Human Rights Watch/Asia

Human Rights Watch/Asia was established in 1985 to monitor and promote the observance of internationally recognized human rights in Asia. Sidney Jones is the executive director; Mike Jendrzejczyk is the Washington director; Robin Munro is the Hong Kong director; Jeannine Guthrie is NGO Liaison; Dinah PoKempner is Counsel; Patricia Gossman and Zunetta Liddell are research associates; Mark Girouard and Shu-Ju Ada Cheng are Henry R. Luce Fellows; Diana Tai-Feng Cheng and Jennifer Hyman are associates; Mickey Spiegel is a research consultant. Andrew J. Nathan is chair of the advisory committee and Orville Schell is vice chair.

Human Rights Watch began in 1978 with the founding of its Helsinki division. Today, it includes five divisions covering Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, as well as the signatories of the Helsinki accords. It also includes five collaborative projects on arms transfers, children's rights, free expression, prison conditions, and women's rights. It maintains offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, London, Brussels, Moscow, Dushanbe, Rio de Janeiro, and Hong Kong. Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly.

The staff includes Kenneth Roth, executive director; Cynthia Brown, program director; Holly J. Burkhalter, advocacy director; Ann S. Johnson, development director; Robert Kimzey, publications director; Jeri Laber, special advisor; Gara LaMarche, associate director; Lotte Leicht, Brussels, Office Director; Juan Méndez, general counsel; Susan Osnos, communications director; Jemera Rone, counsel; Joanna Weschler, United Nations representative; and Derrick Wong, finance and administration director.

The regional directors of Human Rights Watch are Janet Fleischman (acting), Africa; José Miguel Vivanco, Americas; Sidney Jones, Asia; Holly Cartner (acting), Helsinki; and Christopher E. George, Middle East. The project directors are Joost R. Hiltermann, Arms Project; Lois Whitman, Children's Rights Project; Gara LaMarche, Free Expression Project; and Dorothy Q. Thomas, Women's Rights Project.

The members of the board of directors are Robert L. Bernstein, chair; Adrian W. DeWind, vice chair; Roland Algrant, Lisa Anderson, Peter D. Bell, Alice L. Brown, William Carmichael, Dorothy Cullman, Irene Diamond, Edith Everett, Jonathan Fanton, Alan R. Finberg, Jack Greenberg, Alice H. Henkin, Harold Hongju Koh, Jeh Johnson, Stephen L. Kass, Marina Pinto Kaufman, Alexander MacGregor, Josh Mailman, Andrew Nathan, Jane Olson, Peter Osnos, Kathleen Peratis, Bruce Rabb, Orville Schell, Sid Sheinberg, Gary G. Sick, Malcolm Smith, Nahid Toubia, Maureen White, and Rosalind C. Whitehead.
 

This report was written and researched by Farhad Karim and edited by Sidney Jones, executive director of Human Rights Watch/Asia, Lois Whitman, executive director of the Human Rights Watch Children's Rights Project, and Cynthia Brown, program director of Human Rights Watch. Farina Mir read the entire report in great detail and provided many useful suggestions on both form and content. Jennifer Hyman, associate at Human Rights Watch/Asia, and intern Amy Bryant also contributed to the preparation of this report.

Contemporary forms of slavery, which are set forth and defined in international law, include debt-bondage, serfdom, the trafficking of women, and child servitude.2 All of these forms of slavery exist in Pakistan. While all such forms of slavery deserve and require documentation, this report focuses primarily upon debt-bondage.3

Debt-bondage in Pakistan is endemic and widespread. The International Labor Organization (ILO), in its World Labor Report 1993, assesses the problems of debt-bondage in Pakistan to be among the worst in the world. There are no reliable statistics on the number of bonded laborers. Indeed, the difficulty involvedin obtaining accurate numbers gives some indication of the magnitude of the problem. While some NGOs estimate that the numbers range into the millions; there is little doubt that at least thousands of persons in Pakistan are held in debt-bondage, many of them children. Bondage is particularly

common in the areas of agriculture, brick-making, carpet-weaving, mining, and handicraft production.

Bonded laborers in Pakistan suffer a range of violations of internationally recognized human rights. These include the right not to be held in slavery or servitude, the right not to be imprisoned merely on the ground of inability to fulfil a contractual obligation, the right not to be arbitrarily arrested, the right to liberty of movement, and the right to freedom of association, including the right to form and join trade unions.4 The government of Pakistan is complicit in these violations, both by the direct involvement of the police, who consistently arrest bonded laborers under false charges, and through the state's failure to enforce its obligation to protect the rights of bonded laborers guaranteed under national and international law. Furthermore, the ability of workers to collectively address their exploitation is constrained by legislation which restricts trade union activity.

This report is the product of a long-term investigation that started with a mission we undertook in late 1993. A Human Rights Watch/Asia researcher visited the urban centers of Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Karachi, and Hyderabad as well as rural sections of Sindh, Punjab, and the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) to examine the treatment of bonded laborers and to assess the role of the government of Pakistan in maintaining and perpetuating the bonded labor system.

During this investigation, more than 150 adult and child bonded laborers were interviewed at or near their work sites. In particular, thirty-nine bonded laborers were interviewed individually at brick-kilns on the outskirts of Lahore, Kasur, Peshawar, Faisalabad, and Hyderabad; twenty-two at carpet-weaving centers and private homes with carpet looms in and around Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Karachi, Hyderabad, and Mithi; and twenty-four at agricultural sites in the interior of Sindh, rural Punjab between Lahore and Faisalabad, and rural sections of the Northwest Frontier Province between Peshawar and Swabi.Throughout this report, examples are drawn from these interviews with pseudonyms substituted for the real names of the laborers. Human rights activists, development workers, lawyers, labor organizers, government officials, Muslim and Christian religious leaders, police officers and academics were also interviewed. Information gained from these interviews was supplemented by primary source materials from a number of Pakistani nongovernmental organizations.

While this report seeks to document debt-bondage specifically in Pakistan, it is clear that debt-bondage is a worldwide phenomenon,5 and that the specific forms of bonded labor which exist in Pakistan are also found in India and Nepal. The latter two countries have carpet industries that employ bonded child laborers as well as agricultural sectors which depend on bonded agricultural workers.6

Human Rights Watch/Asia makes the following recommendations:

The government of Pakistan must comply with its own national laws as well as with international human rights and labor laws outlawing bonded labor. Specifically, the government should:

* Promptly enforce the Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933, and the Employment of Children Act, 1991, as well as international laws forbidding suchpractices; the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act of 1992, including termination of bonded laborers' past debt and ensuring that "vigilance committees" mandated by the Act carry out their responsibilities. Any employer of bonded labor should be excluded by definition from serving on a "vigilance committee." The government should also consider establishing a specialized police force authorized to enforce these laws.

* Ensure that workers in all industries, including agriculture, carpet-weaving and brick production, are allowed to organize and be represented by unions for the purpose of collective bargaining and negotiating and enforcement of contracts. This means that the government should (a) redefine what is an "essential" economic activity to apply to only truly strategic or essential areas, and (b) redefine the legal effect of that declaration so that certain worker rights may be restricted, but not the right to join unions. In particular, the government should ratify that bonded labor is prohibited even in areas considered essential.

* Order prompt, impartial and thorough investigations of allegations of violations of the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act. The government should publicize widely that all debts that are being "repid" by bonded laborers are cancelled, and tell the bonded laborers that they do not need to repay such debts.

* Prosecute to the full extent of the law employers who have held workers in bonded labor and those who have physically or sexually abused bonded laborers. The government should also prosecute state officials and police officers who fail to enforce the prohibitions on bonded labor, cooperate with employers to keep workers in servitude and/or take punitive measures against laborers seeking legal redress against employers for holding them in bonded labor. The government should consider increasing the penalties for those convicted of violating the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act and making the offense non-bailable under certain circumstances, such as those involving repeat offenders, multiple victims or the prima facie showing of the use of violence.

* Order an immediate halt to arbitrary and punitive arrests of bonded laborers.

* Ensure that bonded laborers can exercise their right to freedom of movement, to live where they wish and to be allowed to return to their villages at any time.

* Repeal the provisions of section 7 of the Electoral Rolls Act, 1974 that deny bonded laborers the right to vote;

* Invite the United Nations Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery to visit Pakistan and undertake a fact-finding mission on the extent to which Pakistan has complied with international laws and standards outlawingbonded labor, and make recommendations for measures Pakistan could take to eliminate bonded labor.

* Review all export licenses and withdraw them from any company which cannot show that its products are made under conditions which conform to labor laws.

Pakistan's trading partners, the multilateral lending institutions and other international organizations

* The United States and member states of the European Union as Pakistan's largest trading partners should:

* Ban the import of all goods made by bonded labor and work out procedures for doing spot inspections of sites thought to be using such labor for the production of goods for export. Corporations from the U.S. and the E.U. receiving any kind of government assistance, from insurance to financing to licensing, which are importing products from Pakistan should take immediate steps to ensure they are not directly or indirectly supporting bonded labor by a) seeking certification from all their suppliers that bonded labor was not used in production and 2) conducting unannounced inspections of their contractors and subcontractors.

* Invoke provisions of the laws governing suspension of tariff benefits through the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program until Pakistan provides verifiable guarantees that bonded labor is being systematically abolished and employers appropriately prosecuted. The US and the European Union (EU) currently provide tariff reductions or duty-free access for exports from certain developing countries under their GSP programs. In the US, countries receiving GSP benefits must be taking steps to afford internationally recognized labor rights. Pakistan, a GSP receipient, has been under review since 1993 due to its violations of labor rights, including the practice of bonded labor. The review, which could result in suspension of GSP, should be continued until there is verifiable progress made by the government to systematically abolish the practice and to prosecute empoyers. The EU, under a new scheme which took effect on January 1, 1995, provides for suspension of GSP in cases when any form of slavery is practiced or when slave labor is utilized, as defined by the ILO and Geneva conventions. Pakistan is a suitable test case. Under this provision, the EU should consider a complaint against Pakistan, conduct an inquiry and send experts to the country to investigate bonded labor.

