Iqbal Masih
Iqbal was a debt child slave, this basically meant he was a slave to pay off debt. His specific case though is different from most.
Iqbal was born in 1983 in Muridke, a city outside of Lahore in Punjab, Pakistan. When he was only 4 years old he was sold by his parents into slavery to pay off a debt of 600 rupees (7.44 NZ) his parents had borrowed this from a local man who owned a carpet weaving business.
Everyday the young boy would wake before dawn and along with other child slaves, would be tied or chained together and would make their way to the factory. Iqbal would work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week with only one 30 minute break. Each day of work would pay off 10 rupees on the debt, although the debt continued to increase. Iqbal at the time weighed 20kgs and stood under 4 feet tall.
After learning that slavery was ruled illegal by the supreme court of Pakistan, at the age of 10 iqbal escaped. He was then caught by police and brought back to slavery. He then escaped a second time and joined the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF) for escaped child slaves.
He completed a four year education in two years and helped over 3,000 Pakistani children that were in bonded labour to escape to freedom and made speeches about his experience around the world.
He expressed that he would like to become a lawyer to help free bonded labourers. He then began going to other countries including Sweden and the United States to share his story.
In 1994 he received the Reebok Human Rights Award in Boston. In his acceptance speech he said “I am one of those millions of children suffering in Pakistan through bonded labour and child labour, but I am lucky that due to the efforts of Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF) I go out in freedom, I am standing in front of you here today. After my freedom, I join BLLF school and I am studying in that school now. For us slave children Ehsun Ullah Khan and BLLF have done the same work that Abraham Lincoln did for the slaves of america. Today, you are free and I am free too.”
Iqbal was fatally shot by Ashraf Hero, a heroin addict, while visiting relatives in Muridke, Pakistan on 16th April 1995. He was 12 years old at the time. BLLF believes it was the “Carpet Mafia” because Iqbal had received death threats from people connected to the carpet industry, although his mother disagrees. His funeral was attended by approximately 800 mourners.
Following his death, Pakistani economic elites responded to declining carpet sales by denying the use of bonded child labour in their factories and employing the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to brutally harass and arrest activists working for the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF). The Pakistani press conducted a smear campaign against the BLLF, arguing that child labourers receive high wages and favourable working conditions.
Iqbal's cause inspired the creation of organizations such as free the children, a Canada-based charity and youth movement, and the Iqbal Masih Shaheed Child Foundation, which has started over 20 schools in Pakistan.
In 1994 Iqbal visited Broad Meadows Middle School in Quincy, Massachusetts and spoke to 7th graders about his life. When the students learned of his death, they decided to raise money and build a school in his honor in Kasur, Pakistan.
Iqbal’s story was depicted in a book entitled Iqbal by Francesco D’Adamo, ā fictional story based on true events, from the point of view of a girl named Fatima.
In 1994 he received the Reebok Youth In Action Award.
In 1996 the Movimiento Cultural Cristiano (MCC- Christian Cultural Movement) and Camino Juvenil Solidario (CJS- Youth Solidarity Path) promoted the 16 of April as International Day against Child Slavery in Spain and South America.
In 1998 the newly formed Istituto Comprensivo Iqbal Masih, a comprehensive education institute comprising several schools in Trieste, Italy was named after him.
In 2000 he received a posthumous World’s Children’s Prize For The Rights of the Child and the Piazzale dei Traghetti Iqbal Masih was inaugurated in Genoa, Italy.
In 2009 the United States Congress established the annual Iqbal Masih Award for the elimination of child labour.
On 16th April 2012 the Council of Santiago, after a proposal of Movimiento Cultural Cristiano, inaugurates a square named after Iqbal in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
The 2014 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to children’s rights advocate Kailash Satyarthi on grounds of prevention of child labour and female education. Satyarthi mentioned Masih in his Nobel Peace Prize award speech, dedicating it to him and other “Martyrs”.
In 2016 “X Iqbal Masih Rugby Tournament” in Catania, Spain.
On 17 April 2017 Salamanca University committed itself to celebrate every 16 April as a day against child slavery on behalf of Iqbal Masih.
