இஸ்லாமிய பாகிஸ்தானில் 1 மில்லியனுக்கும் மேல் கொத்தடிமைகள்

இஸ்லாமிய பாகிஸ்தானில் 1 மில்லியனுக்கும் மேல் கொத்தடிமைகள் கஷ்டப்படுகின்றனர்.

மேலும் ஒரு மில்லியன் குழந்தை தொழிலாளர்கள் அடிமைகளாக இருக்கின்றனர் என்று கணக்கிடப்படுகிறது.

‘Bonded labour touches the figure of 1m in Pakistan’
* Vigilance committees on bonded-child rights still awaited
* SPARC urges chief minister to take action
Staff Report

LAHORE: The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC) has said that according to the recent researches conducted in collaboration with International Labour Organisation (ILO) the number of bonded labour in brick kilns was almost one million in Pakistan.

The SPARC officials addressing a press conference on “Bonded labour and formation of vigilance committees in Punjab”, which held at Lahore Press Club Lahore on Friday added that according a research, supported by ILO, the total estimated number of people in debt bondage in 2000 was 1.8 million across Pakistan.

Jawad Aslam, the provincial coordinator SPARC told the press conference “A further 6.8 million people are subjected to compulsory labour for the landlord on their farm or house (beggar),” he said, adding, “There are incidences of debt bondage in brick kilns, carpet weaving, mining, glass and fishing industries.” He added that it was estimated that there could be as many as one million brick kilns workers in bonded labour across the 4,000 brick kilns in Pakistan.

In early 2000 the then Chief Executive Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf publicly committed his regime to substantively address issues of relief, rehabilitation, and abolition of child and bonded labour. The federal cabinet approved the National Policy and Action Plan in September 2001.

Annual fund of Rs 100 million has also been constituted for the rehabilitation and welfare of freed bonded labourers. “One reason for the dismal pace of progress appears to be continued provincial reluctance to acknowledge the widespread existence of, and hence obligation to deal with, bonded labour as a special problem independent of mass poverty,” he added.

Aslam asked the Punjab chief minister to issue notification of the formation of the vigilance committees in districts under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992 and Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Rules, 1995.

SPARC officials also aspired to fight bonded labour, particularly the existence of child bonded labour in the Punjab province, through the mobilisation of concerned government departments and civil society for the effective implementation of national and international laws and conventions, like the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act of 1992, Employment of Children Act of 1991 and the International Labour Organisation Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No 182.

The Bonded Labour Act calls upon the state to establish multilateral district vigilance committees headed by district nazims and consisting of elected representatives, district administration, bar associations, the press, recognised social workers and labour departments of federal and provincial governments.

The vigilance committees are mandated to advise the district administration on matters relating to the effective implementation of the law, including the rehabilitation of the freed bonded labourers. The vigilance committees in Punjab are not operational till date, thus the law has not been implemented effectively yet.

He said it was ironic that four-year tenure of Local Governments System was about to end and not a single district nazim so far has constituted the vigilance committees in the Punjab province. He said, however, NWFP government took initiative in this connection. He said SPARC also had concerns on keeping bonded labour under the Home Department in Punjab and it should be dealt by the Labour Department instead as in other provinces.