* Union and governmental representatives to the annual conference of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva in June 1995 should petition the freedom of association committee to send a technical mission to Pakistan tomake recommendations with the understanding that Pakistan would develop an actionplan for abolishing bonded labor over a specific time period to be worked out with the ILO.

* Pakistan's international donors, including the World Bank, should use the leverage of economic aid to encourage Pakistan to take serious steps to comply with its own laws on abolishing bonded labor.

* The World Bank, in providing assistance to the government of Pakistan aimed at improving the education and social welfare of children should explore the possibility of establishing and funding a program with NGOs and the Pakistan Ministry of Justice to effectively implement Pakistan's Bonded Labor (Abolition) Act.

that they were financially indebted to him. "Reema" and "Ali", however, were convinced that the landlord owed them money as all they received in exchange for their many years of work was food and lodging. Whatever money was needed for basic necessities was extended as a loan from the landlord.

One day in 1990, while working in the fields, "Reema" was summoned to the landlord. Upon arriving at his house she was raped. She chose not to register a case against the landlord as she knew it was unlikely that the police would arrest him. Moreover, there was the possibility that by claiming that she was raped, "Reema" could be charged with adultery.1

Later that year, unable to live under such unbearable conditions any longer, "Reema" and "Ali" attempted escape, only to be detained by the local police and jailed in Mir Pur Khas for one month under false charges. Eventually, the police forcibly returned them to the landlord.

In 1992 the couple and their children were sold to another landlord who owns mango orchards. "Reema" and "Ali," forced out of their original home,continue to work long hours, cannot leave their place of work, and are subject to vicious beatings. "Ali's" leg was broken in one such beating.2

The experience of "Reema" and "Ali" exemplifies the fate of bonded laborers in Pakistan. Their lives are marked by a consistent pattern of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by their employers who control their labor. This exchange of labor for loans, in a context where a worker is not allowed to negotiate the length or term of his or her employment, constitutes debt-bondage.

Debt-bondage is one of the forms of slavery proscribed by the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery of 1956. Pakistani laws, such as the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act 1992, are consistent with international laws which seek to eliminate the bonded labor system. But those laws are not adequately enforced.

Bonded labor is most widespread in agriculture, particularly in the interior of Sindh and southern Punjab where land distribution is highly inequitable. Bondage in agrarian regions involves the purchase and sale of peasants among landlords, the maintenance of private jails to discipline and punish peasants, the forcible transference of teachers who train peasants to maintain proper financial accounts, and a pattern of rape of peasant women by landlords and the police.

Bonded labor in agriculture often emerges from historically hierarchical relationships between landlords and peasants. These relationships are reinforced by contemporary agricultural policies which give landlords privileged access to land, resources, and credit. In many cases peasant children inherit the debt, and thus the working conditions, of their parents.

Brick-kilns, which are located on the outskirts of most major cities and towns in Pakistan, operate almost exclusively on the basis of debt-bondage.3 Maleheads of families receive advances which bond them and their entire families to owners of brick-kilns. Once bonded, the laborers are forced to live and work at the brick-kiln site. While all members of the family are expected to work, the minimal wages paid are given only to the male head of the family. The pay structure is such that basic necessities are not covered by the wages, forcing workers to take out further loans and increase their debt.

Bonded laborers are also used in the export-oriented carpet-weaving industry. The investigation conducted by Human Rights Watch/Asia, in addition to other studies,4 indicates that a high proportion of carpet workers are children, many of whom are bonded. The children either work on a loom at home or at a center with several looms. While there are looms in urban centers such as Karachi or Lahore, most carpet-weaving occurs in rural areas. Unlike the agricultural sector where children work alongside their families, child weavers are often the only members of their families who work on looms. In many cases, it is the parents who force the children to work. In some situations, particularly in the Thar area of Sindh, children are separated from their families and forced to live and work in enclosed areas which have several carpet looms. Harsh punishments are often meted out to children deemed to be inefficient, involving beating and in some cases, sexual abuse.

Bonded labor is also prevalent in the mining industry of Baluchistan. Laborers from remote areas of Baluchistan and Swat are enticed by contractors with promises of employment. While contractors initially house and support such laborers, they are eventually taken to mines in Baluchistan where they are sold to local employers. Laborers are confined to work sites at the mines until arbitrarily established debts are deemed settled.

In Sindh, many handicraft laborers are bonded to merchants. The process of bondage entails the extension of loans by merchants in exchange for a monopoly over goods produced. The laborers are not free to leave their place of work or sell their goods to other merchants. Merchants frequently use the police to maintain their control over bonded handicraft laborers.

Bonded laborers work in either the informal economy5 or the agricultural sector. Laborers in the informal economy, as well as the landless poor, are denied access to institutional forms of credit and must therefore rely on landlords, moneylenders, and employers.6 These latter groups are privileged in credit markets because they have tangible collateral and political influence. Workers in the informal economy and the landless poor tend to be denied credit because of the perceived higher costs of administering small loans and the discriminatory assumption that such workers are high risks.7

In the agricultural sector, where credit is critical for survival until the harvests, peasants depend on non-institutional sources of credit. Peasants must purchase agricultural inputs, equipment, and basic necessities before the harvests. For example, sharecroppers, who have no direct access to institutional credit, are forced to rely on their landlord for seasonal loans.8 Dependence on landlords for credit leaves peasants vulnerable to debt-bondage. Failed harvests, commonoccurrences in Pakistan, often result in such limited options for economic survival that peasants must literally mortgage themselves to a landlord. If poor economic conditions continue and workers cannot repay their loans, they become permanently bonded to their landlord.

Interviews with bonded laborers, trade union leaders, and representatives of development organizations revealed that bonded laborers outside the agricultural sector tend to work under a contract system. Rather than paying wages or guaranteeing job security, employers remunerate workers on the basis of their output, such as the number of bricks produced or the length of carpet woven.

Employers provide contractors (jamadars or thekedars) with cash advances in exchange for guaranteed future products. The contractor must then ensure that laborers produce a designated amount of goods within a certain period of time. These contractors further subcontract, thereby creating multiple intermediaries between employer and worker. Often, it is subcontractors who bond laborers. In certain circumstances, laborers do not even come in contact with their employer. For example, in carpet-weaving, the carpet exporter based in Karachi or Lahore rarely sees where his or her carpets are woven.9 The exporter usually deals with a number of intermediary subcontractors located close to the villages where the weaving takes place. Subcontractors supply raw materials to workers which are debited to their accounts as loans. They provide credit, information, and a conduit for the finished goods to the market and pay workers for the amount of product made.

The contract system allows much room for abuse. According to Khawar Mumtaz of Shirkat Gah, a Lahore-based organizations which works on issues involving women in development, the contract system is responsible for widespread violations of worker rights.10 Bonded laborers in the brick-kiln industry and in carpet-weaving told Human Rights Watch/Asia that contractors coerce workers to complete goods in a certain amount of time or face physical punishment. Moreover, earnings are exceptionally low and thus, all family members must work in order to survive. This situation leads to the extensive use of child labor. For the contractor there are minimal overhead costs because there are no trade unions to demand minimum wages, social security, and safe working sites.

The bonded laborers interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia were either born into bondage because they "inherited" a debt from their parents, sold into bondage by family members, or put themselves into bondage by taking out loans under conditions which made them impossible to repay. In exchange for extending loans, lenders claim a monopoly over laborers' activities. Such a monopoly includes the ability to sell the workers (and in many cases their entire families) to other employers in exchange for the original debt.

Shakeel Pathan of the Special Task Force on Sindh told Human Rights Watch/Asia that inequitable accounting practices undermine the ability of bonded laborers to repay loans.11 Interviews with bonded laborers, employers, contractors, and lawyers interviewed said that false expenses are added to the loans, workers are fined for disobeying the employers' policies, wages are often debited as loans, and/or exorbitant rates of interest are charged. At the various work sites which Human Rights Watch/Asia visited, no neutral sources existed to arbitrate financial disputes between employers and laborers.

While debts can be inherited from past generations, the problems of bonded labor are located in contemporary economic and political structures. In the Pakistani economy, where social services are often nonexistent, underemployment is high, and wages are low, access to credit is fundamental for survival, particularly when a failed harvest or a recessionary downturn can exhaust a worker's means of subsistence. If unable to obtain credit from alternative sources, workers fall prey to the advances of employers, landlords, and moneylenders who extend desperately needed cash in exchange for long-term control over their labor. In such an economic context, where alternative strategies for survival are limited, the male head of the family often enters into contracts which place himself, a member of his family, or his entire family into bondage.

Many employers interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia claimed that advancing loans was a necessary component of the wage structure. For example, Iqbal Malik, a carpet exporter from Lahore, stated that as carpet-weavers were extremely poor, they required him to supply looms, material, and occasionally cash in exchange for a commitment to weave a certain number of carpets within a set time. While there is an obvious shortage of credit, the extension of credit in exchange for a monopoly over a laborers' activities is in clear violation of international law.

In addition to advancing loans, employers also are able to control and structure bonded laborers' activities through a consistent pattern of violence. Over 90 percent of bonded laborers interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia were victims of work-related violence. As this report documents below such violence ranges from mild beatings to outright torture. Bonded laborers who disobey employers' orders are beaten with such regularity that many of them consider physical abuse intrinsic to their work.

