Pakistan is one of the countries in the region where the business of forced labor, the new form of slavery is barefacedly going on in this modern era for its prevention some steps has taken at the governments level but these are equal to the non-existence while the NGOs and welfare organizations are also working to the extent of making headlines.
It’s a fact-along with the passage of time slavery and forced labor is shaping different form but it is not decreasing. Every year World Day against Slavery is celebrating continuously in Pakistan, as well as all over the world. The purpose of celebrating this day is to create awareness against measures like forced labor, human trafficking, forced marriages and forced labor for debt repayment.
It imagine an old era when people were enslaved and imprisoned and then forced to work but it is surprised to know that even today in the 21st century people being enslaved in different forms. Which International organizations call human trafficking, forced labor, forced marriage, business and sexual exploitation as modern slavery?
According to the International Labor Organization now a day’s more than 50 million people are living in slavery worldwide. The human rights activist says that Pakistan’s constitution prohibits any form of slavery and it does not allow Under the Trafficking in Persons Act 2018, anyone who commits forced labor, sexual or physical exploitation can be punished with imprisonment of up to 10 years and a heavy fine.
Apart from that in other provinces including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab actions are taken against those who take forced labor in workshops and factories but there is no special action against those taking labor from brick kilns and domestic workers especially children.
According to experts 58 percent of the world’s slave population lives in 5 countries and suffers from inhumane conditions. More than one billion in India 3.3 million in China 2.1 million in Pakistan 1.5 million in Bangladesh and 1.2 million people in Uzbekistan are bound in the chains of slavery which is a big number for such an inhuman activity.
Most of the forced laborers in Pakistan work in brick kilns, vehicle workshops, press markets, gold refining furnaces, factories and small home-based factories for very low wages. The exploitation of labor in Pakistan can be estimated from the fact that here at the government level a wage of only 32 rupees is fixed for the laborer which is also not implemented in private institutions. In those private factories and firms often the owners don’t give salaries to the labor which is also against the basic labor laws.
That is the reason why this modern slavery i.e. forced labor is increasing. Although there are laws in the country to prevent forced labor and labor exploitation they are rarely enforced. Mainly because the hands of those who set up factories in the country are too long and their reach is very high in the government house due to which the actions taken against them are frequently stopped.
Another important thing is that workers in our country do not sue anyone for fear of not getting work in future. In other words workers working in factories and private companies have no protection due to which their exploitation is increasing day by day.
Therefore there is a need to take practical measures at the public and private levels to solve the problems of workers across the country. Simply organizing seminars and conferences cannot solve this problem that has been going on for decades. It is hoped that the higher authorities will take full interest in these problems of the workers and the coming period of them will be better.
