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| June 12, 2005 | Sunday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 4, 1426 |
Plea to activate district vigilance committees: Bonded child labour
HYDERABAD, June 11: Speakers at a seminar on “the state of bonded child labour in Sindh” have underscored the need for activating district vigilance committees in Sindh in order to keep a permanent check on cases of bonded labour.
The seminar was organized by the Society for the Protection of Rights of Child (SPARC) at a local hotel on Saturday.
They said even police were unaware about the existence of the Abolition of Bonded Labour (System) Act 1992.
They said the Act’s enforcement by the police could play a key role in curbing the practice of keeping people in bondage.
They demanded that high courts should prosecute respondents in cases where charges of bonded labourers were proved after recovery of the victims.
ILO’s adviser to the ministry of labour, Dr Tauqir Shah said the ILO’s report on “a global alliance against forced labour” dealt with fundamental points of freedom of association and collective bargaining.
He said the report stressed formation of global alliance against forced labour if the menace was to be eradicated because Pakistan was signatory to eight different international conventions which were to be implemented like other local laws.
Speaking of the lack of resources of the community development department under which DVCs were working, he said the CDD was already overworked because some other departments were included in it following the devolution plan.
He said the CDD was a government institution and the people have to pursue their complaints to get justice.
“In some districts CDDs have not been created which must be looked into at government level”, he pointed out.
He expressed his surprise that the Sindh police were unaware of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act.
As a result cases are not lodged for violation of the Act and called for proper training awareness among police.
He said the DVCs could not be activated in Pakistan for various reasons and urged NGOs to come forward as part of global alliance to end the menace.
“DVCs can play a dominant role in putting an end to forced labour”, he said.
SPARC’s National Coordinator Anees Jillani advocate said relevant Act was not being implemented which could have contained ratio of such cases because the law contained severe punishment.
“The Act overrides all other laws including the Sindh Tenancy Act and after its promulgation all loans, obtained by people, deemed to have been done away with”, he said.
Ayaz Latif Palijo said freedom of bonded labour could not be compromised at the cost of development of Sindh’s economy and agriculture and neither could it be justified on the ground that it would lead to poverty.
Advocate Shabbir Shar and SPARC’s National Project Coordinator on Bonded Labour Iqbal Detho also spoke on the occasion.
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