A child who has become a symbol of child labor abuse: Who is Iqbal Masih?

Iqbal Messiah was born in 1982 in a poor village called Muridke in Lahore, Pakistan. Shortly after he was born, his father, Saif Masih, left the family, and his mother, Inayat, worked many hard jobs to support the house, trying to raise her children. However, the family cannot live on the money they earn and needs additional support. Unable to support her home with her work, mother Inayat finds a solution by borrowing 600 rupees from loan sharks, and a lot of interest is added to her debt. After a while, when she fails to pay the debt and interest, she has to sign a kind of 'bonded labor contract' called Peshgi, which was widely implemented in Pakistani society at that time. According to the contract, 3 rupees per day will be deducted from the debt against the debt; The mother sends her 4-year-old son Ikbal to the carpet weaving workshop for boarding work.

Iqbal Masih was a Pakistani Christian child labourer and activist who campaigned against abusive child labour in Pakistan. He was assassinated on 16 April 1995. On 23 March 2022, he was posthumously awarded with the Sitara-e-Shujaat by the government of Pakistan.

Although unofficial in Pakistan, local moneylenders, i.e. carpet traders, were making large sums of money by lending money to poor families in particular, and by having their children accept a contract called bonded labor, which required their children to work in carpet workshops. The only way to borrow money from these merchants was to agree to have their children enslaved to workshops producing handcrafted carpets. In those years, hundreds of carpet merchants provided thousands of child laborers and made them work like slaves. There was a reason why carpet traders made bonded labor contracts. In particular, the background of their child labor was not just cheap labor, but the little fingers tying the best knot during carpet weaving. With this semi-official slavery that lasted until 1995, hundreds of enslaved children were employed in local workshops to produce handmade carpets. Child workers, who were given enough bread and water to die, stayed in the seminars as boarders and were exposed to violence and sexual harassment by their foremen.

In addition, families using this loan had to send their children to work for free for 1 year in order to learn the carpet weaving business. After one year, after the apprenticeship, the child had to work until the debt was paid with a predetermined interest rate. Working conditions were so difficult and under pressure that the mistakes of the children were reflected as a penalty on the loan, and the damage to the materials used in the carpet benches was added to the debt. Nutrition was also of the weakness of children and was mostly made with bread and water. For this reason, child workers remained weak, and most children either ran away from the carpet workshops or lost their lives without paying off their debts…

Iqbal Messiah, like many children, started out as an apprentice and was given the responsibility of foreman to learn the job. He was beaten, punished for his mistakes, and at times attempted to escape, chained to iron counters so that he could not escape. He worked in slavery conditions for 14 hours a day, 7 days a week for 6 years. When Iqbal was 10 years old, he still had the physical characteristics of a 5-6-year-old child. He was very thin like his friends, he was short and 27 kilograms because he could not be fed. Working in the same position for hours and years had caused his spine and body to bend. He escaped from the factory when he was 10 years old. However, in 1992 he was caught by the corrupt police and taken back to the factory, and it was suggested that Iqbal be tied to the counter. All the while, the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared that prisoner labor is prohibited.

One day, Iqbal hears that there is a meeting of a group called Bonded Labor Liberation Front – BLLF in the town. He escapes again from the run-down underground factory to go to the BLLF's meeting. There, 10-year-old Iqbal learns that "peshgi" has been outlawed by the Pakistani state. With the help of this organization, the necessary documents are prepared to save Iqbal from his boss, who works as a slave. Even though the employer, the carpet merchant, and the usurer, who makes children work like slaves, have a nervous breakdown, the legal basis of the documents is strong and there is no point to be prevented it.

Although Iqbal is happy for his own salvation, he wants his friends to be saved as well. For this purpose, he gives a speech to his friends and says that it is forbidden to employ children:

“I learned everything. Psehgi is no longer allowed. You are free, come with me.”

Iqbal follows the other children and liberates 34 children with him on the first day. The echo of this event has a great impact on the city, the country, and even in the world. He is invited to many schools in Switzerland and America and gives speeches. ”When a weaver boy complained that he couldn't work, he was locked in a dark closet in the dining room known as the punishment room. They also hanged children upside down and often beat them,” Iqbal says. He receives a lot of support for his struggle. He is a well-spoken and persuasive child. Thanks to his fighting determination, he works tirelessly with unexpected energy from his age and body. In one of his speeches, he said, “Now things have changed. I used to be afraid of my bosses. Now they are afraid of me.” İkbal continues to decipher child labor and creates great awareness. He speaks about child labor all over the world and saves the lives of many children. Now Iqbal Masih is a rights defender who escaped from slavery and is known in the Western world.

After escaping from the carpet weaving workshop, he joins the Bonded Labor Liberation Front – BLLF is sent to school and is taught to read and write. He completes his school, which is normally 4 years, in 2 years. Carpet merchants, who were influential enough to determine the fate of the elections in Pakistan, attribute the prohibition of Peshgi and child labor to Iqbal, and their anger against him grows stronger and they see him as a hindrance to their wealth. It also causes Iqbal to receive death threats many times. Iqbal Messiah was assassinated when he was 13 years old when he returned to his country after a school speech in America on April 16, 1995. The person who killed Iqbal Christ was a child slave laborer. However, the incident was covered up by the country's administration and the police. On April 17, 1995, Iqbal was buried by 800 children like himself.

Craig Kielburger, one of the children whom he influenced and brought the fighting spirit, continued to continue the struggle from where he left off. He founded the Free The Children Association and opened more than 650 schools. Thanks to Iqbal, many legal arrangements were made in Pakistan and similar countries. But child labor and slavery never ended. Today, 300 million children around the world are forced to work. Especially in Asia, Africa, and South America, child workers are intensively employed under inhumane conditions and exposed to various kinds of abuse.