Women held in servitude suffer particular hardship.12 The majority of loans that are extended to bonded laborers are given to men. As a consequence, female bonded laborers are faced with double exploitation as dependents of male bonded laborers. Although such women rarely receive financial compensation, they are expected to work full-time, over and above maintaining their households.

According to representatives of War Against Rape, a national anti-rape organization, Women's Action Forum, an umbrella group for women's organizations throughout Pakistan, and the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF)13, a national advocacy group for bonded laborers,14 women bonded laborers are frequently sexually assaulted. As Ehsanullah Khan of the BLLF said in an interview with Human Rights Watch/Asia, "One of the most important issues facing bonded laborers in all parts of Pakistan is rape of women bonded laborers. Our reports indicate that it is happening regularly in brick-kilns, at carpet-looms, and in agriculture."15 Human Rights Watch/Asia interviewed two women bonded laborers whose daughters had been raped at brick-kilns near Lahore,16 one man whose wife was raped in the interior of Sindh, and two women who were raped in the interior of Sindh. If women bonded laborers seek legal recourse after sexualassault, they are subject to a series of laws which equate rape with adultery, an offense for which they can be punished under Pakistan's Hudood Ordinances.17

In agriculture and brick-making, if a male member of a family leaves the work site or the immediate vicinity, female family members can be held in custody as a guarantee for their return. If their family members do not return, these women are often sold into marriage or prostitution. Human Rights Watch/Asia interviewed five families, three at brick-kilns near Lahore and two at agricultural sites near Hyderabad, who had a female family member sold into marriage after her father or husband left his place of bondage.18

The bonded labor system makes extensive use of children. Human Rights Watch/Asia observed children working at every brick-kiln, carpet-loom, and agricultural site that it visited in Pakistan. A representative of the International Labor Organization in Islamabad told Human Rights Watch/Asia that bonded child labor in Pakistan was one of its greatest concerns.19

Children either work alongside their bonded families or are sold individually into bondage. Five children interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia at brick-kiln sites near Lahore and five working on farms throughout the interior of Sindh were born into bondage. Ten children interviewed at carpet-weaving looms in Mithi were sold into bondage by their parents. According to Baela Jamil of UNICEF in Lahore, "Faced with a lack of schools for their children and employment opportunities for themselves, parents throughout Pakistan have bonded their children to employers. "20 Child bonded laborers interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia revealed that they are rarely asked whether they wish to work as bonded laborers. Iqbal Masih, a bonded labor advocate, told Human Rights Watch/Asia, "Children have no choices in the bonded labor system. They are forced to work by their employers and sometimes by their parents. If they donot work, they will be beaten."21 The widespread existence of bonded child labor in Pakistan is particularly appalling as the government, which is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, has repeatedly pledged to ban all forms of child labor in Pakistan.

While all bonded laborers are victims of a consistent pattern of abuse, a Christian lawyer in Lahore, who wished to remain unidentified for fear of reprisal, stated, "Christian bonded laborers suffer double exploitation as religious minorities and as bonded laborers."22 Human Rights Watch/Asia found it difficult to document particular abuses against non-Muslim bonded laborers as non-Muslims. However, eight Christians and three Hindus interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia stated that they were forced to work harder and were punished more brutally than Muslim bonded laborers. Asif Ali, a landlord from Sindh told Human Rights Watch/Asia that "the Kohlis and Bheels [low-caste Hindus] were kaffirs [infidels] and did not deserve any rights." Despite the difficulty in documenting specific violations against non-Muslim bonded laborers as non-Muslims, it should be noted that the government of Pakistan legally discriminates against religious minorities and its practices have created a climate where the basic rights of such minorities are violated with impunity.23

Workers who wish to change their working conditions or choose another place of employment are deterred by a consistent pattern of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. Human Rights Watch/Asia visited carpet-weaving centers in Thar, where children were locked inside, and brick-kilns near Lahore in additionto farms in the interior of Sindh, where laborers were prevented from leaving by armed guards. Nineteen bonded laborers interviewed by Human Right Watch/Asia, who attempted escape were captured and returned to the work site. In addition to such restrictions on freedom of movement, bonded laborers have been disciplined and punished by being confined to private jails. The nongovernmental Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, in its annual report for 1993, documented twelve private jails in the district of Sanghar alone. One such prison, raided and closed down by the army in 1991, was described in Newsline, a prominent national newsmagazine:

About 30 kilometers east of Tando Allahyar...is a fort like structure. Its walls, 14 feet high, are strategically covered with barbed wire....The residents of the area have long known that the building, commonly referred to as a kot, is a private prison where the all-powerful landlord of the area, Haji Ghulam Khokhar, incarcerated his haris [peasants]. The armed guards deployed in the bunkers to keep watch over the inmates were also familiar sights....There was cause for the heavy security and secrecy: the inmates of the kot - haris who worked on the lands from dawn to dusk - were physically chained with iron fetters weighing up to 25 kgs when they were brought back to the prison in the evenings. Women, who either worked alongside the men in the fields or in the wadera's [landlord's] haveli [mansion], were often raped by the wadera's guards, as a result of which many illegitimate children were born in the kot.24

Such private jails are an extreme form of coercion in a system where the sustained exploitation of bonded labor is widespread. The ability of workers to address their exploitation is limited in two crucial ways. First, the justice system does not treat bonded laborers equally before the law, as required by international law and Pakistan's own constitution. When workers attempt to file charges against their employers, the police often refuse to register the cases or prosecute those who violate existing laws against bonded labor. Twenty-six bonded laborers interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia said no action had been taken against employers after they complained to the police or a local magistrate. Second, the right to organize is tightly restricted. According to the International Centre for Trade Union Rights, an independent organization: "The right to association and bargaincollectively continues to be a right reserved for a small minority of Pakistani workers. Large sectors of the work force are prohibited from joining trade unions and engaging in collective bargaining."25 Human Rights Watch/Asia interviewed seven bonded laborers who attempted to seek redress against their exploitation and were punitively detained by local police either under false charges or without charge at all. The arrest of bonded laborers is not only discriminatory but is also routinely carried out in clear violation of basic principles of due process provided in Pakistani and international law.

The incongruity in Pakistan between procedural democracy and widespread human rights violations is rooted in a system of governance created in British India and reconfigured by successive post-colonial governments. The colonial system, and its legal apparatus, which sought to control subjects rather than govern citizens, was a model for the architects of Pakistan's state structure.1 The state's denial of fundamental rights in order to maintain political control, a hallmark of British rule in India, endures in contemporary Pakistan.

In 1947, the state of Pakistan was created from partitioned sections of northwest and northeast colonial India.2 Upon independence the new government was faced with the complex task of constructing legislative, executive, and judicial bodies virtually from scratch. This task was complicated by the lack of well organized national political parties, limited financial resources, the violence of

partition,3 provincial antipathy towards the central state, and the emergence of India as a military foe.4

In the immediate aftermath of independence, Pakistan entered a dispute with India over the princely state of Kashmir.5 In the minds of Pakistan's leaders, this dispute, which led to subsequent military confrontations with India, made the establishment of a viable defense system crucial to the maintenance of Pakistan's independence, and much of the newly independent state's limited resources were thus diverted to military interests. Executive ordinances and coercive strategies to exact revenue primarily for the military frustrated the promotion of democratic institutions. The early years of independence were fraught with constituent assembly battles which sought to define the political form of the Pakistani state. These battles were fought among members of a parliament (which was also a constitution making body) that was elected on the basis of limited franchise two years before independence and that did not accurately reflect Pakistan's citizenry.6 No democratic elections were held from 1947 to 1970 and in the absence of elected bodies, the civil bureaucracy and military became primary instruments of governance. Control by the executive branch of the judiciary was also firmly established during this period. Consequently, it became difficult for Pakistani citizens to seek accountability for the actions of their governing institutions.

Worker rights were seriously undermined during this early period,7 both by colonial codes and a series of acts and ordinances which sought to weaken, divide, and localize the trade union movement. The Essential Services Maintenance Act of 1952 was the first major labor legislation passed by the government of Pakistan after independence. This act denied freedom of association, including the right to bargain collectively, to workers in a number of industries and services designated "essential" by the government.8 Moreover, holding strikes and terminating employment without the employer's consent in such "essential" industries were made imprisonable offenses.9

In 1956, Pakistan's first constitution was ratified. During the nation's first tumultuous nine years, democratic institutions such as political parties had been severely weakened. The Muslim League, Pakistan's only national political party, had virtually collapsed. The new constitution called for direct elections but before they could be held, the army took power in a military coup and declared martial law. In 1958, General Ayub Khan became commander-in-chief, chief martial law administrator, and President of Pakistan.

Under the military regime of Ayub Khan, the press was controlled, the political opposition purged, and trade unions undermined.10 The army and thebureaucracy continued to control the governing process. In 1962, Ayub Khan abandoned martial rule and established the "Basic Democracy" system which extended limited political rights but did not challenge the military's firm control over civil society, the judiciary, and the civil service. In the economic sphere, he pursued industrialization and agricultural policies that favored powerful industrialists and large landlords. These policies further undermined the bargaining power of labor and peasant groups. In 1965, Ayub Khan held the first presidential election on the indirect voting basis of the "Basic Democracy" system and triumphed over Fatimah Jinnah, leader of the moribund Muslim League. After the election, trade unions, student organizations, and East Pakistani groups clamoring for greater autonomy demanded Ayub Khan's resignation.

