinces.

Brick Kilns:

The brick kiln industry is rampant with cases of bonded labor especially in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh. More than half a million men, women, and children work in brick kilns around Pakistan.

Bonded laborers are employed in various processes like brick making, kiln stacking, unloading, and baking bricks. A majority of women and children work in the process of making unbaked bricks yet are not compensated for their labor, but acknowledged as labor when made to inherit debts. Wages are based on piece rates i.e. the number of bricks made per day but the amount is so minimal that a laborer has barely enough to feed his family, let alone pay off a debt. 

Agriculture:

The agriculture sector of Pakistan accounts for almost 24% of the National Gross Domestic Product and employs over 36% of Pakistan’s labor force. Though it contributes nearly a quarter of the GDP, the agriculture sector has been highly unproductive given the scale of bonded labor employed especially in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh. One of the main reasons bonded labor is most prevalent in these provinces is the feudalistic culture dating as far back as the Mughal era. A lack of political will, weak administration, and corrupt officials from ‘zamindars’ to members of Parliament are responsible for exploiting and forcing the underprivileged class into bonded labor.

In the affluent estates east of Hyderabad in Sindh in southeast Pakistan, there are estimates that between 40,000 to 50,000 agricultural workers are in debt bondage. According to another research carried out by the Government of Sindh and the Asian Development Bank, there are some 1.7 million landless agriculture workers and sharecroppers in five districts of Sindh (Thatta, Dadu, Badin, Mirpurkhas, and Umerkot).  The magnitude of debt bondage in the agriculture sector is evident from the aforementioned figures.

National laws: 

Employment of Children Act, 1991
The Bonded Labour System Abolition Act, 1992

Provincial Laws:

Punjab Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992
Punjab Bonded Labour System (Abolition) (Amendment) Act, 2018 amends the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act
Punjab Prohibition of Child Labour at Brick Kilns Ordinance, 2016
Sindh Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act 2015
Sindh Prohibition of Employment of Children Act 2017,
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 2015

SPARC’s Work:

SPARC has been working on the issues of bonded laborers for the past many years. In November 2004, NCABL (National Coalition Against Bonded Labour) was formed. The Coalition was open to civil society organizations as well as individuals. In April 2007, the SPARC became the secretariat of NCABL.

Being secretariat SPARC organized trainings of media personnel, members of civil society including members of National Coalition Against Bonded Labour (NCABL). The capacity of police, judicial officers as well as labor inspectors/officers were enhanced through trainings and orientations dealing with bonded labor laws. As a result, in Sindh, Sindh Minister for Labour issued directives to the Labour Department to conduct in-house training and take SPARC on board.

SPARC’s Efforts in Elimination of Bonded Labor:

Due to the efforts of SPARC, 133 new brick kilns were registered with Labour Department Sindh. This was the result of the direction of the Supreme Court of Pakistan for the registration of the informal sectors (especially brick kilns) to the Chief Secretaries of all four provinces. In this regard, Public Interest Litigation was filed in Sindh High Court. In return, the court ordered the Labour Department to immediately register the unregistered brick kilns.

Another Public Interest Litigation has been filed against the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution to register the brick kiln workers with Social Security Institutions and issue the Social Security cards to them at Hyderabad.

SPARC succeeded in issuance of issue birth certificates to hundreds of  children of bonded laborers by NADRA; bonded laborers received Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) whereas bonded laborers’ families got registered with different safety net schemes like BISP/Shaheed Benazir Women Support Program and Watan Card.

Moreover, 354 bonded laborers were released from bondage through legal support in 35 cases during the reporting period. 8 cases of economic exploitation of farmers by landlords were successfully resolved by Police Anti-Bonded Labour Cell with facilitation of SPARC in Mirpurkhas.

Youtube Link:

How Millions Are Trapped in Modern-Day Slavery at Brick Kilns In Pakistan – Insider news

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAOypGQdzGU 

Publications:

 The State of Bonded Labor in Pakistan 2008

Hope for Bonded Laborers

Bonded Labor Free to Starve

Bonded Labor: A Toolkit for Practitioners

Child Labor In Brick Kilns Hyderabad