Social justice cannot be achieved until degrading and discriminating practices are eliminated
Opening remarks at the "Technical Consultation Workshop: Promote Decent Work for Sanitation Workers in India: With focus on Hazardous and High-Risk Work" by Satoshi Sasaki, Deputy Director, ILO DWT/CO-New Delhi
28 November 2023
A very warm welcome to this technical consultation on promoting decent work for sanitation workers in India.
Sanitation workers help execute an essential public service that includes collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal of human and solid waste and domestic wastewater. They handle the entire operations related to provisioning and maintenance of the sanitation service chain. They keep our cities and villages clean and liveable and they contribute to the well-being of all. Despite performing essential services, they often do not enjoy minimum standards at work. Often invisible as workers, they are poorly paid, lack social protection and work in dangerous and hazardous conditions.
The situation is even worse for workers who perform degrading tasks in inhumane conditions such as manual scavenging. In South Asia, those engaged in manual scavenging or manual sanitation work – the manual cleaning, carrying, and disposing of human waste, often come from marginalised communities and work in hazardous and high-risk conditions. They come into close and even direct contact with human excreta and faecal sludge in confined and dangerous spaces such as septic tanks, manholes, laden with toxic gases and biochemical agents. As they work without proper equipment and protective clothing, they face a higher degree of risk to health and life than those who perform such tasks with proper equipment and machines and protective clothing.
Governments in South Asian countries have recognized the problem of sanitation workers and enacted laws and policies to provide safeguards against health hazards, and to overcome stigma experienced by them. In India, the Government enacted the ‘Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act”, in 2013, and manual scavenging has been eradicated according to the government. Additionally, sanitation programs like the Swachh Bharat Mission have centre-staged the discussion on the importance of cleanliness, hygiene and health.
Despite progress, challenges remain in eradicating degrading and hazardous practices that are performed by workers from scheduled castes and marginalized communities, such as manual cleaning of sewers, manholes and septic tanks, and extraction of debris from sewage canals. Those workers engaged in manual sanitation work also continue to face discrimination. Social justice cannot be realized until degrading and inhumane practices have been eliminated and discrimination against those from scheduled castes and marginalized communities has been eliminated. And a lot needs to be done in this regard.
In this context, this consultation provides an important opportunity for key stakeholders to discuss progress and remaining challenges and exchange priorities and strategies in addressing persistent problems of sanitation workers, particularly those engaged in hazardous work. The participants include representatives from ministries and public departments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, research institutions, academia and civil society organizations. With each stakeholder taking proactive roles, together we can together make important progress to realize social justice. I believe we all have a common wish for realizing social justice and decent work for all – where all workers enjoy productive work carried out under the condition of freedom, equity, security, and dignity.
There are many challenges, but we must continue to work together. I hope this consultation can contribute to bring important progress in eradicating degrading and hazardous practices and eliminating discrimination. My best wishes for an enriched discussion over the next one and a half days.
Thank you very much.
Sanitation workers help execute an essential public service that includes collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal of human and solid waste and domestic wastewater. They handle the entire operations related to provisioning and maintenance of the sanitation service chain. They keep our cities and villages clean and liveable and they contribute to the well-being of all. Despite performing essential services, they often do not enjoy minimum standards at work. Often invisible as workers, they are poorly paid, lack social protection and work in dangerous and hazardous conditions.
The situation is even worse for workers who perform degrading tasks in inhumane conditions such as manual scavenging. In South Asia, those engaged in manual scavenging or manual sanitation work – the manual cleaning, carrying, and disposing of human waste, often come from marginalised communities and work in hazardous and high-risk conditions. They come into close and even direct contact with human excreta and faecal sludge in confined and dangerous spaces such as septic tanks, manholes, laden with toxic gases and biochemical agents. As they work without proper equipment and protective clothing, they face a higher degree of risk to health and life than those who perform such tasks with proper equipment and machines and protective clothing.
Governments in South Asian countries have recognized the problem of sanitation workers and enacted laws and policies to provide safeguards against health hazards, and to overcome stigma experienced by them. In India, the Government enacted the ‘Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act”, in 2013, and manual scavenging has been eradicated according to the government. Additionally, sanitation programs like the Swachh Bharat Mission have centre-staged the discussion on the importance of cleanliness, hygiene and health.
Despite progress, challenges remain in eradicating degrading and hazardous practices that are performed by workers from scheduled castes and marginalized communities, such as manual cleaning of sewers, manholes and septic tanks, and extraction of debris from sewage canals. Those workers engaged in manual sanitation work also continue to face discrimination. Social justice cannot be realized until degrading and inhumane practices have been eliminated and discrimination against those from scheduled castes and marginalized communities has been eliminated. And a lot needs to be done in this regard.
In this context, this consultation provides an important opportunity for key stakeholders to discuss progress and remaining challenges and exchange priorities and strategies in addressing persistent problems of sanitation workers, particularly those engaged in hazardous work. The participants include representatives from ministries and public departments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, research institutions, academia and civil society organizations. With each stakeholder taking proactive roles, together we can together make important progress to realize social justice. I believe we all have a common wish for realizing social justice and decent work for all – where all workers enjoy productive work carried out under the condition of freedom, equity, security, and dignity.
There are many challenges, but we must continue to work together. I hope this consultation can contribute to bring important progress in eradicating degrading and hazardous practices and eliminating discrimination. My best wishes for an enriched discussion over the next one and a half days.
Thank you very much.