HRCP urges govt to assist daily wagers

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Chairperson Nasreen Azhar has demanded of the authorities concerned to provide salaries to the daily waged workforce across the country on priority basis. The HRCP Chairperson highlighted that the daily waged employees should be given financial support by the government amid coronavirus outbreak.

She said the intervention was made after the people were told to work from home if they could, as part of stringent measures to combat the spread of coronavirus pandemic that had caused more uncertainty.

Nasreen Azhar added that the companies and entrepreneurs were usually exploiting their employees in such crisis like situation as they had to deal with a long list of challenges including health risks issues, unpredictable wages and no insurance.

She added that although the government was already facing huge pressure to intervene to support workers and prevent mass unemployment amid coronavirus mitigation measures. The HRCP head was of the view that immediate food transfers should be organized for poor and dailywage earners. In addition, they should also ensure their access to free medical care in this testing time.

She also demanded that health workers and doctors who were in the frontline while fighting in this emergency should also be accommodated. She added that with schools, offices, shops and business completely shutdown, the option of working from home was a privilege available only to white-collar knowledge workers .

Even, she added that if save from illness, low - income groups would still contend with acute food insecurity in this mounting crisis. Azhar said lack of adequate social safety nets, such as paid leave and medical benefits was increasing the vulnerability of everyday bread winners in this crisis.