Labour rights, laws discussed.

MULTAN -- At a labour rights convention held by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Friday, speakers agreed that it is essential to empower workers by strengthening labour unions, abolishing the exploitative practice of 'Peshgi (advance payment, resurrecting district vigilance committees, and raising the minimum wage to reflect the real cost of living.

Opening the convention, HRCP council member Nazir Ahmed expressed his concern over the sharp decline in labour union membership, saying the HRCP had always stood with the bonded labour and peasant communities of Pakistan, including south Punjab.

Shaista Bokhari, director of the Women Rights Organisation, said that minor girls hired as domestic workers were often relegated to the same status as bonded labour.

Pointing out that women bonded labourers were usually hired under a male relative's name, Muniza Hashmi, a district vigilance committee member, said that they were not aware of the rights to which they were entitled under the law.

Speaking on behalf of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF), Mahar Safdar Ali pointed to the...