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More from Disposable People by Kevin Bales.

Almost Reform
Pakistan has laws guaranteeing religious freedom and workers’ rights, but they’re ignored by officials who fear retaliation from religious groups. “One lawyer, a human rights specialist who had taken cases on behalf of brick kiln workers, was singled out for ‘inducing young people to rebel against religion.’ Religious leaders decreed that she ‘merited stoning,’ giving zealots permission to assault her. Perhaps given the armed guards in her office, non has done so yet.”

Like Mauritania, Pakistan is torn between national law and Islamic law. This, in addition to social division and unrest, creates an environment that is perfect for slavery. In addition, police are often criminals just as much as the traffickers are.

In 1988, the plight of kiln workers was brought to the attention of the Pakistani Supreme Court. Eventually the court ruled that the debt bondage system was wrong and they cancelled all outstanding debts and placed limits on future debts.

As a result of this newfound freedom from debt, nearly all the kiln workers left the kilns, shutting down the brick industry. The court was taken aback by the walkout and worked with the Brickworkers Union to get workers back to work, under fair conditions, for the next brickmaking season.  Workers did return to work, with their debts canceled and their future earnings more secure, thanks to the work of the Brickworkers Union. However, “If the Brickworkers Union had then concentrated on making sure that the provisions of the court orders were followed, debt bondage might have faded away. Sadly, it was not to be.” As a result of their success, other industries began calling on the union for help. This strained and ultimately fractured the union and allowed the old system of debt bondage to resume undeterred.

The Future
“Although the [debt bondage] system arises from an economic reality that is grossly unjust and unequal, it is almost the only functioning source of credit available to the poor. It blends some of the owner-worker relations of feudalism with the transient economics of modern capitalism to create a kind of bondage halfway between old and new. For that reason it is hard to see what will become of the industry.”

Pray for Pakistan:

• education, especially of the poor, to increase economic opportunities
• people and organizations with courage to stand up to the system and follow through
• a cultural shift away from division and violence and toward peaceful problem solving.

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