Modern Day Slavery: Pakistan

Martin Rhodes Excerpts

Thursday 13th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered modern day slavery in Pakistan.

I thank you, Sir Roger, for coming to stand in as Chair. We appreciate that very much. I also thank right hon. and hon. Members for coming along to participate in the debate, and I thank in particular those in the Public Gallery who have deep interest in this subject matter for attending and for all the hard work they do.

This debate is an opportunity to highlight the issue of slavery in Pakistan, particularly in relation to brick kilns. I declare an interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for Pakistani minorities, and I must speak in particular of Morris Johns, the administrator of the APPG, who is in the Public Gallery. It is through his hard work and the hard work of everyone on the APPG that we are able to highlight the issue in this House and to work freely to ensure that people in Pakistan can gain freedom.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to address the deeply tragic and profoundly urgent issue of the continued existence of modern slavery in various industries of Pakistan. I am going to focus on one of the most entrenched and brutal forms of modern slavery, which occurs in the brick kiln industry. It is a stain on Pakistan’s conscience, a violation of human rights and a barrier to social and economic progress. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for agreeing to this debate and granting time in Westminster Hall to discuss this vital issue.

I commend the excellent report on modern-day slavery and brick kilns that was published in May 2024 by the APPG for Pakistani minorities. It shed a vital light on the daily suffering endured by so many, particularly those from minority faith communities. Pakistan is the third largest brick producer in south Asia. Estimates suggest that more than 1 million men, women and children work in approximately 10,000 brick kilns in the Punjab region alone, yet despite religious minorities making up around only 5% of the population, the percentage of religious minorities in brick kilns is often as high as 50%, particularly in Punjab and Sindh provinces. Across the brick kilns, marginalised and excluded groups, such as the scheduled caste Hindus, Christians and Muslim Shaikhs, are working in horrific conditions, in bonded labour and without sufficient wages to afford necessities.

I have been to Pakistan twice in my time in Parliament. The last time was to visit some religious minorities, in particular the Ahmadiyya Muslims, and the time before that was with Morris Johns, when I had the chance to see more of what was happening in Pakistan. I would love to be able to report back that things are better, but things are not, and today is an opportunity to highlight one of the things that definitely needs to be addressed.

The history of brick kiln slavery in Pakistan is long and persistent. It is rooted in centuries-old systems of debt bondage and social and religious hierarchy. Landless labourers, often from marginalised communities, have been forced to work in kilns under the peshgi system, where they receive an advance loan from the kiln owners. The debt is then often inflated and manipulated and keeps them trapped for years, sometimes decades, along with their children and families. Employers often take advantage of the workers’ low status in society.

As a result, entire family units are forced to work, with women bringing their new-born children to the brick kilns as well—it starts from the earliest of ages. According to a survey from the Islamabad-based Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability, 72% of brick kiln workers have children working with them in the kilns. It is a stain on our global conscience that the next generation are destined to face the same oppression as their parents. What happens to the parents and grandparents will happen to the children unless the necessary change comes. Despite the passage of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992, and despite Pakistan’s ratification of international treaties that prohibit forced labour and child labour, the practice persists—indeed, it seems to thrive.

Weak enforcement, a lack of worker registration and the economic leverage of kiln owners have allowed bonded labour to continue unchecked, particularly in Punjab, but also in the Sindh province. The brick kilns are often in remote or suburban areas, so the communities working at the sites frequently face major issues in accessing quality healthcare, water, sanitation and education. One eyewitness account describes the harshness of the workers’ conditions:

“They are barefoot, have no gloves, and work like this from dawn to dusk all day every day”,

seven days a week.

The health hazards of working in such conditions have been widely documented. Hazardous fumes emerge from the black smoke, resulting in higher rates of asthma and other health issues and increasing the risk of contracting tuberculosis. The contaminated water that is used to mix the soil, without any protective equipment, also gives workers at the kilns various skin diseases. When we work in this country, all the health and safety conditions are in place; in Pakistan, there are none of any description.

