The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) appeared before the Federal Constitutional Court on Friday in its landmark constitutional petition under Article 184, seeking the complete phase-out of manual sewer cleaning and the institutionalisation of health and safety regulations for sanitation workers throughout Pakistan.
The case was heard by a three-member bench headed by Justice Aminuddin, marking a historic moment in Pakistan’s human-rights landscape and the fight to protect one of the country’s most marginalised labour forces.
In its petition, NCHR highlighted the grave risks faced by sanitation workers, who continue to perform highly hazardous and often lethal tasks without adequate protective gear, training, or occupational safety protocols. The Commission emphasised that the continued practice of manual sewer cleaning constitutes a violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, including the right to life, dignity, equality, and safe working conditions.
NCHR also submitted that Pakistan remains without a unified, national health-and-safety regime for sanitation work. In the absence of regulatory enforcement and emergency response mechanisms, workers are routinely exposed to toxic gases, life-threatening injuries, and preventable deaths. During the hearing, Barrister Iqbal Nasar, NCHR’s pro bono counsel, informed the bench that a day before the hearing, another sanitation worker had died in the gutters in Sindh and that such inhuman work conditions needed strong intervention by the government. After hearing NCHR’s argument, the Federal Constitutional Court issued notices to the respondents.
“Manual cleaning of gutters is brutal and dehumanising. No person’s life should be put at risk for a task that should never require human hands in the first place,” said Chairperson NCHR Rabiya Javeri Agha who attended the hearing on NCHR’s behalf.
The case marks the first such hearing by Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court, examining the rights of sanitation workers through a constitutional lens, potentially setting a precedent for labour dignity, occupational safety, and equal protection under the law.