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SPARC launches awareness campaign on bonded labour

By Akhtar Amin

PESHAWAR: November 9, 2009: The Society for Protection of Rights of Child (SPARC) on Monday launched a five-day campaign to create awareness about the plight and problems of bonded labourers and proper implementation of laws against bonded labour.

SPARC NWFP Regional Manager Jahanzeb Khan launched the campaign titled “Bondage of Life in an Independent State” at a press conference here. The campaign will run from November 9 to 13.

He said that the campaign was being launched simultaneously in different cities of the country and would end with a festival to be attended by freed bonded labourers in Hyderabad on last day of the campaign. He said that liberated bonded labourers and activists of civil society organisations, trade unions, media persons, lawyers, human rights activists and other stakeholders would participate in the campaign. Showing concern over non-implementation of labour laws, he demanded that bonded labour abolition act 1992 and 1995 rules on bonded labour be implemented in letter and spirit and a parliamentary committee be constituted to review the existing laws. He said that in light of the Supreme Court’s October 20, 2006 directives to provincial chief secretaries as a short term measure, the standing operating procedures be adopted by the provincial governments for introducing a mechanism through labour department for registration of brick kilns.

He said that access to bonded labour funds should be simplified and the institution of district vigilance committees be activated by linking it to provincial legal aid cells. The NWFP government spent only Rs 1.696 million out of 3.373 million under the federal fund for education of working children, their rehabilitation and for freed bonded labourers. He called upon the federal government to provide the remaining fund and to implement international conventions and minimum wages in different sectors of economy, including informal sector.

He said that tens of thousands of labourers in the country, particularly in southern Sindh and Punjab, lived in miserable conditions at agriculture farms and brick kilns. He added that so far 6,000 bonded labourers had been liberated through courts.

He said that SPARC was successfully running bonded labour projects in Mithi, Umerkot, Sanghar and Hyderabad district of Sindh and in Muzaffargarh in collaboration with an international organisation TROCAIRE.

He said that the NGO had been instrumental in providing NICs to 10,000 bonded labourers, registration of their votes and birth of their children. The NGO had established a legal cell to provide free legal aid to families of bonded labourers, Khan said.

There are at least 1.7 million people in bonded labour in agriculture sector in Pakistan. This is in addition to the large number of bonded labourers in brick kilns, carpet weaving and mining despite the fact that the country’s constitution and related laws abolish the evil practice of bonded labour.

“Freedom is the brother of justice,” he said, adding that we can only eliminate bonded labour if we accept that it exists. It may be mentioned here that Sindh minister for bonded labour had said that there was no bonded labour in Pakistan.

Under bonded labour system abolition act, only six punishments have been awarded so far. Its implementation through vigilance committees is still awaited and bonded labour fund remains unutilised. He demanded of the government that liberated bonded labourers and skilled workers be provided resources to enable them to earn livelihood.

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