BONDED labour is the main form of forced or compelled labour. It is also attributed as the worst form of labour, trafficking and modern slavery. In bonded labour system, employer/owner/landlord/trafficker/creditor gives some amount of money or other monetary benefits in the form of loan/debt/advance/peshgi to a labourer/debtor and then exploit that labourer/debtor and his whole family in forced labour for generations. Bonded labour is modern-day slavery where individuals work to repay a debt. These labourers are usually paid less than the official wage rate. Often, they receive only half their wages directly, while the remainder is deducted to repay the loan. This financial exploitation traps them in a cycle of debt, making it impossible to cover basic expenses.
Consequently, they frequently borrow more money from employers to meet essential needs like food, shelter, and medical care, further entrenching their bondage. Bonded labourers are often unable to pay off the full amount of loan, so employer/owner/landlord/trafficker/creditor charges interest on it. This creates a lifetime debt trap for bonded labourer and his whole family and ultimately transferred to the next generation of bonded labourer. This inter-generational debt trap makes children start working for employer/creditor, as soon as they are able to walk. Estimates suggest that more than 70% of bonded labourers in Pakistan are children. According to Global Slavery Index 2023 issued by Walk Free, Pakistan ranks 18th globally and 4th within Asia and the Pacific in terms of prevalence of modern slavery and approx. 2.349 million people are living in modern slavery in the country.
In Pakistan, bonded labour is prevalent in sectors like brick kilns, agriculture, domestic work, fisheries, mining, beggary, drug selling, commercial sexual exploitation, forced marriages, textile, bangle, carpet, and manufacturing units. The most prominent sectors with bonded labour are brick kiln, agriculture, and domestic work. 70% of bonded labourers in brick kilns and agriculture are from minority communities, especially Christians and Hindu Dalits, often targets of abuse and forced conversion. There are almost 20,000 brick kilns in Pakistan, and over 4.5 million labourers work in this growing industry. On average, a labourer receives PKR 960 for producing 1,000 bricks, which is less than one rupee per brick. The labourers are usually paid half of this wage amount and the remaining become payable from the owner in future or deducted from the loan amount given to them in advance. In some kilns, where entire families are employed, kiln owners sell bonded labourers of a family to reconcile a family’s outstanding debt.
In agriculture sector, landlords/creditors exploit labourers in bonded labour in the agriculture sectors of wheat, cotton, and sugarcane etc. Landlords often do not provide labourers with access to their expenditure and earning receipts, so they control how much money labourers earn, the accrual of interest on their debts, and when they have to repay the debts. Landlords exploit widespread illiteracy among labourers and manipulate accounting records to continue the cycle of bonded labour. Domestic work/labour is an informal sector of economy in which the highest number of bonded labourers are children amongst others. Every day cases of child domestic labour are reported in media, where children are trafficked in forced labour and are often subjected to physical/sexual/psychological abuse and neglect. Traffickers buy, sell, rent, and kidnap children for forced servitude in domestic work, and other business enterprises. Statistics reveal that there are 8.5 million domestic workers in Pakistan, including many children.
Many employers, feudal landlords and brick kiln owners, who employ bonded labourers, are government officials or use their affiliation with political parties to protect their involvement in bonded labour. Some landlords use armed guards to restrict bonded labourers’ movements, and others buy and sell labourers among one another to settle their debts. Govt. of Pakistan has made much efforts in the form of policy framework and legislation to control the bonded labour in Pakistan. The main legislation to regulate the bonded labour in Pakistan are Bonded Labour System Abolition Acts, Prohibition of Employment of Children Acts, Domestic Workers Acts, Shops and Establishments Acts, The Punjab Prohibition of Child Labour at Brick Kiln Act, 2016, The Mines Act 1923, The Factories Act 1934, Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2018 and its Rules 2020,The Constitution of Pakistan 1973 and PPC 1860.
The issues with the above-mentioned laws include inconsistent definitions of bonded/forced labourers, particularly regarding age and exploitation. Punishments lack uniformity and provisions often overlap, causing confusion in enforcement. Law enforcement agencies struggle with the applicability of these laws, as labourers can qualify simultaneously as both victims and non-victims of bonded labour under different statutes. The above-mentioned problems need to be addressed by consolidating all relevant general/special laws on bonded/forced labour into one complete law in the country and capacity of law enforcement personnel need to build on it, so that perpetrators could be effectively punished and bonded labourers are treated as victims irrespective of their age and exploitation. Federal, Provincial and Dist Govts have notified ‘District Vigilance Committees’ and ‘TIP Committees’ to combat forced/bonded labour with mutual coordination. Unfortunately, these Committees are inactive. It is therefore suggested that appropriate resources in the form of staff/funding/equipment etc. must be provided to these Committees so that bonded labour could be eliminated from Pakistan.
—The writer is Advocate High Court & X-Program Policy Advisor at National Commission on the Rights of Child.
Email: adv.wajahat.ali@gmail.com
