LEGAL LIBERATION: Freeing Slaves through the Law
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Ending Global Slavery: Everyday Heroes Leading the Way competition.
To use the law to fight for the release and rehabilitation of India's 12 million slaves.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Sector Focus
Civil society
Year the initative began (yyyy)
1985
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Web site (url)
Positioning of your initiative on the mosaic diagram
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Vulnerability of targeted populations
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Expand legal access and frameworks
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic
This field has not been completed. (333 words or less)
Name Your Project
LEGAL LIBERATION: Freeing Slaves through the Law
Describe Your Idea
To use the law to fight for the release and rehabilitation of India's 12 million slaves.
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
To use the law to fight for the release and rehabilitation of India's 12 million slaves.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
The fight to end the Transatlantic Slave Trade two hundred years ago was, in large part, a legal fight. Campaigners used the law to bring an end to slavery. Today, slavery is illegal in every country in the world. But too often the law is ignored and slavery lives on. In India, a modern form of slavery known as bonded labour was made illegal in 1976, and yet by some estimates there are still 12 million Indians living in slavery today. Our innovation is to use the law, and in particular the Bonded Labour Liberation Act, to release and rehabilitate bonded labourers in the north Indian state of Punjab. We have become specialists in Indian labour law and have forced the legal system and authorities to recognise it and implement it. So far we have secured the release of 30,000 people living in slavery.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
We identify cases of debt bondage through a network of local staff and then petition the court for their release. If our petition is successful, we alert the local police and conduct a raid on the place where the bonded labourers are being held. We then ensure that they receive the compensation and support they are entitled to under the law.
We also campaign at a national level for changes to the law to protect those living in slavery. Since 1985 Volunteers for Social Justice has filed about 5000 petitions on behalf of bonded labourers in the High Court and Supreme Court.
How do you plan to grow your innovation?
The biggest challenge we face is the lack of awareness of the law and the will to implement it. There is widespread denial that slavery exists, and the caste system means that upper caste slave owners can act with impunity.
In response we intend to mobilise a massive legal awareness campaign among victims of bonded labour, trafficked children and women, and the agencies responsible for implementing the law. One strand of the campaign will be a touring exhibition of photographs by British photojournalist, Pete Pattisson, who has been working with us for three years. Our aim is to eliminate bonded labour in the brick kilns in India by 2015.
To support this we will build a strong coalition to target our campaign at parliamentarians, government officials, the International Labour Organisation and other stakeholders. We will gather a group of experts on the law to provide advice and train young energetic activists from communities subject to slavery to spearhead the movement for liberation.
Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how do you create them?
Our organisation, Volunteers for Social Justice is a well-established, with a staff of 14 and a membership of 10,000. This membership is largely built on the support of lower caste communities who are most vulnerable to exploitation and enslavement. To support our work in Punjab, we have also build strong partnerships acorss India, including Jeevika (Bangalore), Jagriti Kendra (Chhattisgrah), Bandhua Mukti Morcha and the South Asian Coalition on Child Labour. Many NGOs come to us for advice and resources, for example our publication 'Liberation from Bondage'. We also work closely with international partners, in particular Anti-Slavery International.
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
By using the law, we have secured the release of 30,000 slaves, and in the last year alone secured the cancellation of about $350,000 worth of debt owed by bonded labourers.
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
We estimate that there are half a million people living in slavery in Punjab, but the Chief Minister of the state recently claimed there were none! As long as senior politicians and authorities refuse to acknowledge the scale of the problem, we will always face a great barrier to achieving our impact. This is why we need the awareness campaign.
The second barrier we face is the caste system. The caste system is deeply embedded in rural Punjab, and anyone who challenges it faces harassment, abuse and even death. A web of vested interests between landowners, the police and local authorities mean upper caste land owners can get away with murder. Literally. Atrocities against Dalits are committed on a daily basis. I have been a victim of these attacks myself and in 2007 I was imprisoned with 82 fellow activists for 8 days, while on a march against slavery and caste abuse.
