Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

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

The Committee notes the observations of the All Pakistan Federation of Trade Unions (APFTU) received on 31 August 2023.

Articles 1(1), 2(1) and 25 of the Convention. Debt bondage. 1. Legislative framework. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that the Balochistan Forced and Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 2021 was enacted in 2021 while the Balochistan Forced and Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Rules, 2023 is under notification process. The Government also indicates that in February 2022, the Department of Labour conducted three consultative workshops on the Forced and Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 2021 for workers’ and employers’ organizations and Government officials; launched an awareness campaign in the brick kilns and other commercial establishments; and carried out training for 66 labour officials on the standard operation procedures for inspection of forced, bonded and child labour. Moreover, monthly inspections were carried out in workplaces and brick kilns. In addition, 51 workers were interviewed in person to examine the existence of any elements of forced and bonded labour at the workplace. However, no cases of forced or bonded labour were reported. During this process, 22 cases pertaining to payment of wages, minimum wages, working conditions and the social security scheme were reported, and a complaint was filed before the Director General of Labour Welfare/Chief Inspector of Factories/Chairman of the Minimum Wages Board for fixation of piece rate for making a brick.

With regard to the initiatives undertaken in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (KPK), the Committee notes the Government’s information that the KPK Bonded Labour (Abolition) Rules 2021, have been notified. It also states that in 2022 the Department of Labour intensified its efforts to eliminate forced and bonded labour by conducting regular inspections at various brick kilns, in addition to complaint-based inspections. Accordingly, in 2022, 500 inspections were carried out and no violation was found. The Government further indicates that the Labour Welfare Department of the Islamabad Capital territory is strictly implementing the Bonded Labour Abolition Act of 1991 and no cases of forced and bonded labour have been reported.

In this regard, the Committee notes that, in its observation, the APFTU indicates that the Convention is not fully implemented on account of limited independent labour inspection machinery, which needs to be enhanced and strengthened.

The Committee notes from the report of the National Commission for Human Rights, The Issue of Bonded Labour in Pakistan, 2023, that bonded labour is a widespread socio-economic phenomenon in the country affecting more than 3 million people. It is especially prevalent in the rural and agricultural sectors, particularly in the brick kiln sector in Punjab and in the tenant farms of Sindh. According to this report, an estimated 700,000 persons could be in the grips of bonded labour systems across more than 4,000 brick kilns in Pakistan. Victims of bonded labour in the agricultural sector are tenant farmers who often work with their entire families under a share-cropping arrangement with their landlord or peasant workers who are hired on a wage basis. Peasant workers of Sindh suffer conditions of serfdom or agricultural feudalism far greater than in any other province. This report also indicates that although the law criminalizes bonded labour, the Government and law enforcement agencies have failed to secure a single conviction of bonded labour perpetrators. The police and local administration have been unable or unwilling to implement bonded labour laws and adequately monitor and address instances of debt-bondage.

The Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the provincial laws abolishing bonded labour are strictly and effectively enforced and that adequate penalties are imposed on persons who involve others in bonded labour. In this regard, it urges the Government to take the necessary measures to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement agencies, particularly the labour inspectors and the police, to detect and investigate bonded labour, including in the rural brick and agricultural sectors of the KPK, Punjab and Sindh, and to provide information on any results achieved or progress made in this regard. Lastly, it requests the Government to provide information on the number of violations identified, indicating whether they come from complaints or regular inspections, as well as the number of prosecutions, convictions and penalties applied to perpetrators of bonded labour for each of the three provinces.

2. Programmes of action. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information that as part of the National Strategic Framework to Eliminate Child and Bonded Labour in Pakistan, several amendments were introduced to the bonded labour laws of Punjab and Balochistan. In the KPK, the Child and Bonded Labour Units are being reactivated and several training sessions on child labour and bonded labour were conducted for labour inspectors in 2022. The Committee notes from the report of the National Commission for Human Rights that, according to the 2022 report of the Hari Welfare Association (a non-governmental organization active in the promotion of peasant workers’ rights), since 2013, more than 10,000 people have been released from the bonded labour system in the agricultural sector of Sindh. The Committee requests the Government to pursue its efforts to prevent and eliminate bonded labour in the brick kilns and in the agricultural sector, as well as to adopt measures to rehabilitate and reintegrate into society the freed bonded labourers, including through the provision of skills development and other income-generating activities. It requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and on the results achieved, indicating the number of bonded labourers withdrawn and rehabilitated.

3. District vigilance committees (DVCs). In response to its previous comments concerning the establishment of the DVCs and their functioning, the Committee notes the Government’s information that in Balochistan, the DVCs will be established following the notification of the Balochistan Forced and Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Rules, 2023. However, currently the Provincial and District Anti-human Trafficking and Anti-bonded Labour Monitoring Committee is active and functional. The DVCs in the province of the KPK, one of the members of which is a district labour officer, carry out regular meetings during which the situation of bonded labour is assessed. Moreover, a Child and Bonded Labour Unit has been established in the Directorate of Labour and the recruitment process for its 12 positions is in the final stage. In Sindh, the Labour Department has undertaken initiatives to reconstitute and activate the DVCs and to provide training to ensure better implementation of the bonded labour laws. The Government further indicates that, in Punjab, 12 DVCs were provided training on the implementation of the national strategic framework to eliminate bonded labour with the support of the ILO in 2022; 412 DVC meetings were held; and 27 complaints of bonded labour were reported and amicably settled by the DVCs. The Committee notes however from the report of the National Commission for Human Rights that the provincial government has not yet notified the DVCs in all the districts of the province. According to the same report, the DVCs are practically non-functional even where notified, which is borne out by the fact that not a single case of bonded labour has been detected in any district. Those DVCs that have been notified indicate a poor track record in reporting and addressing cases of bonded labour. The Committee urges the Government to intensify its efforts to enhance and strengthen the capacity of the DVCs in all the provinces so as to enable them to effectively monitor the implementation of the bonded labour laws, identify and rescue bonded labourers, and provide them with appropriate assistance. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and the results achieved in terms of the number of cases of bonded labour identified and labourers withdrawn by the DVCs.

4. Data-gathering measures to ascertain the current nature and scope of bonded labour. The Committee notes with deepregret that, despite its repeated indication over several years, the Government has taken no concrete measures to undertake a statistical survey on bonded labour in the country. The Committee once again points out that accurate data are a vital step for developing the most effective policies to combat bonded labour and for providing a solid base for the assessment of the effectiveness of these policies. The Committee therefore strongly urges the Government to intensify its efforts to ensure that a survey to assess the full extent and prevalence of bonded labour in the country is undertaken in each province, particularly in Punjab and Sindh, in the near future, in cooperation with employers’ and workers’ organizations and other relevant partners. It requests the Government to provide information on any progress achieved in this regard, as well as copies of the surveys, once completed.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.