Bonded labor has existed for thousands of years. Unfortunately economic slavery exists today in large-scale in Pakistan. Families are forced to deal with horrible living conditions, hard work, and cruel land-owners who often take advantage of their power and situation. Women arre frequently treated to sexual assault and rape and little is done by law enforcement.

People are contracted to work until a debt is repaid, but rarely is the debt ever repaid do to the lack of fair treatment from the land-owners who maintain the need to keep cheap labor. The system, like slavery in the United States, is enforced through a systematic control of the population. Fences keep labor in. Beatings and rape are used as tools to dehumanize the workers. Anyone that speaks to the authorities are not safe. Those that do escape are still in violation of the contract that signed to maintain their life.

Here are some of the voices of the women who have been through this ordeal.

In the beginning we didn't know how bad these people were, but gradually my neighbors started telling me stories of their cruelty. They kidnapped Ganga, raped her for three days and then brought her back to her family. At that time Ganga was in very bad shape. Her family had such a heavy loan against them that they couldn't react. Besides the landlord threatened them that if they raised their voice they would be killed. No one had the courage to utter a word. Their family continued to tolerate his cruelties in silence.

For two years we worked as haris on the land of Nadeem Khuja in Tando Mohammad Khan. His manager, Adil Mallah, was very abusive toward women. Whenever he saw a woman alone in the fields, he would go and rape her. When my daughter turned sixteen, he started following her. I asked the landlord and his brother Raees Khwaja to keep their manager under control. I even requested some of the neighbors to talk some sense into him. One day as I was going to work, he came and grabbed me. He was furious and threatened me that because I was going around talking to everyone about him, he would kill my daughter. I was very scared. I knew that one of Nadeem Khawaja's relatives was a police officer and because of his protection, the manager had the freedom to do anything he wanted--beat up people or rape women. Everyone knew about it. Sometimes people would even file a complaint at the police station, but nothing would really happen. I knew that there was no way of stopping him. If he had made up his mind to kill my daughter, he would do so.

For a one-hundred dollar contribution, an entire family can have their contract bought out and they can be released from bondage. These people are free to live a productive life in society free from generations of oppression.

United Nations Comission on Human Rights . United Nations Comission on Human Rights Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Bonded agricultural labourers in lower Sindh Province - Pakistan. Geneva: anti-slavery.org, 2002. Human Rights Commision of Pakistan. 15 Aug. 2007 <http://www.antislavery.org/archive/submission/submission2002-pakistan.htm>.

Tohid, Owais. "In Pakistan, 'slavery' persists." Christian Science Monitor 15 Dec. 2003: A3+. Human Rights Commision of Pakistan. 15 Aug. 2007 <http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1215/p08s01-wosc.html>.

"Contemporary Forms of Slavery in Pakistan." Pakistan. 15 Dec. 2003. Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Commision of Pakistan. 15 Aug. 2007 <http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/Pakistan.htm>.

Saeed, Fouzia. Women in Bondage: Voices of Women Farm Workers in Sindh. Islamabad: German Embassy, Islamabad, 2003.

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