ISLAMABAD: The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) on Friday appeared before the Federal Constitutional Court in its landmark constitutional petition under Article 184, to get manual sewer cleaning phased outand the institutionalisation of health and safety regulations for sanitation workers across Pakistan.

A statement issued here said the case was heard by a three-member bench headed by Justice Aminuddin.

In its petition, NCHR highlighted the grave risks faced by sanitation workers, who continue to perform highly hazardous and often fatal tasks without adequate protective gear, training or occupational safety protocols. The commission emphasised that the continued practice of manual sewer cleaning constituted a violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, including the right to life, dignity, equality and safe working conditions.

NCHR also submitted that Pakistan remained without a unified national health-and-safety regime for sanitation work.

In the absence of regulatory enforcement and emergency response mechanisms, workers were routinely exposed to toxic gases, life-threatening injuries and preventable deaths.

During the hearing, Barrister Iqbal Nasar, NCHR’s pro bono counsel, informed the bench that a day before the proceedings, another sanitation worker had died in a gutter in Sindh, adding that such inhuman working conditions required strong government intervention.

After hearing NCHR’s arguments, the Federal Constitutional Court issued notices to the respondents.

“Manual cleaning of gutters is brutal and dehumanising. No person’s life should be put at risk for a task that should never require human hands in the first place,” said NCHR Chairperson Rabiya Javeri Agha, who attended the hearing on the commission’s behalf.

The case marked the first such hearing by Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court, examining the rights of sanitation workers through a constitutional lens and potentially setting a precedent for labour dignity, occupational safety and equal protection under the law.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2025