T he National Human Rights Commission organised a day long Regional Workshop for North-East on 'Elimination of Bonded Labour' in collaboration with the Government of Assam on Friday, the 19th May, 2017, at Assam Administrative Staff College, Khanapara, Guwahati. Justice Shri D. Murugesan, Member, NHRC chaired the workshop.
The participants included senior officers of the Government of Assam Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, representative(s) of State Human Rights Commission of Assam, NGOs brick kilns, stone crushing and other related industries, academicians, research scholars and final year law students in Assam were also invited to attend the Workshop.
The objective of the Workshop was to familiarize and sensitize District Magistrates, Sub Divisional Magistrates, State Labour Officers and Members of Vigilance Committees, brick kilns, stone crushing and other related industries etc in the process of identification, release and rehabilitation of bonded labourers and with the provisions of Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 and other related legislations.
The Supreme Court of India had asked the NHRC in 1997 to monitor the implementation of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. The Court's directions came while hearing a Writ Petition (No. 3922/1985) - People's Union for Civil Liberties Vs State of Tamil Nadu & Others.
Therefore, the Commission, in its endeavor to raise concerns on the continuance of bonded labour has been organising such workshops to sensitize official machinery to work for its abolition in different parts of the country. It has organised 38 workshops on elimination of bonded labour so far.