| E |
very time it rains, every time a drain overflows and every time rubbish piles up, countless sanitation workers, mostly from marginalised backgrounds, step forward to clear the mess. However, Pakistan’s sanitation workforce lives and works under conditions of systemic discrimination, exploitation and neglect. The ILO’s definition of decent work, rooted in freedom, equity, security and human dignity, is a distant dream for them. A recent report by Amnesty International, developed with the Centre for Law and Justice, shows how the people who clean the country’s filth are sometimes themselves treated as disposable.
The report draws on the testimonies of over 230 workers interviewed across six districts, with 66 providing detailed accounts. Their experiences paint a grim picture of structural injustice. Nearly half said they were subjected to derogatory slurs like chuhra, bhangi and jamadar. More than half reported that their caste or faith determined the jobs they were offered, many were forced into sanitation roles even when they applied for other positions. These practices reflect a discriminatory mindset so entrenched that it bars workers from social mobility, trapping entire families in dangerous and low-status labour across generations.
Even after decades of service, job security for sanitation workers remains elusive. At the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation, the largest employer of sewage workers in Sindh, only a fraction of employees hold permanent positions. The majority work without written contracts. The KWSC last gave formal appointments to sewage workers, locally known as kundiman, in 2006. Since then, it has relied almost entirely on stop-gap arrangements through ad hoc staff and daily wagers. The situation is mirrored elsewhere: in Umerkot, a worker served for 18 years without ever being regularized. Local governments and contractors exploit the vulnerability of precarious labour. Financial exploitation is just as stark: 53 percent of sanitation workers earn below the statutory minimum wage. Nearly four out of five report never have received overtime pay, even while enduring punishing shifts in toxic sewers and overflowing drains.
The health and safety record is equally dire. More than half of sanitation workers reported suffering from work-related illnesses, including respiratory and skin diseases, caused by prolonged exposure to toxic waste. Most were forced to purchase protective gloves and masks out of their own pockets. Many had none at all. In Islamabad, a worker lost a finger after a syringe punctured his hand during waste collection. These are not isolated incidents: between 2011 and 2023, at least 80 sanitation workers lost their lives cleaning sewers without protective gear or mechanised support.
Sanitation workers clean what we discard. They are indispensable to public health and urban life, yet they are treated as invisible and expendable.
The discrimination extends to women who face an even harsher reality. Non-Muslim women in Karachi, for example, are disproportionately pushed into cleaning toilets or clothes. Their Muslim counterparts are offered less degrading work. This intersection of gender, caste and religious bias adds another layer of indignity to an already unjust system.
At the root of this crisis is the failure to legally recognise caste-based discrimination. Article 25 of the constitution promises equality but does not name caste as a prohibited ground, leaving sanitation workers unprotected against practices that openly bar them from alternative employment. Provincial labour laws, fragmented and inconsistently applied, fail to extend adequate protections. The absence of robust safety regulations and oversight means that thousands of workers continue to risk their lives every day in conditions that violate basic human dignity.
This is not merely a matter of labour rights; it is a test of Pakistan’s commitment to equality and justice. Labour and human rights experts in Pakistan recommend outlawing caste-based discrimination through constitutional reform, guaranteeing written contracts and permanent jobs, enforcing the minimum wage and overtime laws, mechanising hazardous tasks such as sewer cleaning and providing proper safety gear and training to all workers. Equally important are broad social efforts to challenge stigma, change public perceptions and recognise sanitation as dignified work rather than degrading work reserved for minorities.
Sanitation workers clean what we discard. They are indispensable to public health and urban life, yet they are sometimes treated as invisible and expendable. A nation cannot advance while consigning some of its citizens to dangerous, degrading work under conditions of exploitation because of their caste or religion. Reform is not just necessary, it is urgent. Labour being a provincial subject after the 18th Amendment, it is the prime responsibility of provincial legislators they act decisively, through laws, policies and public awareness, to restore dignity, ensure safety and guarantee equality for sanitation workers. Anything less amounts to complicity in a system that demeans and endangers those who serve the nation at its dirtiest and most dangerous frontlines.
The writer is a media development specialist with extensive experience in labour rights, governance and human rights advocacy. He has led national and international projects on workers’ welfare, democratic freedoms, and media innovation, and writes frequently on issues of social justice, labour reforms and marginalised communities in Pakistan.