SHRC asks municipalities to protect sanitary workers, provide them PPE

Appreciating the Sindh government’s efforts to limit the coronavirus spread, the Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC) on Sunday asked the city and district municipalities and administrations all over the province to ensure the safety of the sanitary workers keeping in view their vulnerability to the virus.

The SHRC, in a statement, said that the government had taken steps to provide pieces of safety equipment to all frontline fighters, including doctors, paramedics, law enforcing agencies and members of the district administration and even the public was being provided masks at some points.

“But it has been noticed that the sanitary workers who are mandated to keep our cities and spaces clean and sanitised are not being provided with essential lifesaving equipment to keep themselves safe from contracting the virus,” said the SHRC statement issued by its chairperson, Justice (retd) Majida Razvi. The commission said that as per WHO guidelines, maintaining hygiene and sanitation within the public spaces played an important role in countering the spread of the pandemic. “But the sanitary workers who are working day and night to keep public spaces clean and sanitised are not being given due protection.”

Distributing masks and gloves of substandard quality was not enough to save the lives of the sanitary workers, the SHRC maintained.

Keeping in view the vulnerability of the sanitary workers, it urged the district and city municipal authorities and the district administrations all over the province to ensure security of the sanitary workers with the provision of ample safety equipment so that the safety of frontline fighters who were fighting to keep our spaces clean and sanitised could be ensured.

The SHRC is a statutory body established under the Sindh Protection of Human Rights Act 2011 with statutory powers.