It is vital also to highlight the horrific nature of child labour and exploitation in the brick kilns. As children grow, they are forced to work gruelling 14-hour days and exposed to toxic fumes. Children as young as four or five years old have been documented in the kilns. They suffer from respiratory problems and severe malnutrition, and there are reports that they also suffer from poor eyesight as a result of their working conditions. Their mortality rate is higher than among children elsewhere. Children are often kept as hostages by the kiln owners to prevent their parents from leaving under the pretext of seeking medical care of shopping for essentials. Children witness their parents being subjected to violence and physical and emotional threats, greatly impacting their ability to develop into normal adults.

Child labour has persisted in Pakistan despite legislative reforms, which unfortunately have not translated into any kind of significant change. Only 12% of the children attend school regularly, so they do not have educational opportunities, and 62% have never been enrolled in a formal or informal education programme. If somebody works here, there is an obligation that their children are in education—in the brick kilns of Pakistan, no. It is utterly unacceptable that this type of treatment has been allowed to persist and to grow. We must protect the dignity and wellbeing of these children.

The conditions at the brick kilns disproportionately affect women and girls. They are excluded from financial decision making and are unable to influence the negotiation of loans, yet they have to bear the consequences through the resulting bondage. Women are also increasingly susceptible to exploitation and abuse by their husbands or fathers. Devastatingly, in a 2019 study carried out on brick kilns, approximately 20% of the females admitted that they were sufferers of mental torture at home. A woman in this situation is stuck in a cycle of abuse; she has no option to escape or get away or to change her life. Women and girls have also faced extensive sexual violence and abuse in the brick kilns. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, about 35% of women workers at brick kilns are abused and harassed by their bosses. Many women in Pakistan’s brick kilns are subjected to severe restrictions, with some forcibly confined to their homes by the kiln owners.

Two women brick kiln workers interviewed by Human Rights Watch’s Asia division had been forced—these things are quite upsetting—to have regular sexual relations with their employer or members of their family as a condition of their stay in the brick kilns. Some women were even raped and abused by jamadars or local police officers, so it goes beyond the brick kilns to those who are supposed to enforce the law but actually abuse their position within it. Christian and Dalit women are particularly vulnerable—marginalised for being women and for belonging to a minority religious group or caste. Owing to a lack of accountability and active investigations, kiln owners act with impunity. Workers who are medically unfit are also physically beaten and verbally abused.

No person, regardless of faith or background, should be subjected to such grievous violations of their personal life in any way. As chair of the APPG for international freedom of religion or belief, I believe very much that people should be able to worship their God as they wish. Along with that come human rights, but those are often taken away from these workers.

Devastatingly, there have also been reports of—these are quite upsetting circumstances—organ harvesting at brick kilns, where the forced removal of organs is carried out to repay debts that are owed by family units. That is a horrific example of how deep chains of debt trap generations. It is almost unthinkable that, in today’s world, men, women and even small children are treated in such an inhumane way—their very bodies seen as collateral for a debt that should never have existed in the first place. It is as if the brick kiln owners can use them in whatever way they wish.

The illiteracy rates have a powerful impact on how individuals and families remain in debt. A study on one brick kiln demonstrated that 80% of the workers were illiterate, which means that they were easily exploited and taken advantage of. As a result, kiln workers were unable to understand the terms of loans and interest rates and were rendered extremely vulnerable to exploitation by owners because, when the owner sets a paper down in front of them or gives them instructions on what is happening, they accept that as gospel, whatever the facts are. That is just another way of exploiting them. The lack of education is not just a social disadvantage; it is a deliberate tool of control. When people cannot read the contracts that they are bound to or calculate the interest that is consuming all their wages, they become trapped in a cycle of servitude that can last all their lifetime and, indeed, generations.

As chair of the all-party parliamentary group, I have seen at first hand how poverty, discrimination and lack of education combine to trap individuals in conditions that amount to modern slavery—the very thing that we are all concerned about.

[Martin Rhodes (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Member for bringing this subject to us today. Does he agree that, despite legislation being in place in Pakistan and elsewhere in the world, we still see these problems of the undermining of human rights? Would there be, therefore, an argument for greater multilateral ways of policing these human rights violations and making sure that human rights are upheld?

[Jim Shannon]

Yes, there are many places in the world where international slavery is rampant. We can think of China and the Uyghurs; probably countries in central America; Africa, of course; and many other places. The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight that issue.