In 1967, the Pakistan Democratic Movement was established. This alliance of disparate opposition groups sought a number of changes in the political system, among them, direct elections and the reestablishment of the parliamentary system. The government's response was to crack down on all opposition political activity. Such action precipitated widespread street demonstrations against Ayub Khan and his regime. In 1969, under pressure from many quarters, Ayub Khan resigned and his successor, General Yahya Khan, reestablished martial rule in Pakistan.

The Industrial Relations Ordinance of 1969 (IRO), Pakistan's major labor code, was passed in this context. The IRO recognized certain trade unions, called for consultations between employers and workers, defined unfair labor practices, established labor courts, and regulated collective bargaining. Notwithstanding its great advancement for worker rights in Pakistan, the IRO also restricted union activity in a number of ways. Most importantly, it did not guarantee basic labor rights for workers in agriculture, education and previously defined "essential" industries and services. The IRO also restricted the ability of unions to organize on an industry-wide or national basis.11 The ordinance required that three-quartersof a given trade unions' members declare the same employer,12 limited strikes to thirty days, and extended government authority to call off any strike that caused "serious hardship to the country" or threatened the national interest.

In 1970, Pakistan's first parliamentary elections were held. The Awami League, based in East Pakistan, won a majority of seats in the National Assembly with the Pakistan People's Party coming in second with the majority of seats in West Pakistan. The martial law regime and the Pakistan People's Party were not willing to concede power to a government based in East Pakistan. General Yahya Khan declared a military crackdown in East Pakistan, and a bloody civil war ensued. The result was the division of Pakistan into Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The Pakistan People's Party, led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, which won a majority of seats in the former West Pakistan, came to power in 1971. Bhutto, a prominent landlord from Sindh, ran on a populist platform which promised to extend political, economic, and social rights to the bulk of Pakistan's population. Bhutto partially succeeded in this endeavor, but structural constraints and Bhutto's own authoritarian tendencies undermined the thrust of his reforms.

In 1973, a new constitution which guaranteed a number of political, economic, and social rights was promulgated. Bhutto amended the IRO and enacted legislation which strengthened worker rights. He coupled his labor policies with land reform and the nationalization of major industries. During his tenure, select segments of civil society such as the press, student groups, and trade unions expanded their activities. Moreover, through reforms he engineered, Bhutto created a series of checks and balances on the government, although key checks, such as the accountability of the government through the courts, and an independent judiciary, were not instituted in practice. Furthermore, during his later years in power, Bhutto circumscribed the freedom of the press, used violent means to suppress perceived political opponents, and amended the constitution to enhance his power.

Bhutto's later years in office were marked by widespread opposition to his leadership. A coalition of opposition groups, the Pakistan National Alliance, contested his power in the 1977 general elections. Although Bhutto won by a wide margin, many observers believe that the elections were rigged. Protestors took to the streets, and Bhutto declared a state of martial law. The army, led by Zia ul-Haq, staged a military coup. The military regime then tried and convicted Bhutto,Pakistan's first elected prime minister, for the murder of a political opponent. In 1979, with the Supreme Court's denial of his appeal, Bhutto was hanged.

The new government of Zia ul-Haq reestablished military rule with the promise to hold elections within ninety days. Zia did not fulfil that promise. During his initial years in office, he banned political parties, trade unions, and student groups. He controlled the press, brutally repressed all political opposition, and systematically undermined the rights of women, religious minorities, labor, and the peasantry. He diverted the majority of Pakistan's resources to the military and granted military officers agricultural lands, property throughout the country, and monopolies over certain industries.

In the legislative arena, Zia passed a number of presidential ordinances and constitutional amendments which undermined the judiciary. The Provisional Constitutional Order of 1981 allowed military authorities to decide whether cases would be heard in civil courts or in the martial law courts over which they held absolute power. The powerful martial law courts shut down most political activity, penalized speech that was deemed seditious, and eliminated guarantees of due process. Judges who did not abide by such decisions were dismissed. All the fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution were also suspended.

In 1985, under domestic and international pressure to reintroduce democratic processes in Pakistan, Zia ul-Haq held general elections on a non party basis. While the opposition boycotted the elections, Muhammad Khan Junejo, a political supporter of Zia ul-Haq and a powerful landlord from Sindh, became prime minister. The new government immediately passed the Eighth Amendment which guaranteed that all constitutional amendments, laws, and ordinances promulgated during Zia ul-Haq's martial law period would be maintained. Under that amendment, moreover, neither the courts nor the legislative bodies could question the validity of these laws.

Subsequently, martial law was lifted, the Constitution of 1973 was revived, and General Zia ul-Haq appointed himself president. Although originally a document that guaranteed basic democratic rights, the Constitution of 1973 had been amended by the martial law regime to give the president wide ranging discretionary powers. In 1989, Zia ul-Haq dismissed the Junejo government and called for elections to be held within ninety days. In the interim, Zia ul-Haq was killed in a plane crash, the cause of which is still unknown. Elections were held and Benazir Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's daughter, and the leader of the Pakistan People's Party, was elected prime minister.

Benazir Bhutto's election marked the ostensible reintroduction of democracy to Pakistan. A genuinely free press was reestablished, parliament was reactivated, and more independence was granted to the judiciary. But seriousabuses of human rights continued. The new prime minister claimed that there would be changes. With regard to worker rights, she pledged to restore all trade unions, eliminate contract labor, raise the minimum wage, and bring Pakistan into compliance with ILO conventions. These measures were not implemented.

The president of Pakistan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, sought to undermine Benazir Bhutto's term in office and eventually dismissed her government on charges of corruption. New elections were held and, amid claims of vote rigging, Nawaz Sharif, a wealthy industrialist, became prime minister. Like his predecessor, he promised to improve worker rights. He claimed he would implement new labor legislation, extend social security, and increase the minimum wage. He also promised to bring Pakistan into compliance with the ILO conventions.13

But in the attempt to attract foreign investment, worker rights were ignored. For example, the Sharif government guaranteed the South Korean Daewoo Group that trade unions would not be allowed and labor laws would not apply in projects in which they invested. When workers attempted to protest this action, many were arrested and tortured in detention. In January 1993, the government stated that the Daewoo Corporation was an essential industry and thus workers had no rights to freedom of association or collective bargaining.

Nawaz Sharif's tenure was fraught with conflicts with the president, Ghulam Ishaq Khan. In April 1993, a power struggle between the two culminated in the President's dismissal of Sharif's government. In a landmark decision, which indicated a new independence for courts in Pakistan, the Supreme Court declared the president's actions unconstitutional and restored Nawaz Sharif as prime minister. However, under pressure from the army, both Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Nawaz Sharif resigned, and interim Prime Minister Moeen Qureishi and President Wassim Sajjad were appointed.

Qureishi implemented a number of reforms that sought to address political corruption, curb the activities of drug traffickers, and tax agricultural lands. In October 1993, elections were held for the national and provincial assemblies. Although no single party won an absolute majority, the Pakistan People's Party led by Benazir Bhutto took the most seats and formed the government. Farooq Leghari, an ally of Benazir Bhutto, became president and Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the opposition.

The democratically elected governments of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto are similar in nature. Neither government carried out the overt systematic repression of human rights that was the hallmark of the Zia regime. Neither, however, did they strike down the series of discriminatory ordinances promulgated by Zia and his predecessors. Moreover, they allowed the coercive institutions of the state, including the police and the army, to abuse citizens with impunity. Both governments, while ostensibly concerned with the plight of workers, embarked on strategies which placed a higher priority on aggregate economic growth than on worker rights.14

Pakistan has ratified a number of international covenants and conventions which proscribe slavery, forced labor, and debt-bondage. The constitution of Pakistan forbids slavery and forced labor; a Supreme Court decision declared that the bonded labor system is unconstitutional; and an act of parliament called for the abolition of bonded labor. But the practice continues. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan:

Despite the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act of 1992, forced labour continued to be practiced on a wide scale, mostly in agriculture, brick-kilns, fisheries, construction, carpet industry and over domestic servants. The size of it was estimated in the region of 20 million.15

The existing national and international laws on slavery, forced labor, and debt-bondage provide an excellent foundation for the eradication of bonded labor. However, if these laws are to be tenable, the government of Pakistan must ensure that they are effectively implemented.

International Law

The Slavery Convention of 1926 calls on all its signatories to "prevent and suppress the slave trade" and "to bring about, progressively and as soon as possible, the complete abolition of slavery in all its forms." This convention, which was adopted by the United Nations in 1953, is reaffirmed in Article 8 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which declares: "No one shall be held in slavery; slavery and the slave trade in all their forms shall be prohibited. No one shall be held in servitude." The definition of slavery is further clarified in the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Practices Similar to Slavery, 1956. This convention considers debt-bondage, serfdom, the trafficking of women, and child servitude to be institutions and practices similar to slavery and defines debt-bondage as follows:

Debt-bondage, that is to say, the status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his personal services or those of a person under his control as security for a debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined.

In 1975, the United Nations created a Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery to monitor the application of the slavery conventions. This group, which consists of five independent experts from the membership of the Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, holds an annual meeting, with representatives of member states, other U.N. agencies, and accredited non government organizations in attendance. The Bonded Labour Liberation Front of Pakistan and Anti-Slavery International have consistently raised the issue of bonded labor in Pakistan before this group to no apparent effect.

The International Labour Organization passed the Forced Labour Convention (No. 29) in 1930, to which Pakistan is now a party. This convention calls on its signatories to "suppress the use of forced or compulsory labour16 in all its forms in the shortest period possible." At its 40th session in 1957, the ILO further clarified its definition of forced labor to specifically incorporate debt-bondage and serfdom17 and it passed the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (No. 105). The ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations has reported on a number of occasions that Pakistan is not in compliance with the two forced labor conventions.

