Despite efforts made by the government, boded labour is still alarming in Pakistan, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) advisor said. Steps taken toward addressing forced labour have been appreciated by the international community, however, due to lack of resources, feudalistic society and lack of policy implementation, measures to control it have not produced tangible results.
A presentation session was conducted by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) with the ILO on forced labour here on Thursday.
ILO advisor on bonded labour in Islamabad Dr Syed Tauqeer Shah said it is a good omen that Pakistan's efforts were recognised by an international agency, however, he said there are still a number of challenges to successfully implement policies.
He pointed out that forced labour is a major global socioeconomic concern for which no reasonable financial aid is being provided by international agencies except the Dutch government and the ADB.
In Pakistan, the forced labour is often seen mostly in feudally dominated societies in rural areas, particularly in Badin, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and Thata, he maintained. He said according to a survey, most of the forced labour "haris" in these areas demanded productive land and few of them also demanded livestock.
Most of the bonded and forced labour is working in the agriculture sector, brick kilns, domestic labour, construction, mining and tanneries sectors, he said.
While talking about global estimation of labour force, he said 12.3 million people are forced labour and more than 2.4 million have been trafficked.
While 9.8 million are exploited by private agents and 2.5 million are forced to work by the state or by rebel militant groups. Dr Tauqeer said 56 percent female and 44 percent male are forced labour, while there is a 98 percent commercial sexual exploitation in female and 2 percent in male.
Out of this trafficked labour force, 43 percent are used for forced commercial sexual exploitation and 32 percent for economic exploitation, while 25 percent of victims are trafficked for a mixture of the above or for undetermined reasons.
He said annual global profit from the forced labour is $31.6 billion and industrialised countries (Europe and USA) are major earners of this profit with nearly $15.5 billion share.