'Pakistan ranks third in global human slavery'

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan ranks third on a list of 167 countries where human slavery is most severe, an international rights body said today citing new data.

Pakistan ranks third in the Global Slavery Index (GSI), Justice and Peace Commission Executive Secretary Hyacinth Peter said yesterday during a consultation session on 'Existing Laws to Stop Bonded Labour: Gaps and Recommendations' in Multan.

According to the GSI, over two million people were enslaved in Pakistan. Punjab and Sindh especially were "hotspots of bonded labour" in sectors like brick making, Peter was quoted as saying by Dawn News.

"The sale and purchase of brick kiln labour has become a profitable job. Pakistan got freedom in 1947 but brick kiln labourers could not get freedom from bonded labour till today," he said.

Peter said bonded labour was common in the brick kiln sector and majority of kilns were in Punjab.

Labour laws, especially the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992, were not being implemented in the kiln industry and kiln owners were more powerful as compared to the state, he added.