I welcome the Minister to her place. I know that she is filling in for someone else, but I am always pleased to see her because she and I have been friends for many years. We came to this House at the same time and over the years have struck up a strong friendship that we both cherish.

When we work to ensure that religious minorities do not unjustly face discrimination solely because of their religious beliefs—these slavery issues happen across the world—most importantly we must advocate for a world where every individual has intrinsic worth and dignity. That is the world that you and I, Sir Roger, and everyone here would like to have—a world where people are respected. We can be different but respect each other. In Pakistan, those who work in the brick kilns are not respected by their owners or the Pakistan Government.

Every person, regardless of their caste, religion, gender or social status, is made in the image of God and is entitled to live free from oppression, fear and bondage. However, in Pakistan’s brick kilns we see that that fundamental dignity is trampled upon and disregarded. Men, women and even children are treated as commodities. Their labour is exploited, their bodies and minds abused, and their freedoms stripped away. We must not turn our eyes away from the injustices taking place in Pakistan as we speak at this moment in this debate. In these debates I always use texts from the Holy Bible; the one I think of today is Psalm 82:3-4, which states:

“Defend the weak and the fatherless;

uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

Rescue the weak and the needy;

deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

Those words should be our guideline and incentive to ensure we do what is right. It is our duty to speak out against such cruelty. We must not ever remain passive.

We must ensure greater support from the international community to restore freedom, dignity and justice to workers trapped in slavery and bonded labour in Pakistan’s brick kilns. Collectively, we must act to ensure that human rights frameworks are upheld with concrete accountability and the investigations to end generations of families remaining trapped without hope and support. Someone working in the brick kilns has little or no chance of getting away—no chance of getting out. I know that some of those in the Gallery and those who have a deep interest in Pakistan have organised many escapes from the brick kilns to give people an opportunity of freedom, liberty and the opportunity of a life outside of that. For that we thank them.

This is a country that champions the right to freedom of religion or belief, as this Government do and as we uphold in this Chamber every day. Today I asked a business question about freedom of religion or belief. The Leader of the House always gives us encouragement in the work that he does, as does the work done in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. I ask the Minister to take a particular deep interest in this subject matter, as others will do as well, and ensure that we can have a proactive strategy coming out of this debate today to work on behalf of those people across the world.

It is essential that we place UK aid under greater scrutiny and monitoring. If we are going to give aid to Pakistan—as we do and as we should—there has to be a condition for how it is used: is it done fairly? Are there conditions on what they do with it? Yes, there are. It is the law in Pakistan that people have freedom, but that is not the reality. We need to make Pakistan aware of that.

We cannot possibly assist countries while foreign Governments refuse to protect the basic human rights of their citizens, particularly the rights to religious freedom, safety and dignity. When vulnerable communities are exposed to exploitation and persecution on a daily basis and in a deliberate fashion, there must be efforts to establish accountability and repercussions for Governments that continue to turn a blind eye to the realities of injustice and suffering in their own countries. Today is an opportunity to highlight that with the Minister, for all of us to agree collectively and, hopefully, for the Pakistan Government to respond and start to undo the injustice they are involved in.

We must ensure that the United Kingdom’s generosity is not misused to sustain regimes or systems that oppress their own people. With that, I believe we must do a number of things. We must monitor Pakistan’s compliance with international human rights law—are they doing it? At this time they are not, but they should be.

Pakistan is a party to both the universal declaration of human rights and the international covenant on civil and political rights, which both clearly outline:

“No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.”

Despite those commitments, reports continue to surface of bonded labour and systematic exploitation in various sectors across the country—an exploitation that must come to an end.

Pakistan is also party to the international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights, which ensures an individual’s right to work and the resulting commitment to safeguard that right, and to ensure that if they are working they are protected; that there is health and safety; that they are not exploited; that they are getting paid the right money; and that they are not abused in any way by the people who own the brick kilns, or by others who happen to be there.