How many people have you served or plan to serve?
Since 1985 we have directly and indirectly served tens of thousands of Indians living in slavery by securing their rights under Indian law. This has been both at the grassroots levels by releasing workers from slavery and at the national level by successfully petition the Supreme Court of India to enact legislation for the benefit of those in slavery.
Directly
Since 1985 Volunteers for Social Justice has secured the release of 30,000 slaves through our legal interventions. We have filed about 5000 petitions on behalf of bonded labourers in the High Court and Supreme Court.
In the last year alone we secured residential plots of land for 288 landless families and forced 493 villages to allow lower caste villagers to bury their deceased in the same place as upper caste villagers. We organised a mass march across the state to raise awareness of slavery and caste exploitation, resulting in the arrest of 83 activists.
We have exposed child labour in the football-making industry and have supported 100 schools for freed child labourers.
Indirectly
We have also campaigned at a national level to force far-reaching legal changes. For example, we convinced the Supreme Court of India through Public Interest Litigation to direct the State to distribute compensation to victims of farming accidents worth over a million dollars. And through the law we have forced brick kilns to provide latrines and urinals for the dignity of their female workers.
As a result of our campaigns, the Punjab State Government recognised the existence of bonded labour and child labour in its 2005 Human Development Report for the first time.
Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation?
Our impact has gone beyond the state of Punjab, and we have been able to raise awareness of the law in other states. For example, we are often approached for help by bonded labourers in Haryana, Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir.
Is there a policy intervention element to your innovation?
Policy intervention lies at the heart of our innovation. By using the law, which has largely been dormant, we have been able secure the release of thousands in slavery. Furthermore, we have fought for changes to the law to secure greater protection for those in slavery or suffering exploitation (see above).
Exactly who are the beneficiaries of your innovation?
The main beneficiaries are the estimated half a million enslaved workers in the state of Punjab. Punjab is one of India's richest states, but it also has the highest lower caste population in the country, and much of its wealth is built on their toil and suffering, and so our work also encompasses all those from the lowest castes in the state. We fight for their rights and challenge their exploitation.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
Our initiative is financed by Action Aid (India).
If known, provide information on your finances and organization
Our annual budget is only $55,000 per year for a team of 14 staff.
What is the potential demand for your innovation?
With this limited funding and staffing we are unable to meet the huge demand for our innovation. We are approached for help by bonded labourers and other NGOs from across India who value our expertise in the Indian legal system, but we are limited in the numbers we can support by our limited finances.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
As our work is not income-generating, we are dependent on grants from organisations such as Action Aid (India). Nevertheless, having existed now for over 20 years we have built a reputation and track record in the field which we believe makes it easier for us to secure long-term, sustainable funding.
The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
Being born in a Dalit family, I faced social, economic and cultural discrimination from a young age. I was even forced to drop out of school. As my family was landless, I had few opportunities and was forced me to become a soldier at the age of 14. As I grew older I felt that politics might be a way forward. I joined the Jai Prakash Narayan movement to fight for freedom for the oppressed. The movement formed the Janata Party; a political party that took power in 1977, but it proved to be not better than the previous government. And so I chose to work directly with the poorest communities to whom I belonged. In 1980 I learnt about bonded labour, and the Bonded Labour Act. I soon realised that a law is only as good as its application, and although the Act outlawed bonded labour, it was not being implemented. I decided to become an expert in Indian labour law and taught myself the details of the legal process. From then on I was equipped to use the law to fight for the rights of Indians in slavery.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material
General Secretary of Volunteers for Social Justice since 1985.
Participant of the Advocacy Fellowship programme, organised by the Advocacy Fellowship Institute, Washington DC, USA
I have read my testimony twice before the United Nations Committee on Contemporary Forms of Slavery in Geneva, Switzerland.
Participated in the Global March Against Child Labour in 1998.
