Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Pakistan (Ratification: 1957)

The Committee notes a communication dated 30 July 2010, received from the Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF), which contains comments on the application of the Convention by Pakistan. It notes that this communication was sent to the Government in August 2010 for any comments it might wish to make on the matters raised therein. The Committee hopes that the Government’s comments will be supplied in its next report, so as to enable the Committee to examine them at its next session.

Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Convention

A. Debt bondage

Comments from workers’ organizations. In its comments made for a number of years, the Committee has noted the difficulties in the implementation of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act (BLSA), 1992. The Committee referred in this connection to the comments made by the All Pakistan Federation of Trade Unions (APFTU), the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation (APTUF) and the International Trade Unions Confederation (ITUC). In its latest communication dated 29 August 2008, the ITUC observed that, some 15 years after the adoption of the BLSA and six years after the approval of the National Action Plan (2001), bonded and forced labour was still commonly used in many industries across Pakistan. The ITUC referred in this connection to the rapid assessments commissioned by the Ministry of Labour in collaboration with the ILO, which were carried out in nine sectors (brick kilns, agriculture, carpet industry, mining, glass bangle making, tanneries, construction, domestic work and begging). The ITUC considered that the BLSA had not been properly applied and those who used bonded labour had been able to do it with impunity. The Pakistan Institute for Labour Education and Research (PILER) had only been able to document the release of some 8,530 people between 1990 and 2005; of these, 5,166 were released through judicial intervention, in combination with non-governmental organizations and local state officials, only 563 were released solely through state intervention. According to the ITUC views, the vigilance committees set up under the BLSA had not performed their functions of identifying and releasing bonded labourers and had not been restructured as envisaged in the National Action Plan. The lack of adequate labour inspection machinery was another key reason why bonded labourers were not being identified and released.

Implementation of National Policy and Plan of Action for the Abolition of Bonded Labour. In its earlier comments, the Committee noted a number of initiatives undertaken by the Government within the framework of its 2001 National Policy and Plan of Action for the Abolition of Bonded Labour and Rehabilitation of Freed Bonded Labourers, including, inter alia, the organization of training workshops for key district government officials, and other concerned stakeholders, to enhance their capacity and enable them to draw up district-level plans to identify bonded labourers and activate the district vigilance committees; the incorporation of the issue of bonded labour into the syllabi of judicial, police and civil service academies, in order to help sensitize judicial, law enforcement and civil service officials to the problem; and conducting of capacity-building seminars. The Committee also noted the Government’s indication that, under the BLSA, inspection functions in the area of bonded labour had been assigned to the regular labour inspectorate, as well as to local government heads/officials and police departments. In its latest report, the Government refers to a number of studies undertaken with the technical assistance of the ILO with regard to bonded labour in various sectors in Pakistan.

While having noted the Government’s initiatives to combat bonded labour, the Committee expresses the firm hope that the Government will pursue its efforts with vigour in order to ensure the effective implementation of the 2001 National Policy and Plan of Action and will provide detailed information on progress made and practical results achieved, including copies of relevant reports on all of the activities, projects, institutions and mandates referred to in the action plan. The Committee asks the Government to provide, in particular, information on the activities of the National Committee for the Abolition of Bonded Labour and Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers which had to be established to coordinate the implementation of the plan and to review the implementation of the BLSA, including copies of monitoring/evaluation reports concerning the functioning of the vigilance committees. Please also provide information on the activities of the fund established under the BLSA rules, to which the Government referred in its 2005 report. The Committee also asks the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to assess and address the causes of debt bondage.

Debt bondage: Data-gathering measures to ascertain the current nature and scope of the problem. The Committee previously noted a report entitled “Rapid assessment studies of bonded labour in different sectors in Pakistan”, which contained findings and conclusions from a series of rapid assessment studies conducted at the initiative of the Ministry of Labour and the ILO by teams of social scientists and researchers under the auspices of the Bonded Labour Research Forum (BLRF), with a view to exploring the existence and nature of bonded labour in ten sectors (agriculture, construction, carpet weaving, brick making, marine fisheries, mining, glass bangles, tanneries, domestic work, and begging). The project represented the first phase of a larger research programme and was intended to lay the groundwork for detailed sector studies and a national survey to determine the incidence of bonded labour across the country, as foreseen in the Government’s National Plan of Action. However, no such national survey has yet been carried out and the Government refers in this connection to the existing difficulties in the identification of bonded labourers.

While noting this indication, the Committee points out once again that accurate data are a vital step in both the development of the most effective systems to combat bonded labour and providing a true base for the assessment of effectiveness of those systems. The Committee therefore expresses the firm hope that the Government, as a follow-up to the preliminary part of the research programme noted above, and in accordance with the mandate of its 2001 National Policy and Plan of Action, will undertake a statistical survey on bonded labour throughout the country, using a valid methodology in cooperation with employers’ and workers’ organizations and with human rights organizations and institutions, and that it will supply information on the progress achieved in this connection.

B. Trafficking in persons

The Committee previously noted the adoption of the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance, 2002 (PCHTO). It also noted that, in accordance with the report of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) entitled “Data and research on human trafficking: A global survey”, Pakistan continued to be a major destination country for trafficked women, as well as a major transit country of persons trafficked from Bangladesh to Middle Eastern countries, where women are subject to sexual exploitation. The report emphasized that there was an urgent need to carry out comprehensive national baseline surveys with the aim of developing a South Asian database on trafficking in persons.

The Committee reiterates its hope that the Government will undertake a national baseline survey on trafficking in persons, in cooperation with employers’ and workers’ organizations, as well as other organizations and institutions concerned, and that it will supply information on the progress achieved in this connection. Please also provide information on the application in practice of the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance (2002) referred to above, as well as, more generally, on the policies and measures aiming at the effective elimination of trafficking in persons, including copies of the relevant policy documents and available statistics.

C. Restrictions on voluntary termination of employment

The Committee previously noted the Government’s indication that an amendment to the Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 1952, under which government employees who unilaterally terminate their employment without consent of the employer are subject to a term of imprisonment, was to be considered by the tripartite commission on the consolidation, simplification and rationalization of labour laws. As the Government’s report contains no new information on this subject, the Committee trusts that the necessary measures will be taken in order to bring the federal and provincial essential services Acts into conformity with the Convention and that the Government will report on the progress achieved in this regard.

Article 25. Penalties for the illegal exaction of forced or compulsory labour

The Committee notes the Government’s indications in the report concerning the number of the trafficking-related complaints registered under the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance (2002), the number of investigations and the number of convictions obtained during the period 2007–09. It also notes the Government’s indication concerning the penalties imposed on perpetrators.

The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide updated information on the enforcement of the 2002 Ordinance, communicating the numbers of trafficking-related complaints registered, court proceedings initiated, convictions obtained and the penalties imposed, including sample copies of the relevant court decisions, indicating the minimum penalties imposed. Recalling also that Article 25 of the Convention provides that the illegal exaction of forced or compulsory labour shall be punishable by penalties that are really adequate and strictly enforced, the Committee once again requests information on any legal actions taken against employers of bonded labourers under the BLSA, including copies of any court decisions in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of its provisions and to indicate the penalties imposed.