The Pakistan Government must fully comply with the provisions of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992, which is part of their law, and with the related provincial legislation that should filter down from Government to the lower levels. It is vital to mention the International Labour Organisation’s requirements on the prevention of slave labour, children’s rights, women’s rights and minority rights. There are binding obligations that exist to uphold the dignity and freedom of every human being. They must be followed to ensure the protection of vulnerable children and women, and indeed any person within that system. The UK must place greater scrutiny on monitoring Pakistan’s adherence to the ILO’s obligations.

If I am asking something from the Minister—and I do, ever knowing that the Minister will come back to give us encouragement, which is important—it is that we need to know what Pakistan has signed up to, what it is obligated to, and that it is actually doing it. We can use our aid to Pakistan to influence the direction that that goes.

We must also make businesses aware of the high risk of modern slavery in Pakistan’s brick kilns and ensure that all UK-funded projects purchase only from certified brick kilns. It goes back to what the hon. Member for Glasgow North (Martin Rhodes) referred to in his intervention about slavery—we need to control that as well and see the things that are being done right. This will not only help to prevent exploitation, but set a very clear standard for responsible business practices.

There are also some positive developments through the potential progress and modernisation of the brick kiln industry itself, through mechanisation, for instance. Benefits would include reduced reliance on human labour and improved working conditions. However, the use of modern technology, including mechanisation alone, would be insufficient. While we look to what potentially could be the future, we also have to be aware of what is happening today. Without legal enforcement and worker protections, freed labourers may simply be displaced into other forms of exploitation, and that should never be allowed.

The United Kingdom must continue to engage with Pakistan through diplomatic channels, encouraging meaningful reform, stronger enforcement of labour laws and genuine accountability for human rights violations. The dignity of every individual must take precedence over trade and economic interests, or any other considerations. It is through sustained dialogue that we can create change and permanently end the horrific practice of modern slavery and bonded labour in brick kilns.

I conclude with this: we must also work to strengthen civil society and support local advocacy groups. I thank the people in the Public Gallery who work hard to make changes globally in relation to brick kilns, but those who have friends and contacts in Pakistan must ask them to make those changes too. We must hold public and private actors accountable for upholding the human rights standards that we all agree on and adhere to.

Hon. Members in the Chamber will echo what I have said and share some of the evidence and information that they have on the horrendous violations taking place in Pakistan’s brick kilns. We must not let the stories and the individuals be forgotten.

We have a duty to use our position and influence to speak up about the ongoing injustice on behalf of our suffering brothers and sisters in the Lord in Pakistan, and I thank in advance all of those who will take the time today to do that. This is our chance. As a Christian, I obviously believe it is important we do that; other hon. Members clearly think it is important too, and that is why they are here. I look to the Minister for the answers we need. We have a dire, dire situation happening in Pakistan that needs to be addressed, and I seek the Minister’s help to make that happen.

[Ruth Jones (Newport West and Islwyn) (Lab)]

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger—without you filling in, we could not have held this important debate, so thank you for your time. I also thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for opening this debate with such clarity and compassion. His tireless advocacy for persecuted communities, particularly Christians and other minorities in Pakistan, is both admirable and necessary. I also pay tribute to the all-party parliamentary group for the Pakistani minorities for its report, published in May last year, which brought essential evidence to the House.

As someone who has consistently stood up for justice, equality and the protection of all faith communities, I rise today with deep concern, but also determination, because we are confronting what is, in all but name, modern-day slavery. Across Pakistan, particularly in Punjab and Sindh, more than 4 million people, many of whom are from religious minority backgrounds, are trapped in bonded labour in the brick kiln industry. Entire families—mothers, fathers and children as young as five—work long hours under scorching heat, breathing in toxic fumes, and still cannot repay debts that often began with a small loan taken out of desperation.

Let me be clear: there has been progress, and it is right that we acknowledge that. Pakistan’s Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992, as the hon. Member for Strangford outlined earlier, outlawed debt bondage. Provincial measures, such as the Punjab Prohibition of Child Labour at Brick Kilns Act 2016, have banned the employment of children under 14.

We have also seen the launch of the Khidmat cards to support brick kiln families and encourage schooling, alongside efforts to register workers and enforce minimum wage. The introduction of zig-zag kiln technology supported by international partners, including the International Labour Organisation, has not only reduced air pollution, but offered a platform for improving labour monitoring and worker safety.