Domestic Law

In Pakistan, the constitution, a Supreme Court decision, and an act of Parliament all serve to outlaw bonded labor. The Constitution of 1973 lists a number of fundamental rights ostensibly guaranteed to all Pakistani citizens. The constitution states that all laws which are inconsistent with, or in derogation of, these fundamental rights are void. Slavery and forced labor are addressed in article 11 of the constitution:

(1) Slavery is nonexistent and forbidden and no law shall permit or facilitate its introduction into Pakistan in any form.

(2) All forms of forced labour and traffic in human beings are prohibited.

Although slavery is generically proscribed in the constitution, the bonded labor system is specifically banned under an important Supreme Court ruling passed in 1988. In the case of Darshan Masih and others vs. the State, the courts ruled that brick-kiln workers are indeed bonded laborers and that the bonded labor system is inconsistent with fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution. Thus, the Supreme Court declared that the bonded labor system must be eradicated. This decision grants laborers the right to work wherever they wish; bans contractors from the bonded labor system; limits the amount an employer can loan employees; and attempts to make specific arrangements to end false arrests of bonded laborers. Its major limitations are that it upholds the legality of existing debts and implicitly limits the scope of the law to the brick-kiln industry. Moreover, it guarantees wages only to the male head of the household and not to other family members who also work.

The Supreme Court decision was followed by an important act of Parliament: the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act of 1992.18 This act abolishes the bonded labor system, terminates bonded laborers past debts, and legislates harsh punishments for those engaged in the bonded labor system. It also calls upon the state to establish vigilance committees at the district level consisting of elected representatives from the area, the district administration, bar associations, the press, recognized social services, and labor departments of federal and provincial governments. These committees are to advise the district administration on matters relating to the effective implementation of the law. They are also to help rehabilitate freed bonded laborers, assure that the laws are properly applied, and provide bonded laborers with assistance to achieve the objectives of the law. While the law provides for the establishment of such committees, this has not occurred. The establishment of these committees would be the first important step to ensure that this act is enforced.

"Gul", a Christian Punjabi man, lives and works at a brick-kiln on the outskirts of Lahore. He and his family have worked as bonded laborers at the kiln for over fifteen years. Working hours are long, pay is low, and working conditions are intolerable. "Gul" attempted to organize other workers to collectively address their harsh working conditions in 1991. This resulted in his being brutally beaten at the behest of the kiln owner. "Gul" decided to leave the kiln. He was caught by the local police who held him for three weeks under a false charge of theft. He was held in police custody for several weeks, during which time he was beaten. He was eventually forced to return to the brick-kiln. In his absence, "Gul's" wife was sexually harassed by a jamadar [foreman/contractor]. By the owner's account, "Gul" cannot leave the brick-kiln until he clears his Rs.10,000 [$300] debt. "Gul" insists his debt is no more than Rs. 2,500 [$75], but he has no documentation and no way of challenging the owner's figures. As he does not have the required amount, "Gul" and his family continue to work at the brick-kiln.1

Labor conditions in the brick-kilns of Pakistan have concerned human rights activists, trade unions, lawyers, and religious groups for many years. Such concern has resulted in significant judicial and legislative reforms. For example, a landmark Supreme Court decision in 1988 specifically cited work practices in the brick-kiln industry as a form of bonded labor.2 The same Supreme Court decision declared such practices a violation of fundamental rights and ruled that they must immediately be discontinued. However, proscriptions against bonded labor in the brick-kiln industry have not significantly affected working conditions. Human Rights Watch/Asia's investigation in Pakistan reveals that debt-bondage, restrictions on freedom of movement, physical abuse, sexual harassment including rape, low wages, and a lack of medical and educational facilities are widespread and endemic in the brick making industry. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), which has extensively monitored and documented workingconditions in brick-kilns,3 has noted that during 1994 national laws on bonded labor were widely violated. The HRCP cites a number of examples including the following testimony of two former brick-kiln workers from Kasur:

Thousands of workers, they alleged, were made to do forced labour. Armed men stood guard day and night and if anyone wished to go away briefly he had to leave his children as security. Rape of women workers was a daily routine. Three families were recently bought for Rs 12,000 [$360] and then made to work for 14 hours a day on pain of being burnt to death. Twice the courts intervened to have families released from the bondage of one or the other families.4

Brick-kilns are located on the periphery of most major cities and towns in Pakistan and operate almost exclusively on the basis of debt-bondage. The vast majority of workers at brick-kilns are children, most of whom receive no compensation for their labor.5 Many started working before the age of thirteen, indicating that they were either the children or grandchildren of those initially given a loan.6 In the course of its own research, Human Rights Watch/Asia interviewed one six-year-old boy who worked as a bonded child laborer.

Relative to their percentage of the total population, a high proportion of bonded brick-kiln workers in Punjab are Christians7: thirteen out of nineteen brick-kiln workers interviewed individually in Punjab by HRW/Asia were Christian. In Sindh a similarly high proportion of bonded laborers are Hindus: six out of fifteen brick-kiln workers interviewed individually in Sindh were Hindu. In these interviews, Christian and Hindu brick-kiln workers alleged that they suffer more abuse than their Muslim counterparts on the basis of their religious affiliation. Although the perception of religious discrimination was widespread, it was difficult to isolate specific instances of discrimination from other abuses, as most workers' basic human rights were systematically denied.

Alexander Malik, bishop of Lahore, claimed that most laborers entered the brick-kiln industry as a result of a decreasing demand for their labor in the rural sector.8 Human Rights Watch/Asia interviews confirmed that bonded brick-kiln workers who had taken out loans themselves are predominantly former agricultural laborers: twenty out of twenty-six brick-kiln workers who had sold themselves into bondage interviewed individually throughout Pakistan were former agricultural laborers. Before the independence of Pakistan, many rural landless laborers worked on large agricultural estates as daily wage earners. At the time of independence and during the 1950s many Hindu and Sikh landowners migrated to India. In Punjab in particular, many of the properties left by emigrant landlords were subdivided into smaller plots and redistributed to Muslim refugees. As those farms were often smaller in size and managed by owner cultivators, the need for daily wage labor decreased. The result was massive rural unemployment.

During Ayub Khan's regime in the 1960s, the green revolution, which sought to mechanize the agricultural industry to increase aggregate production, also caused widespread unemployment of agricultural daily wage earners. The green revolution was accompanied by attempts at land reform. Such attempts redistributed land to middle sized landlords. As land was redistributed to those at the middle of the socio-economic ladder, those at the bottom were further marginalized and left with few employment options. Thus many were forced to sell themselves into bondage.

In addition to rural landless laborers from Pakistan, a number of refugees from Afghanistan have fallen into bondage. After the Soviet invasion ofAfghanistan in 1979, over three million Afghan refugees migrated to Pakistan.9 While the majority were cared for by the government of Pakistan and international refugee agencies, many were barely able to maintain themselves at subsistence level. Confronted with limited opportunities, a large number of Afghan refugees entered debt-bondage relationships in Pakistani brick-kiln and some have been forced to remain in Pakistan against their will, even after it became politically possible to return. Four such refugees were interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia. This is a clear violation of the ICCPR Article 12, Section 2, which states: "Everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his own."

While many bonded laborers who work in brick-kilns are born into a relationship of debt-bondage, others are recruited into such relationships by jamadars, contractors who often act as foremen. Human Rights Watch/Asia individually interviewed thirteen brick-kiln workers who had been born into bondage and twenty-six who had been recruited by jamadars. Jamadars procure workers for brick-kilns by providing them with a cash advance in exchange for a long-term monopoly over their labor. Unable to negotiate the terms or length of employment, laborers must often work at a brick-kiln for the rest of their lives. Despite significant domestic legislation prohibiting the practice of debt-bondage, the majority of workers at brick-kilns interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia have substantial debts ranging from Rs.5,000 to Rs. 25,000 [$150 - $750]10 These initial loans form the foundation of employers' control over bonded laborers.

Although the process of recruitment is fraught with false promises, the recruiting itself is done openly. Despite laws which prohibit bonded labor,jamadars, with the encouragement of brick-kiln owners, openly convince prospective laborers to agree to contracts which state that laborers must work for their employers until their debt is settled. Some workers at more remote kilns are physically coerced into debt-bondage.

·"Salamat", a Christian Punjabi man in his forties, used to work as a daily wage-earner on a farm. When the owners of the farm no longer needed his labor he sought different types of work. He was unable to find a job and needed some money to meet his family's basic expenses. He had borrowed money from a number of people to meet such expenses. To repay his various debts he took out a loan of Rs.1,500 [$45] from a jamadar and sold himself, his wife and three children into bondage at a brick-kiln on the outskirts of Kasur.11

·"Naqvi," a Muslim Sindhi man in his thirties from a small village near Hyderabad, was unemployed for a number of years. He met a jamadar who offered him a loan and the prospect of long-term employment at a brick-kiln near Mir Pur Khas. "Naqvi" knew that work at a brick-kiln site would be quite harsh, but he needed the money, and thus in 1983 he borrowed Rs. 2,000 [$60] and started working at the brick-kiln. He did not know, however, that the pay structure at the brick-kiln was such that it would be impossible to repay the loan. After five years of work at a brick-kiln he got married and had children. He, his wife and children work together at the brick-kiln. According to the jamadar his current debt is Rs.5,000 [$150].12

·"Rashid", a Muslim Pathan man in his forties, left Afghanistan in 1986 after fierce fighting between the Soviet Union and the American backed mujahaidin broke out around his village. He settled near Peshawar with his family and searched for work. He met an Afghan jamadar who offered him an advance and a job at a brick-kiln. "Rashid" believed that this was an excellent opportunity to sustain his family while they were refugees inPakistan. Although the work was hard he believed that he could soon repay the debt and work as a free laborer. He was unable to reduce his debt and despite his many of years of work, the debt actually increased. The jamadar at the brick-kiln site told him that his current debt was Rs.10,000 [$300]. He would like to return to Afghanistan, but he has been told he must stay until his debt is paid.13

In exchange for recruiting laborers, jamadars receive a commission on the bricks produced by such laborers. Consequently, it is the jamadar who seeks to maximize the laborers' productivity as his earnings are directly related to the number of bricks produced. If a laborer escapes, the jamadar must either assume the debt or ensure that the laborer returns, so his interest is best served in retaining a laborer in bondage.

