KARACHI, Sept 12: Speakers at a seminar on “Bonded labour: law, policy and challenges” said on Monday that though there were a number of laws to check bonded labour, these were not being implemented effectively and for this reason the menace, despite being declared illegal, was continuing.
The seminar was organized jointly by the ILO and National Institute of Labour Administration Training.
Over 65 participants belonging to judiciary, administration, non- governmental sector attended the seminar where ILO’s chief technical adviser, Ahmet Ozimick, federal labour secretary Malik Asif Hayat, NILAT chief Syed Hakim Ali Shah Bukhari, Sindh Anti-corruption director K. Allah Dino, Mohammad Irfan, Zafarullah Khan, Raja Faiz-ul-Hassan, Dr. S. Tauqir H. Shah, Ghayoorul Hassan, Noorul Hadi and others also spoke.
They said that bonded labour in the country is banned under the constitution and the law “The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992” which extinguished even outstanding advances (peshgis) to bonded workers. The law prescribes imprisonment between two and five years and a fine not less than Rs 50,000 or both. The fine, if recovered, is used to pay the bonded workers at the prescribed rate.
They said that a fund for rehabilitation and welfare of the freed bonded labour has also been set up and under this fund, different projects, like providing free legal aid services to the bounded labour, and construction of low-cost houses for the freed haris (farmers) in Dadu district were being implemented.
They said that the ILO’s chief instrument of fundamental human and workers’ rights is the declaration on Fundamental Principals and Rights at Work adopted by the International Labour Conference held in 1998, which is based on four core principals: 1) freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining; 2) elimination of all forms forced or compulsory labour; 3) abolition of child labour; and 4)elimination of discrimination in respect of employment or equality of treatment in employment.
They said that the government, with ILO’s assistance, has published a compendium of studies in 10 sectors with incidences of bonded labour and these would form the basis of all programmatic and policy initiatives in the future.
They said that forced labour was becoming a global problem and it was present in all regions and types of economies. They said that traditional work pattern involving peshgi (advance) system is reported to prevail in certain sectors, like agriculture, brick kilns, carpet and mining. The workers taking advances are bound to work for the same employer until they pay off all their debt.
They said that bonded labour is one of the worst manifestations of poverty and was one of the most complex challenges being faced by local communities, governments, employers and workers, organizations and the international community.
They said that seminar was being organized to sensitize the public functionaries as it is seen that those public functionaries who are sensitive to the issue can provide immense support and relief to the people entrapped in such corrosive employment relationship.
They said that training and sensitization of government officials was a key activity mandated under the National Plan of Action (NPPA) on abolition of bonded labour, as a competent and responsive civil service can go a long way in protecting human rights, particularly of the people entrapped in exploitative employment, like the bonded labour.