However, laws mean little without enforcement. A recent report by Pakistan’s own National Commission for Human Rights confirmed what activists have long said: enforcement remains weak, inspections are rare and many of the district-level vigilance committees meant to oversee bonded labour cases are either inactive or non-existent.

Behind every statistic is a human life. Yasmin, a mother of four from rural Punjab, took a small loan to pay her husband’s medical bills. That debt chained her family to a brick kiln. Each day, she and her children work from sunrise to sunset. The smoke makes it hard to breathe. They mould bricks with their hands in temperatures higher than 40°C, and still her debt grows. “Even when we sleep,” she says, “we dream of mud.”

Then there is Qaiser, who is just 11 years old. He wanted to be a doctor, but when his father fell ill he was pulled from school and put to work. He now spends 14 hours a day mixing clay instead of holding books. These stories of crushed dreams and invisible chains are not exceptions; they are the reality for thousands of families across Pakistan’s brick kilns. As a proud Labour MP, I have always believed that every worker deserves fair pay, dignity and safety, but that belief must extend beyond our borders, especially when British aid, diplomacy or trade may touch the same industries that sustain injustice.

This is also a women’s issue, as the hon. Member for Strangford outlined. More than one third of women working in Pakistan’s brick kilns experience harassment or abuse. It is also a child protection issue. The International Labour Organisation estimates that more than 1 million children in Pakistan are involved in brick making, some starting work before the age of 10. They should be in classrooms, not kiln yards.

In my work in the APPG on safeguarding in faith communities, I have seen how easily systems fail the most vulnerable, especially when poverty, gender and faith intersect. We must not allow these women and children to continue falling through the cracks of international policy.

We cannot call ourselves champions of freedom and justice abroad if we stay silent about slavery when it is right in front of us. That is why I am calling for a number of things. I want stronger scrutiny of UK aid to Pakistan to ensure it directly supports the elimination of bonded labour, strengthens independent labour inspections and funds legal aid and education for freed families. Programmes such as Aawaz II and the Asia regional child labour programme must not just exist, but deliver measurable change for those trapped in modern slavery.

I also want mandatory supply chain accountability for UK businesses. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 must go further.

[Martin Rhodes]

Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the most effective ways the UK can combat modern slavery worldwide is by introducing due diligence legislation for imports? In that way, we can ensure that products brought in from Pakistan, China or wherever else are produced in ways that do not include slavery.

[Ruth Jones]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I hope the Minister will touch on that in her winding-up remarks. British firms sourcing bricks, construction materials or kiln-fired products from Pakistan must prove that they are not profiting from coercion. Ethical trade should be a condition, not a courtesy.

Certification and procurement reform is another area that I want to look at. I urge the Minister to support a credible slave-free kiln certificate scheme so that we can distinguish between law-abiding employers and exploitative operators. I ask the Minister to work with her colleagues to commit to excluding slave-made bricks from public procurement, both here in the UK and in projects we support overseas. I appreciate that the Minister is standing in, but it would be great if she could touch on those points when she is winding up.

My final ask is for diplomatic leadership. The UK must raise this issue consistently in dialogue with Pakistan, not as interference but as partnership. If Pakistan is to maintain its enhanced trade access through the European Union’s generalised scheme of preferences plus, it must show tangible progress in implementing the ILO conventions it has already ratified, including those prohibiting forced child labour.

I do not believe in hopeless causes; I believe in the power of collective action, international partnership and moral leadership to transform lives. Earlier this year, 20 bonded labourers, including six children, were freed from a brick kiln in Sindh after a successful court intervention supported by local non-governmental organisations. That is what happens when laws are enforced, when civil society is empowered and when justice is made real. Let us support the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and countless grassroots organisations that work every day to free families, educate children and restore dignity.

No brick made through suffering should ever be laid in silence. As parliamentarians, we must not only speak of human rights; we must act to uphold them. If we do not stand with the poor, the exploited and the voiceless—especially those from persecuted faith communities—we will fall short of the values we claim to represent. Let this be the moment when Britain chooses to stand not only as a trading partner, but as a partner for freedom, dignity and change.