Islamabad, March 11 – Sanitation workers in Pakistan face immense hardship due to deeply entrenched caste hierarchies, discriminatory hiring practices, a lack of legal protections, institutional neglect, social stigma, gender-based exploitation, and economic injustice. Their suffering is deeply ingrained in the fabric of the state and society, making it largely invisible, according to a report released on Tuesday.
According to a report in the European Times, sanitation workers across Pakistan, who play a vital role in sustaining cities, preventing disease, and upholding public health, deserve dignity, safety, fair wages, and equal rights – not as charity, but as a matter of justice.
"Sanitation work in Pakistan exists at the intersection of caste, class, religion, and gender, forming one of the country's most entrenched and least acknowledged human rights crises. The people who keep Pakistan's cities functioning by cleaning streets, unclogging drains, and entering sewers are treated as expendable. Their labor is indispensable, yet their lives are consistently devalued. For women sanitation workers, the burden is even greater, shaped by a 'triple discrimination' rooted in caste, religion, and gender," the report detailed.
"Sanitation work is not merely a profession in Pakistan; it is a caste-designated occupation inherited through generations. The majority of workers come from so-called 'lower-caste' Christian and Hindu communities, pushed into this work by discriminatory recruitment practices and the absence of real employment alternatives," it added.
Citing Pakistan's National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) findings titled 'Risk of Sanitation Work in Pakistan', the report documented "widespread injuries, deaths, and unsafe conditions", reflecting the lack of a comprehensive national health and safety system.
"Without regulatory enforcement or emergency response mechanisms, workers are routinely exposed to hazardous environments and toxic gases. The continued deaths of Christian laborers engaged in manual scavenging constitute a grave violation of fundamental rights and a persistent failure of the state to fulfill its constitutional obligations," it mentioned.
According to the report, Pakistan's Supreme Court has questioned if public office has become "mere evasion of duty," and asked whether sewerage workers' lives are regarded as less valuable than those of other citizens.
"For women sanitation workers, the crisis deepens. They face the same caste- and religion-based discrimination as their male counterparts, but with the added burden of gender-based exploitation. Amnesty International describes their situation as 'triple discrimination', capturing the compounded vulnerabilities they endure. Women workers often earn far below the legal minimum wage, and face heightened social stigma, limited mobility, and greater barriers to accessing social protection schemes," it stated.
Highlighting the discrimination, the report further said, "Economic marginalization is a defining feature of sanitation work in Pakistan. Even as workers perform some of the most essential and dangerous labor in the country, they are among the lowest paid."