Bonded Labour in agriculture: a rapid assessment in Punjab and North West frontier province, Pakistan

This Working Paper is one of a series of Rapid Assessments of bonded labour in Pakistan, each of which examines a different economic sector. Dr G. M. Arif, of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) in Islamabad, is the author of this paper on bonded labour in the agriculture sector in Punjab and North West Frontier Province.

The aim of these studies is to inform the implementation of the Government of Pakistan’s National Policy and Plan of Action for the Abolition of Bonded Labour, adopted in 2001. The research was conducted under the guidance of the Bonded Labour Research Forum (BLRF), a distinguished group of Pakistani research and development specialists, convened by the Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis with the support of the ILO. The Rapid Assessments were undertaken by independent Pakistani researchers, who were selected by the BLRF for their competence and experience in the different sectors.
This paper should be read in conjunction with a companion paper that covers Sindh and Balochistan provinces.

The research programme was overseen by Caroline O’Reilly of the Special Action Programme to combat Forced Labour (SAP-FL) of the Declaration Programme in Geneva. Ali Khan worked as Research Coordinator for the duration of the research process, based at the ILO in Islamabad.