EDITORIAL: As bonded labour, a modern form of slavery, remains widespread in this country, the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) has released a study report entitled “The Issue of Bonded Labour in Pakistan: Brick Kiln Workers in Punjab and Tenant Farmers in Sindh”, calling for access to justice for the poor trapped in forced labour.
The problem starts with taking Peshgi (advance or a loan) at high interest rates for some pressing need that obliges the debtors to work until the outstanding amount is repaid, which they are unable to do on their meagre earnings, keeping them in servitude for a never-ending period.
It was only after civil society rights groups started a relentless campaign against the disgusting practice that “The Punjab Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992” was passed. Later in 2013, came the Sindh Tenancy (Amendment) Act. Yet, little has changed all these years as the present report’s ask for justice shows.
The legislation contained several important provisions aimed at setting every bonded labourer free and discharged from any obligation to render bonded labour, and prohibiting any payment of advance in return for forced work.
To ensure implementation of these measures vigilance committees, comprising elected representatives of the area concerned, bar associations, the press, and recognised social services, were to be set up to advise district administrations and also lend a hand in the rehabilitation of freed labourers. Sadly, no such committees are known to exist.
According to NCHR report, the primary hope for change lies in the implementation of judicial rulings and passage of new legislation for regulating the affairs of brick kilns and securing agricultural tenancy rights.
The state of the laws already on the statute book, though, suggests that won’t be of much help. They could not be brought into effect, especially in rural areas, because the violators, if not politically influential by themselves are backed by those who are, and have readily available collaboration from the police.
Apparently, to deal with this systemic weakness the report also calls for establishing or strengthening workers unions and other collectives to help protect labour rights.
That, again, seems to be rather impracticable considering the odds stacked against the poor and the powerless, in particular landless peasant farmers of Sindh.
Indeed, the Sindh Hari Committee has been struggling to protect and promote the interests of dispossessed tillers of the land in that province, albeit with minor successes.
Another way of dealing with the challenge, the NCHR report recommends, is to set ethical buying standards by law, encouraging consumers to procure bricks only from kilns that provide a safe and decent working environment.
This would require kiln owners to stamp their products with the declaration: ‘No bonded labour used’. It is an attractive idea, but to make it work along with freedom from debt bondage for those in the agricultural sector, civil society will have to push hard for effective implementation of all relevant laws.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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