Accounts are maintained by employees of brick-kiln owners known as munshis. According to"Gul," a brick-kiln worker in Lahore, the account books are skewed in favor of brick-kiln owners.14 Other bonded laborers confirmed this assertion with reports of false expenses being added to loans, workers fined for disobeying employers' policies, wages debited as loans, the total number of bricks produced underestimated, and/or exorbitant rates of interest charged. In some remote kilns, workers are paid with receipts that can only be exchanged at stores owned by the kiln owner.15

While all members of brick-kiln worker families are expected to work from sunrise to sunset, interviews with bonded laborers revealed that the minimal wages paid are given only to the male head of the family. The pay structure is such that basic necessities will not be covered by the wages and workers must continue to solicit loans. Consequently, debts continue to increase.

The debts that owners claim to hold against workers often bear little relevance to the initial loan transaction. In this context, some calculations are instructive. Brick-kiln workers interviewed took out, on average, initial loans of Rs.2,500 [$75] and were paid between Rs.80 and Rs.120 a day [$2.40 - $3.60], 50 percent of which is deducted to repay their loans. If Rs.2,500 [$75] were added tothis debt for additional expenses (medical, personal expenses, extra food) the debt's principal would be Rs.15,000 [$150]. At an interest rate of 100 percent a year, compounded weekly, workers, who work six days a week for Rs.80 a day [$2.40], even if they receive these advances before the monsoon and only accrue interest without making any payments for the first nine weeks (bringing the debt to Rs.5,975 [$173.85]), could repay the debt after thirty-five weeks of work.16 The total amount paid by workers to employers would be Rs.8,400 [$252] (Rs.5,000 [$150] principal plus Rs.3,400 [$102] interest at the interest rate of 100 percent per year.)

Laborers are usually unaware of the many possible long-term implications of their loan transaction. Occasionally, when a disagreement develops between laborer and owner, or the laborer's services are no longer required, he and his family are sold to another kiln owner. The laborer is then bonded to the new owner.

·"Naemat," a Christian Punjabi man in his twenties worked at a brick-kiln in Kasur. His working conditions were extremely harsh. Unlike many other laborers, he would resist beatings by his employer and the jamadar. The employer no longer wanted to employ "Naemat," but was unwilling to release him from bondage. In 1992, "Naemat" was sold to another brick-kiln owner for Rs.2,500 [$75], the amount of his alleged debt.17

·"Rahim," a Muslim Sindhi man in his fifties, was born into bondage and worked for most of his life at a brick-kiln in district Hyderabad. The owner of the brick-kiln decided to slow down operations and as a result required fewer employees. In 1992, without any advance notice, "Rahim" and his immediate family were sold to another brick-kiln owner in the same district. Some of his friends were also sold to the same brick-kiln owner. Others, however, were dispersed to other brick-kilns. Most of "Rahim's" extended family and friends continue to work at theoriginal brick-kiln. "Rahim" was told by his employer that his debt was Rs.10,000 [$300].18

The working conditions of brick-kiln workers constitute cruel and inhuman treatment, and they facilitate increased bondage. Bonded laborers we interviewed in the brick-kiln industry worked twelve to fourteen hours a day, six days a week, ten months a year. They were paid on a contract basis for the number of bricks produced and thus were not entitled to any wages when not capable of working, for example, when incapacitated by illness or injury. Additionally, deductions were taken from wages for bricks broken during the production process. The kilns are closed for the duration of the rainy season. Baba Barkat, the leader of a small brick-kiln union based in Lahore, stated that when the brick-kilns are closed workers receive no wages and must take on more loans in order to survive.19

At the various brick-kiln sites in Punjab, Sindh, and NWFP that Human Rights Watch/Asia visited, the production process was quite similar: a number of different specialized workers operated under a relatively strict division of labor. Either late in the night or very early in the morning dirt from around the brick-kiln site is excavated and mixed with water to produce the basic ingredient for the bricks. This base is then put into a mold in the shape of the brick and katcha (raw) bricks are formed. The production of katcha bricks involves a high proportion of women and children workers. A family can prepare approximately 1,000 katcha bricks per day.20 According to Baba Barkat those who prepare katcha bricks are considered the most expendable as their work requires the least skill and thus they suffer the greatest physical abuse from employers and jamadars.21

The katcha bricks are then taken by another group of workers to the actual brick-kiln. In a process which requires great skill, a different set of workers, usually adult men, place the bricks into the kilns. The bricks are then heated and made into the final product. Subsequently, the bricks are taken out of the kiln and transported to the market by a final group of workers. The workers are supervised by jamadars, and the work site is usually under surveillance by guards (who are sometimes armed) called chowkidars.

At the fourteen brick-kilns visited, Human Rights Watch/Asia found that workers and their families must reside on site in violation of article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states: "Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence." All thirty-nine bonded brick-kiln workers individually interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia asserted that employers consistently harass them with threats of collective punishment if one family member does not obey the employer. If one family member escapes, the remaining relatives housed at the brick-kiln are often brutally punished. Bonded laborers in the brick-kilns repeatedly told Human Rights Watch/Asia that they wished to live away from the work site in order to attain some privacy and temporarily escape the harassment of jamadars and brick-kiln owners. Mariam, a bonded laborer from a brick-kiln near Mir Pur Khas, stated, "We are the most scared, particularly for our daughters, in our homes. The abuse we suffer at work would not seem so bad if at night we could go to homes that the malik (employer) did not control."

Ehsanullah Khan, of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, stated that because bonded brick-kiln workers did not have a permanent residence they were denied the right to vote. To support his statement he provided Human Rights Watch/Asia with a copy of a letter to him from the Election Commission of Pakistan which states: "This is to inform you that bonded labourers and nomads do not qualify to be registered as voters as per provisions of section 7 of the Electoral Rolls Act, 1974 because neither do they ordinarily reside in an electoral area nor do they own/possess a dwelling house or immovable property in that area."22 While a number of bonded laborers have been denied the right to vote, the application of this decision has been arbitrary. According to I.A. Rehman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, many laborers have voted and in somecases the transitory position of bonded laborers has been manipulated by candidates seeking their support in different districts.23

Seven out of fourteen brick-kilns visited by Human Rights Watch/Asia had no potable water, eleven had no schools,24 and all lacked easy access to health care. Bonded laborers and trade union officials claimed that when workers wish to see a doctor, they must take out a loan, thereby adding to their debt. They also face occupational health hazards, as many laborers inhale noxious gases produced in the brick-kilns.

Brick-kiln workers are consistently subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Workers told Human Rights Watch/Asia that physical abuse is common punishment for failure to produce enough bricks, disobedience of employers or jamadars, or attempts to organize other workers. The forms of abuse include being beaten with sticks, whipped, and roughed up to the point of injury. Many male brick-kiln workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia were victims of physical abuse, and most workers considered this abuse a natural part of their work.

·"Sharif," a Muslim Punjabi man in his twenties, made a number of mistakes in his work at a brick-kiln near Lahore and he was regularly beaten for them. In September 1993 a beating by a jamadar resulted in a broken arm. While his arm was broken he could not work and thus was not paid. Whenever he complained to a jamadar he was slapped or pushed around.25

·"Salman," a Muslim Punjabi man in his thirties, did not get along with the jamadar at a brick-kiln near Kasur as the jamadar beat him on any excuse. He had a number of scars from thistreatment. Once, in June 1993, after a disagreement with the jamadar, he was beaten unconscious and then locked in a small shed with no food for three days. After the third day he was brought out in front of the other brick-kiln workers where he was hung upside down by a rope and beaten with a long stick. The jamadar laughingly told the other workers that this would be their punishment if they disobeyed him. "Salman," who was told by the jamadar that his outstanding debts were in excess of Rs. 5,000 [$150] tried to seek redress by complaining to the brick-kiln owner. The owner laughed at him and told him he should work harder.26

·"Gul," a Christian Punjabi man in his thirties, attempted to organize other workers into a union near Lahore to demand an increase in wages and a decrease in debts. The result of such activities resulted in severe beatings by the owner of the brick-kiln and his brother over a period of five years. In late 1992, after the beatings the brother of the brick-kiln owner beat "Gul's" testicles with a metal instrument. "Gul" sought help from the local police. They refused to register a case against the brick-kiln owner.27

The ability of brick-kiln workers to move freely or change their place of residence is tightly restricted. Human Rights Watch/Asia found that at all fourteen brick-kiln sites we visited, bonded laborers are under constant surveillance by a chowkidar [guard], employed specifically to ensure that brick-kiln workers do not escape; at five of the work-sites the jamadars were visibly armed with rifles. In addition to guarding the work site, owners use a combination of psychological and physical techniques to deter workers from escaping. Workers are told that if they escape they will be caught by the police, beaten brutally, and that their families will be abused, separated, and sold. Chowkidars often carry weapons to scare the workers, and thus a climate of oppression is maintained. A brick-kiln ownerinterviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia categorically stated that if he did not threaten "his" workers they would all run away.28

Brick-kiln workers who attempt escape are often captured and illegally detained in buildings or homes maintained by the brick-kiln owner. In some cases they are confined for months. During the day they are forced to work and at night they are returned to their place of confinement. A newspaper article in Pakistan recounted the following incident:

forty-four people-mostly women and children-were abducted from a [brick] kiln near Rawalpindi and taken to Daodkhal in Azad Kashmir where they were kept for one year. Fed twice a day and not paid for their dawn to dusk labor, they were released only once advances of Rs. 165,000 [$4,900] were accepted as paid off.29

Workers who have attempted escape face the wrath of their employers. Many are captured and falsely arrested by the police and forcibly returned to kilns where they suffer harsh punishments.

