Eliminating bonded labour

Talking to a delegation of brick kiln workers in Lahore the other day, Punjab Labour Minister Ehsaanuddin said the provincial government had prepared a comprehensive strategy to eliminate bonded labour. It is a sad reminder that in this day and age the evil of bonded labour is alive and well in this country. Having ratified the relevant ILO conventions in the 1960s, Pakistan legally banished the practice nearly 20 years ago (it is a shame though that it waited for so long to take the step) with the enactment of Bonded Labour System Abolition Act, 1992.
Over the years, labour and civil society groups have been highlighting the issue, through public protests as well as formal requests to successive governments for redress. After so many years of protests and pleading, all the government has to show by way of progress is to talk of a 'comprehensive strategy' being in the works. Clearly, there is a lack of will on the part of privileged classes to stop this heartless exploitation of human labour.
Bonded labour, a kind of slavery, exists in its worst forms among landless peasants and brick kiln workers in Punjab and Sindh. It begins with a worker taking a high interest loan from an owner of land, brick kiln or some other business, such as carpet weaving, and agreeing to work, often with family members, until the money is returned along with interest.
But the wages are too low and interest too high, which makes it harder, if not impossible, for debtors to clear their dues. Hence, more often than not, debt bondage is passed from one generation to another. Many are born in slavery and die in slavery.
The minister mentioned introduction of non-formal education at brick kilns, boasting that at first stage 170 non-formal schools have been established in Kasur and Lahore districts while 5,500 male and female students are benefiting from them. The idea of non-formal schools is neither here nor there. The owners can claim to have provided the facility without a proper system to evaluate effectiveness. As to the focal issue of eradicating bonded labour, he did not explain main features of the proposed 'comprehensive strategy'. There are some obvious things to do.
First of all, public awareness needs to be created about the law that prohibits the practice so that the victims know their rights; and the law enforcers realise it is not a simple matter between a money lender and a defaulter, but that of rights abuse. Secondly, a regulatory framework is in order to enable the concerned government departments maintain systematic checks, with a special focus on areas where the malpractice is widespread, like agriculture and brick kilns. Third, the government must ensure that the minimum wage rule is observed by all. Those who toil for a living must be able to earn a decent wage, and fulfil basic needs without getting caught in an endless grind of debt bondage, poverty and helplessness.