WRITTEN QUESTION E-4104/00

by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Commission

(10 January 2001)

Subject: The bonded-labour system in Nepal, Pakistan and India

There will be an opportunity at the International Labour Organisation Conference to be held in 2001 to draw attention to the repeated failures of the Indian, Nepalese and Pakistani Governments to abolish bonded labour.

Would the Commission consider:

1. How an independent survey might be carried out to establish the number and location of people enslaved in this way?

2. What steps it might take to make sure that the laws prohibiting all forms of bonded labour are understood and enforced?

3. What it might do to ensure that the ILO sets up systems to monitor the success of its assistance in combating bonded labour?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-4104/00 and E-4114/00 given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(20 February 2001)

The Commission fully shares the Honourable Members' concern about bonded labour practices in South Asia. The complexity of this problem and its close links with social, economic and cultural factors emerge from a high degree of poverty that still affects the most vulnerable social groups of the subcontinent.

In order to address the problems of bonded labour, it is the Commission's view that development co-operation strategies should focus on specific initiatives aimed at poverty reduction thereby improving the status of labour forces in critical sectors of economic activity.

The Commission also recognises the importance of the role of the specialised international agencies and of the appropriate use of existing multilateral instruments to improve the overall working conditions of labour forces subject to discrimination.

The forthcoming international labour conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) 2001 will constitute the most appropriate forum to assess globally the situation of bonded labour and to make recommendations for completing, monitoring and enforcing already existing

labour conventions. In particular the presentation of the first ILO Global Report on forced labour as part of the follow up of the ILO's 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work will provide a platform to address the issues raised by the Honourable Members.

In India, the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act of 1976, the ILO's International Programme of Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) as well as the consistent efforts of the Community and various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to concentrate on universal primary education and health programmes have been major initiatives to improve the rights and living conditions of the most disadvantaged and discriminated social groups.

In Pakistan, the Government has expressed the intention to strengthen law enforcement. There are plans to ratify ILO Convention No 182 on the worst forms of child labour, and an action plan for the rehabilitation of bonded labourers is under preparation. The Ministry of Labour is also planning to reactivate vigilance committees to tackle the bonded labour issue at local level. The Commission supports the Government through a project being implemented by ILO within the IPEC framework which addresses the multi-faceted problem of child and bonded labour through measures of prevention and rehabilitation.

In Nepal, besides a clear constitutional legal base (Article 20) to guarantee the right against any exploitation of human beings, 7 ILO Conventions have already been ratified. On 17 July 2000, Government Monitoring Committees at both central and district level have been set up. A government team to supervise the rehabilitation of persons released from bonded labour has also been created, while ILO Convention 29 on forced labour is currently with the Nepalese Parliament for ratification.

The Commission would like to confirm to the Honourable Members that on the basis of the existing framework Co-operation Agreements with these countries, the Joint Commission meetings have provided and will continue to provide the most appropriate context to regularly monitor the enforcement of bonded labour legislation and promote rehabilitation initiatives.