A founding member of Bandhua Mukti Morcha, a pioneering organisation that fights bonded labour in India.
Emphasis of Work
Our innovation focuses at one level on prosecution and rehabilitation, by ensuring the Bonded Labour Act is enforced. However, it also promotes prevention, by raising awareness of the law among lower caste communities, and agencies responsible for legal implementation.
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Comments
I like this project because it is a real innovation with a proven track record in successfully releasing thousands of slaves - it is clearly having an impact. It also addresses a real form of modern slavery not just a general social problem.
Jo Hill
Hello Jai, Could you please describe the extent of the compensation and support that victims are entitled to under the law? Thank you.
Dana Frasz
Ashoka's Changemakers
Dear Dana,
Under the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act 1976, released bonded labourers are entitled to 20,000rupees (about $460), or 25,000rupees if they are from the lowest castes. There are other forms of compensation too. These are easy to claim for, but difficult to get. Ex-slaves often need our support to get this money.
Thanking you,
Jai Singh
With a clear aim to address very real problems of human rights abuses and inequality, using the law backed up by informed, persistant and creative actions, undertaken by people from different parts of the world who work together, people who have the conviction to try to improve the lives of others and who are making progress in achieving their goal - this project is an inspiration to all. And for us in England an example of the kind of active citizenship many of us are committed to educating young people about through citizenship education in schools.
I know Jaiji for some years now. He is doing commendable work to free bondedlabourers in Punjab; in other states in spite of tremendous opposition from and reluctance of the Judiciary and the Police in Punjab to take action on behalf of bondedlabourers. We are together in the National alliance on Bonded Labour - NABoL, promoted in July 2007. We with another organisation were supported for two years for a programe on legal empowermen of bonded labourers by AntiSlavery International, London. Jaiji also requires to be commended because coming from dalit community himself and from very poor academic background, he has educated himself, especially on the law on bondedlabour and all other labour legislations, built up a strong support base in his state and other places and is continuously filing cases in the courts on behalf of bondedlabourers and conducting many raids to rescue bondedlabourers. He has brought two compendiums of all the Supreme Court and High Court Judgements on bondedlabour. Though he has highlighted his use of the legal system in freeing bonded labourers, he has also devoted time and energy to develop a movement of bondedlabourers and dalits. I feel, legal system alone cannot fully deliver justice to bondedlabourers or victims of any social evil. The judiciary in Punjab has been consistently turning a blind eye and may be using a malicious eye against bonded labour in support of the keepers of bondedlabour, because its top echelons hail from that community. Legal system is a weapon to us especially since we have Article 23 in our Constitution prohibiting all forms of forced labourand a powerful and unique Act on bondedlabour. We also require to build up a movement of dalits, adivasis and bondedlabourers to take up the cause of bondedlabour. Jaiji is doing all this and I wish him great success in all his endeavours. I wholeheartedly recommend him to the Ashoka Award on Ending Global Slavery.
On July 16, 2008, the judges reviewed the entries for the Changemakers “Ending Global Slavery” Competition and would like to pass on the following feedback for your entry. Thank you for applying and for your hard work in the field. We are excited to archive your entry to serve as a leading solution for the worldwide community of innovators who are exposing, confronting and ending modern day slavery. We wish you continued luck with your sustainable, innovative, and socially impactful initiatives.
All the best, The Changemakers Team
“This initiative demonstrates substantial legal expertise and strong leadership in using the law to fight for the release and fair treatment of India’s slaves. It has proven quite successful and, by means of systematic policy change, has already managed to free over 30,000 people through its programs. Given the success of the project thus far, we are interested in learning more about potential partnership opportunities to help further spread the initiative’s model.”
- Changemakers “Ending Global Slavery” Judges: United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Trafficking, International Organization for Migration, Design Within Reach, Vital Voices Global Partnership, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Humanity United.
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The Changemakers Team
Ashoka's Changemakers
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