Proactive action: Campaign launched to end bonded labour in Sindh

KARACHI:

The start of a campaign against bonded labour in Sindh was announced at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research.

"The poor labourers live a miserable life, they are badly exploited by influential landlords," said Habibuddin Junaidi, a trade union leader.

Dr Ghulam Haider Malookani of the Green Rural Development Organisation (GRDO) said Pakistan is ranked third in terms of bonded labour. "More than 2.3 million people are affected by bonded labour in Pakistan," he said. He said there is a Bonded Labour Abolition Act, 1992, but there has been no implementation of the law in Pakistan.

The campaign demands that the landlords pay the labourers on time, farmers and other low-wage labourers be given free homes where they can live with their families and if any land belonging to the farmers has been seized by the landlords of the area it must be returned to them.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2015.