Status of International Labour Standards in Brick Kiln Industry of Pakistan

Abstract

This research article attempts to investigate "State of Implementation of International Labour Organization (ILO) Labour Standards in Brick Kiln Industry of Pakistan". Based on qualitative methods, this research/investigation has tried to understand different processes and mechanisms through which the government of Pakistan is fulfilling its international obligation i.e., provision of Core Labour Rights to the workers of brick kiln industry in the country. From all its Conventions, ILO has picked 8 Conventions and grouped them under four most basic human rights as which include Conventions 87 and 98 as "The right to organize and engage in collective bargaining", Conventions 100 and 111 as "The right to equality at work", Conventions 138 and 182 as "The abolition of child labour" and Conventions 29 and 105 as "The abolition of forced labour". To investigate the state of implementation of ILO Labour Standards, six districts were chosen from four provinces of Pakistan. Through focused group discussions and in-depth interviews, data was collected from brick kin workers, brick owners, labour activists, trade unionists, labour lawyers and officials of the labour departments.