Brick-kiln workers who leave the brick-kiln site must leave either a family member as hostage or material possessions, such as household utensils, as a guarantee that they will return.

· In 1991, "Latif," a Muslim Sindhi man in his twenties, had a disagreement with a jamadar at a brick-kiln near Hyderabad over the number of bricks Latif allegedly broke. Because the jamadar regularly beat him, Latif tried to search for another job. Once the jamadar learned that he was trying to leave the brick-kiln, "Latif" was arrested by the police on a false charge of theft. In police custody he was beaten brutally. 30

·"Murshid," a Christian Punjabi man in his thirties, worked at a brick-kiln near Lahore with his family. Although he had never taken a loan, his father had a debt of over Rs. 5,000 [$1,500] and thus he was obliged to work. One night in 1990, he packed up his few belongings and headed into Lahore to search for work. The local police went after him and turned him over to the jamadar of his brick-kiln.31

·"Mariam," a Hindu Sindhi woman in her thirties, went to a police station in 1992 to register a complaint against a particularly cruel brick-kiln owner. The police officers laughed at her, made a number of offensive sexual remarks and told her that she had two choices: she could either stay with them or she had to return to the brick-kiln. They then threw her into a police vehicle and drove her back to the brick-kiln site.32

·The "Masihs," a Christian Punjabi family who lived and worked near Lahore wanted to leave a brick-kiln, but they had no money to repay their alleged debt. One night in 1991 they tried to run away. The police caught them and told them they had to pay a bribe or they would be returned to the police station. A family member was allowed to borrow money from a relative. He gave the money to the police and was nevertheless forced to return to the brick-kiln site. As a punishment for the family's attempted escape the brick-kiln owner increased their debt. They were told by the brick-kiln owner that they owed more than 10,000 rupees [$300.]33

Women brick-kiln workers face particular abuse. Despite the fact that they work as much as men, they are not recognized as independent workers by employers, contractors, and male family members and are not paid. In certain cases their marriages are arranged by the owner of the brick-kiln. Moreover, women are not given any maternity leave and are expected to work throughout their pregnancy and two to three days after giving birth.

There is a consistent pattern of sexual abuse at the brick-kilns, including rape. Two women brick-kiln workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia had been forced to have regular sexual relations with their employer or members of his family. Some women were raped by jamadars or local police officers. Women are often sold into marriage or prostitution if their husbands escape, or are held as a guarantee for their husband's return.

· On the outskirts of Lahore, at the last brick-kiln at which "Mariam," a Christian Punjabi woman in her twenties, worked, the brick-kiln owner would ask her to help him in the house. Whenever she was in the house he would speak to her kindly and insist that he have sex with him. She refused his advances. He would then physically force her to have sex with him by beating her. The bruises were visible all over her body.34

·"Cheema's" father, a brick-kiln worker in Kasur, died with an outstanding debt. In 1991, The brick-kiln owner sought to marry her to someone in exchange for cash. "Cheema's" remaining family begged the brick-kiln owner not to sell her. They were told that it would cost them Rs. 50,000 [$1,500]. As they did not have the money, "Cheema," a Muslim Punjabi girl in her teens, was sold to a man from Lahore. Her family at the brick-kiln have not seen or heard from her since.35

·"Mala," a Muslim Sindhi woman in her fifties, told Human Rights Watch/Asia that the jamadar would harass womenregularly while they did their housework at the brick-kiln near Hyderabad where her family worked. She asserted that most women do not feel free in their own homes as it is there that they are often attacked. She cited an example of one afternoon in early 1993 when her husband was working. The jamadar came to the house and sexually assaulted her daughter. One of the jamadar's helpers held "Mala" while he was with her daughter. When the husband came home in the evening, he tried to protest to the jamadar, who responded by beating him.36

Not only do children constitute a large proportion of brick-kiln workers, but the rate of child mortality in the brick-kilns is high. Afflictions common among child brick-kiln workers include deteriorating eyesight and even blindness. The families claim that the children are blinded because of impurities in the mud. A study conducted by a group in the Northwest Frontier Province revealed that children brick makers suffered 50 percent more chronic illnesses, especially chest infections, than their counterparts in neighboring villages.37 Moreover, children who work in brick-kilns are often psychologically traumatized, as they live in fear and witness a consistent pattern of physical violence against family members from a young age, according to a joint government-UNICEF report titled Discover the Working Child.38 As with women bonded workers, children receive no compensation for their work and are sometimes kept as insurance against the escape of male adult family members.

·"Mustafa," was born into bondage at a brick-kiln. When Human Rights Watch/Asia interviewed him near Faisalabad, hewas no more than seven years old and worked several hours a day collecting mud in a wheelbarrow to make bricks. He has never been to school. In spite of his young age, he has been slapped and kicked by the jamadar at his kiln for not working hard enough.39

·"Seema" is a nine-year-old girl who helps make the molds for the katcha bricks at brick-kiln near Lahore. She also helps her mother with the housework. "Seema" has a serious eye infection which is exacerbated by the fumes from the brick-kiln. As her family does not have enough money, she has not been to a doctor for treatment. 40

·"Veena" is twelve years old. She does the work of an adult at brick-kiln in Kasur in addition to cooking and cleaning at home. The owner of the brick-kiln has insisted that she be married to a much older man that he has chosen. Neither "Veena" nor her family want this to occur, but they feel they may have no choice.41

The condition of children in the brick-kiln industry is known both to the government of Pakistan and international agencies. The report mentioned above, Discover the Working Child, specifically states:

The children start working alongside their parents at a young age, between 6 and 8. They work long hours, starting at dawn during the hot season and working until late in the afternoon with a short break during the day. There is typically no shade in the working grounds and they are exposed to the scorching sun in the summer and suffer severe cold in the winter. They work barefoot and continuously inhale fine dust from the clay and noxious gases from the coal burning kilns. What makes thesituation of the majority of the children of brick-kilns laborers especially untenable, however, are the particular circumstances arising from the indebtedness system under which they and their families live and work. The children cannot wait indefinitely for new laws and the social climate to make a difference in their life. Efforts to break their isolation, to integrate them in the surrounding schools, and accelerated programs of education must start immediately.42

Brick-kilns are situated on the outskirts of cities and towns. While a few kilns may be clustered near one another, restrictions on freedom of movement make it difficult for workers at one kiln to have contact with workers at other kilns and organize on a broad basis. Nevertheless, when they do, there is often resistance from brick-kiln owners. Nine workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia had been told by employers that they must not join unions or attend meetings. Union activity is often brutally repressed. Seven brick-kiln workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia were beaten and punitively arrested by the police under false charges.

Despite serious restrictions on freedom of association, some small unions have formed near large urban centers such as Lahore. In sections of the interior of Sindh and near Lahore some of these unions have been successful in beginning to address the plight of brick-kiln workers and to increase wages. Mir Safdar Ali Talpar, president of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front Sindh, told Human Rights Watch/Asia that in Sindh there have been cases where bonded laborers have been able to organize and collectively seek improvements in their working situation.43 Unfortunately, many of these unions' activities are limited as workers live on site and thus whenever organizers come and try to talk to workers, the management of the brick-kiln breaks up the meeting and often involves the police. Where unions have managed to take hold, employers have formed associations to combat such activity.

·A group of workers who sought better working condition at a brick-kiln near Sialkot were illegally confined by their employer in 1988. They were moved three different times and were beaten after each move. On a number of occasions the men were hung upside down and beaten with sticks. Sometimes these beatings were daily, sometimes they occurred every two or three days. The women were sexually abused.44

· In 1992 a group of seven workers who tried to form a union near Lahore were brought into police custody where they were physically abused. They were so frightened by their treatment by the police, and by threats of further physical abuse and long term jail sentences that after their time in police custody, they dropped all complaints. They told a local union that they did not want to join with them as they had no complaints because their working conditions were excellent and they were extremely happy with the owners of the brick-kiln.45

In addition to attempts at unionization, workers have sometimes tried to bring complaints directly to the police or the courts. In one case documented by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in 1993, Shafi Masih allegedly owed Malik Jahangir Rs.11,000 [$330], and to avoid paying the debt, he escaped from the place of work. His wife, Cheema, remained and the owner attempted to illegally confine her, then to sell her to recover the debt. The workers resented this treatment of Cheema, and the employer apparently believed that they would register a case in the courts for her release. Six laborers were beaten with hot iron rods, shovels, and shoes on the suspicion that they sought legal remedy for Cheema. These laborers were then illegally confined to a nearby wheat factory; later, their twelve children and five women from their families were confined along with them. From the wheat factory they were moved to a private house. At both places the men were beaten. The women were raped by Malik Jahangir and his brother. They were moved a number of other times. Eventually they were made to swear by the Bible, as they were all Christians, that they would remain silent about the abduction. A local brick-kiln union heard of the incident and registered a case. The next day thepolice arrested Malik Jahangir, but he was released on bail. The bail was then extended, and to date Malik Jahangir remains unpunished.

