Widespread child labour, appalling working conditions & debt bondage reported at Balochistan mines

“‘Coal workers are orphans’: the children and slaves mining Pakistan’s coal”, 19 February 2020, underground explosions, methane gas poisoning, suffocation,…collapse are omnipresent has grown into a massive modern industry [w]ith five major coalfields – Mach, Shahrag, Dukki, Chamalang and Quetta.

At all the coal mines visited by The Guardian in January, child labourers were seen working above ground, [including]...removing impurities from…mined coal. There have [also] been…reports of child sexual abuse at the mines in Shahrag…

Workers talk of an absence of basic health and safety measures and brutal working and living conditions. Many of the conditions of modern slavery are evident across these mines. [Pakistani law]…stipulates that canteens, shelters, medical equipment and first aid rooms should be provided at every mine where more than 100 people are employed. At Mach, the workers’ quarters were a mud building in which more than 10 people shared each tiny room,…no electricity, running water,…proper bathroom[s]…or drinking water.

The Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation, [says] between 100 and 200 labourers die on average in coal mine accidents every year,…four miners dying in a landslide at Duki… in February. Workers [also suffer from]...black lung disease. [The] law [grants]...the families of workers who died in the mines...compensation but only [Pakistani workers] are entitled,...leaving the Afghan miners, who make up around 50% of the workforce, unprotected.

cc: Author: Shah Meer Baloch & Hannah Ellis-Petersen, The Guardian,