NCHR Pursues Removal of Discriminatory Ads

News Desk
Islamabad: The National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR) has announced plans to take legal action against the government over discriminatory language used in advertisements for sanitation workers’ jobs.
NCHR Chairperson Rabiya Javeri Agha said such advertisements violate Article 27 of Pakistan’s Constitution as well as international agreements ratified by the country, including provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
She made the remarks while addressing an awareness campaign launched by the NCHR in collaboration with the EU-funded Huqooq-e-Pakistan (HeP) project in Islamabad.
The campaign aims to raise awareness about systemic discrimination faced by Christian sanitation workers, particularly regarding workplace safety, employment security and access to labour rights.
The initiative featured the screening of a film highlighting the plight of families of sanitation workers who died while performing hazardous duties in Sargodha. Two Christian sanitation workers, Nadeem and Faisal, reportedly died several months ago after being exposed to toxic fumes and gases while working inside sewers.
Agha said Pakistan introduced a five per cent quota for minorities in federal and provincial government departments in 2009. However, she noted that the Federal Government Employees Statistical Bulletin for 2017-18 showed that only 2.8 per cent of government employees were from minority communities, with many employed in low-paid positions.
She further said that nearly 29,692 minority posts across different grades were vacant as of 2021, highlighting what she described as a failure to properly implement the minority quota.
According to the NCHR chairperson, government institutions have in some cases attempted to meet the quota requirement by advertising sanitation and other low-paid positions specifically for Christians or other non-Muslims.
She pointed out that Christians make up around 1.6 per cent of Pakistan’s population but account for more than 80 per cent of the country’s sanitation workforce.
Agha said minority communities were disproportionately represented among sanitation workers who have died while cleaning sewers. From 2011 to 2021, more than 65 per cent of sanitation workers who died during sewer-cleaning operations reportedly belonged to minority communities.
The NCHR also highlighted the difficult working conditions faced by sanitation workers, including inadequate protective equipment, insecure employment and exposure to toxic gases.
Many workers, according to the commission, are employed as daily wagers rather than regular municipal employees, depriving them of basic labour protections. Workers are also frequently sent into sewage systems without adequate personal protective equipment, masks or other safety measures.
The commission further raised concerns over rescue and medical responses following accidents, saying emergency personnel have sometimes been reluctant to enter sewage systems to rescue affected workers, while injured workers have reportedly faced discriminatory treatment at hospitals.
NCHR Member for Minorities Manzoor Masih called for an immediate end to unconstitutional and discriminatory recruitment advertisements.
He also urged authorities to ensure that the minority quota is implemented across all government grades rather than being concentrated in lower-scale positions.
“We must fill the minority quota in government jobs across all grades, not just BPS 01–04,” Masih said, stressing that affirmative action should be used to empower minority communities rather than reinforce existing discrimination.
The awareness campaign will continue highlighting the challenges faced by sanitation workers and promoting greater public awareness about workplace safety, equal employment opportunities and minority rights.