Pakistan's carpet weavers work on looms that, depending on the size, can accommodate one or two adults and up to six children. The looms are located in small centers in urban areas where the workers are adult and child daily wage earners, in rural centers where the majority of workers are bonded children, and in rural households where entire families are bonded.

The carpet-weaving industry of South Asia originated in northern India, but many carpet makers migrated to what is now Pakistan at the time of partition, when British India was divided into independent India and Pakistan. Initially the carpet industry was relatively small. "Tribal" rugs, which were the mainstay of production, were made by non-bonded artisans for domestic consumption.

In the 1970s, Pakistan's carpet-weaving industry expanded rapidly after Iran, the largest exporter of Persian rugs, effectively banned child labor, thereby raising the cost of Iranian-made rugs. That cost was further raised in 1979 when the United States placed an embargo on Iranian exports. In an effort to respect the embargo and maximize profits, American and European carpet importers searched for alternative low-cost sources for rugs. Consequently, India and Pakistan became critical to the international trade in Persian-style rugs, with Lahore and Karachi serving as the main weaving centers for Pakistan. Today the majority of carpets produced in Pakistan are for export (less than 1 percent of carpets produced are for domestic consumption), and the sale of carpets has become the fifth-largest source of export earnings for the government.

As the attraction of Pakistani rugs is their low cost, the domestic carpet industry makes extensive use of inexpensive labor, much of it bonded and much of it from children. A study on child labor in the carpet-weaving industry concluded that over 80 percent of carpet workers in Punjab were children below the age of fifteen. The study estimated that approximately 1.2 million children throughout Pakistan were involved in carpet-weaving.47

Despite national and international laws which ban bonded labor and pledges to end all forms of child labor in Pakistan, the government of Pakistan aggressively promotes the export of rugs made by such laborers -- and the international demand for inexpensive rugs is exceptionally high.48 The United States, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Sweden are the primary importers of rugs from Pakistan.49

The government of Pakistan is clearly aware that the carpet-weaving industry employs a number of bonded child laborers under harsh conditions. According to the study mentioned above:

The thekedar often offers an advance of money to families so that they may set up a home-based weaving unit. This acts as a powerful inducement for poor rural families to put their children to work thereby setting off an inescapable cycle of debts which keeps the children in virtual forced labour for many year. The work is painful as well as unhealthy, the children have to keep a cramped position for long periods of time, they continuously breathe particles of wool dust harmful to their lungs, poor lighting conditions strain their eyesight and prolonged contactwith chemical dyes damages their fingers. As the children grow up, their spines often become deformed.50

Although legislation clearly prohibits the employment of children below the age of fourteen in the formal industry, carpet manufacturers have found many ways to circumvent the law. Industries which employ less than ten workers, for example, are largely outside the scope of most labor laws. According to a doctor who works with carpet-weaving children and wishes to remain unidentified, carpet-weaving centers have thus simply broken up into smaller units keeping their looms under separate roofs, or moved to rural areas where labor laws are not applied, wages are low, and trade unions non-existent, or relied on the piecework system to avoid those laws altogether. Where urban carpet-weaving continues, many of the weavers are refugee children from India, Bangladesh and Burma.51

In rural areas contractors hired by carpet-weaving exporters in Lahore and Karachi entice residents of small villages to engage in carpet production with loans and equipment and the promise of large sums of cash. In small villages or in very poor areas with few other economic alternatives, contractors are often the only source of income and thus in recessionary periods families have no alternative but to turn to them for loans.

If the head of the family agrees to begin carpet-weaving, he or she receives a cash advance and a loom from a contractor who also supplies the material inputs. The contractor pays workers, transports the finished goods to export centers, and ensures that the work is of sufficient quality and completed within a certain amount of time. Payments depend on the size and number of knots in the carpet. While many villagers receive some revenue, it is rarely enough to cover payments on the initial loan, and villagers quickly become financially dependent on contractors.

Eight individual adults and three families interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia were unaware of the long-term implications of their loan transaction. They believed that involvement in carpet production would result in some extra income to supplement their other economic activities. They did not realize thatthey would be bonded for an extended period of time and that they would have little time for these other activities. The demand for a certain product quotas within a specified time period is so high that entire families, including children, are needed to work on the carpets.52

None of these workers were able to pay their loans. While they had some cash inflow, the pay schedule was such that their cycle of debt increased. Carpet weavers are often not paid the amount promised for their work and are fined for errors in the carpet. If villagers are late in delivering the finished carpet, the contractor invariably deducts more money from their payments. Moreover, inequitable accounting practices result in reduced revenue paid to workers.

·"Malik," a Muslim Punjabi man in his forties, was unable to find work for an extended period of time in the areas surrounding his village located near Faisalabad. A contractor who knew of his financial situation offered him a loan and carpet loom in exchange for the production of carpets. "Malik" thought this would be an excellent way to earn money. He thought that even if he found other work, his wife and children could work on the loom for extra cash. After some training and a few months of hard work the contractor came back demanding a payment on the loan. As "Malik" had not completed the carpet he had not earned enough money to begin making payments. The contractor beat him and told him to finish the carpet quickly. "Malik" and his entire family worked hard and upon completion of the carpet gave it to the contractor. In exchange "Malik" received some cash which met some of their needs. Nevertheless, the payment was significantly less than what he expected. He was told that he had to repay his loan immediately or continue to weave carpets. While "Malik" received some money for the weaving, he wanted to find another form of employment, precisely because the debt burden from carpet-weaving was so great. But, until he could make enough money to pay the contractor, which seemed impossible, he and his entire family had to stay on as weavers.53

· "Mehr," a Muslim Punjabi man in his forties borrowed money and equipment from a contractor to generate extra income. Rather than working on the loom himself at his home in a village near Faisalabad, he forces his children to weave all day on the carpet looms. He has installed a light near the loom so that the children can work late into the night. When the children complain of the work, he beats them.54

In addition to bonded families there are also bonded child weavers who are sent to carpet-weaving centers by their parents. Human Rights Watch/Asia individually interviewed fourteen bonded child laborers. The parents of twelve of the children interviewed received a loan in exchange for a monopoly over their child's labor. All twelve children told Human Rights Watch/Asia that they did not have the option to refuse the work. Two bonded child carpet weavers we interviewed were abducted by strangers and sold into bondage. These two were taken to a region of the country where the language differed from that which they spoke at home. While an overwhelming number of children sold into bondage are boys, we observed a small number of girls. Carpet-weaving children who have worked for several years are occasionally freed by contractors. Such freedom appears to be arbitrarily decided upon by the subcontractor who often looks for the services of younger children.

·"Anwar's" mother needed some money for an emergency and pledged "Anwar's" labor to a carpet contractor in exchange for Rs.5,000 [$150]. "Anwar," aged eight, was taken to a carpet-weaving center several kilometers from his home in district Thar in early 1993. He works and sleeps at the center. Occasionally, he is given permission to spend a night or two at his home with his mother. His mother pays the contractor regularly. However, the latter constantly increases the debt by claiming expenses for looking after "Anwar." As the debt increases it is becoming virtually impossible for her to repay the initial loan.55

·As there was no school for "Dev," a ten-year-old Hindu boy, to attend he spent his days playing near his home in a small town in the Thar desert. His parents thought it would be better for him to work. Thus, they sent him to a carpet-weaving center as an apprentice. He works hard during the day at the center. Most nights he returns home to sleep. All his wages are given to his parents.56

·"Zulfikar," aged seven, was kidnapped from Gujranwalla and brought to a carpet-weaving center in the North-West Frontier Province. He was playing in the street near his home when someone grabbed him and put him in the back of a van. After a long drive he was brought to a carpet-weaving center near Peshwar. He was sold by his abductors to a carpet contractor who has told "Zulfikar" that he has a certain debt to pay before he can be freed.57

All of the carpet workers interviewed had a work-related illness or injury and sixteen out of twenty-two had been physically beaten. Common work-related diseases include respiratory ailments, night blindness, scabies, eczema, and tuberculosis. Poor lighting conditions at carpet-weaving centers strain eyesight, prolonged contact with chemical dyes poisons the skin, and the inhalation of chemically treated wool dust damages the lungs. As they must sit in a crouched position for extended periods of time, the growth of child carpet weavers is often retarded due to a lack of blood supply to the lower body.

Child carpet weavers, who work away from home at carpet-weaving centers, usually undergo an "apprenticeship" period. During this period, which can last anywhere from three months to three years, although children work full-time, neither they nor their parents receive any money. After the apprenticeship period is completed, the children's labor begins to generate income. The income is usually used to make payments on the parents' loan. Deductions are made to wages if children are ill and miss work. Children themselves rarely receive wages asidefrom a token amount of pocket-money. Any surplus revenue is given to the parents. Children are beaten if they weave carpets too slowly or disobey orders. Most children at carpet-weaving centers work long hours in harsh conditions with little free time. Certain carpet-weaving centers have specific rules about work schedules and the amount of carpet to be woven. A journalist recounted his experience at one loom:

On one of the walls reads a warning: any child caught sleeping is fined with two hundred rupees, any child caught trying to escape is beaten viciously and violently.58

Conditions of work for children weaving at home are no better those working in private workshops. Human Rights Watch/Asia found that parents also keep their children at the loom for long hours.

The working conditions of children in carpet-weaving has been well documented:

Seventy-four percent of the children disclosed that they suffered one or more types of illness and/or injuries due to their work. Many children deliberately injure their hands to escape from work and to avoid punishment, because they cannot do the knotting with injured fingertips. Seventy percent of children said that they were beaten either by their parents or employer if they tried to evade work.59

Bonded carpet workers are also subject to a consistent pattern of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. Late loan payments, mistakes in carpets, and delays in production are punished with severe beatings. Child carpet weavers interviewed by Human Rights Watch/Asia