Modern day slavery is widespread and deeply entrenched in Pakistan, affecting between 2.3 million and 4.5 million people across the country. According to the Walk Free Global Slavery Index, Pakistan ranks 18th globally and 4th in the Asia-Pacific region for the prevalence of modern slavery, with roughly 10.6 out of every 1,000 people living in slave-like conditions.
The crisis manifests through several deeply exploitative systems, heavily concentrated in specific industries and geographic regions.
Major Forms of Slavery
- Debt Bondage (Bonded Labor): This is the most common form of modern slavery in Pakistan. Wealthy landowners or employers extend high-interest loans (known as peshgi) to desperate families for medical emergencies, marriages, or basic survival. The employer then forces the family to work under grueling conditions to repay the debt. Because wages are low and interest rates are manipulated, the debt is impossible to clear and is often passed down through generations.
- Forced Marriage: Women and girls are frequently forced into marriages that involve sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced agricultural work.
- Child Servitude: Millions of children are trapped in forced labor. They are denied education, forced to work long hours, and are sometimes kept as "insurance" by employers to prevent their parents from escaping.
Most Affected Industries
- Brick Kilns: An estimated 3.5 to 5 million people toil across Pakistan's 20,000 brick kilns. Entire families, including young children, work up to 12 hours a day making bricks by hand.
- Agriculture: Forced labor is rampant on large rural estates, particularly in the interior of the Sindh and southern Punjab provinces. Sharecroppers are routinely subjected to confinement, physical abuse, and extreme economic exploitation.
- Mining and Manufacturing: Workers are heavily exploited in coal, gold, and copper mines (especially in Balochistan), as well as in the carpet-weaving and textile industries.
Vulnerable Populations
The system preys heavily on the most marginalized sectors of Pakistani society. Religious minorities (such as Christians and Hindus) and underprivileged castes (like Dalits) are disproportionately trapped in bonded labor. Landless, illiterate families lack the financial resources or legal documentation required to access banking systems, forcing them to rely on predatory lenders. Furthermore, escalating climate change disasters—such as severe droughts and heat waves—frequently decimate crops, driving impoverished farmers straight into debt bondage to survive.
Systemic Obstacles to Elimination
While slavery and forced labor are strictly unconstitutional under Article 11 of Pakistan's Constitution and banned by the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992, enforcement is practically non-existent.
Many powerful brick kiln owners and agricultural landlords double as influential political figures or parliament members. They hold immense sway over local police and administrative bodies. As reported by Human Rights Watch, when enslaved workers attempt to escape or contest their debts, corrupt local authorities frequently harass them or imprison them under false charges, allowing the cycle of impunity to continue.
