Sanitation work in Pakistan exists at the crossroads of caste, class, religion, and gender, forming one of the country’s most entrenched and least acknowledged human rights crises. The people who keep Pakistan’s cities functioning by cleaning streets, unclogging drains, and descending into sewers are treated as expendable. Their labour is indispensable, yet their lives are consistently devalued. For women sanitation workers, the burden is even heavier, shaped by a “triple discrimination” rooted in caste, religion, and gender.
Sanitation work is not merely a profession in Pakistan; it is a caste-designated occupation inherited through generations. The majority of workers come from so-called “lower-caste” Christian and Hindu communities, pushed into this work by discriminatory recruitment practices and the absence of real employment alternatives. Amnesty International’s research shows that workers are routinely subjected to slurs such as “chuhra,” “bhangi,” “jamadar,” and “issai,”terms historically used to dehumanize and segregate them. Many sanitation workers report being denied shared utensils, refused service in public spaces, and treated as untouchable. This stigma is not only social but deeply institutional. An analysis of nearly 300 government job advertisements from 2010 onward revealed that many explicitly required applicants to be non-Muslim or from “lower castes,” effectively cementing caste-based labour segregation into state structures. Although Christians make up only 2 percent of Pakistan’s population, WaterAid Pakistan estimates that 80 percent of sanitation workers are Christian, a stark indicator of systemic exclusion.
The physical dangers of sanitation work are extreme and well documented. Workers routinely enter sewers without protective equipment, training, or emergency support. Toxic gases such as methane, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrous oxide accumulate in underground tanks and drains, turning every descent into a life-threatening risk. In June 2025, five men in Ibrahim Hyderi died after inhaling poisonous gases in an underground water tank, one more tragedy in a long pattern of preventable deaths. More than 70 Christian sanitation workers have died since 1988 from toxic exposure, with at least 10 deaths recorded since 2019 alone. The latest figures are difficult to get. The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) has repeatedly warned that forcing workers into sewers without safety measures violates fundamental constitutional rights, including the rights to life, dignity, equality, and a secure working environment. Yet enforcement remains absent, and ministries continue to deflect responsibility rather than address the systemic failures that allow these deaths to continue.
The NCHR’s report Risk of Sanitation Work in Pakistan documents widespread injuries, deaths, and unsafe conditions, underscoring the absence of a national health-and-safety framework. Without regulatory enforcement or emergency response mechanisms, workers are routinely exposed to hazardous environments and toxic gases. The continued deaths of Christian labourers engaged in manual scavenging constitute a grave violation of fundamental rights and a persistent failure of the state to fulfil its constitutional obligations. The Supreme Court has questioned whether public office has been reduced to “mere evasion of duty,” asking pointedly whether the lives of sewerage workers are considered less valuable than those of other citizens.
For women sanitation workers, the crisis deepens. They face the same caste- and religion-based discrimination as their male counterparts, but with the added burden of gendered exploitation. Amnesty International describes their situation as “triple discrimination,” capturing the compounded vulnerabilities they endure. Women workers often earn far below the legal minimum wage and face heightened social stigma, limited mobility, and greater barriers to accessing social protection schemes.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its report ‘Invisible Lives’ documented the experience of Shehneila Hindu sanitation worker in Karachi. Despite the minimum wage being set at Rs25,000 for 2022–23, she earns only Rs20,000. She knows that government-employed cleaners earn more than Rs25,000 for the same work, yet she remains trapped by discriminatory hiring practices and limited opportunities. Her experience is not an exception but a reflection of the broader exploitation faced by women in the sector.
Economic marginalization is a defining feature of sanitation work in Pakistan. Even as workers perform some of the most essential and dangerous labour in the country, they are among the lowest paid. In 2024, the minimum wage was set at Rs37,000, yet many sanitation workers, especially women and minorities receive salaries far below this threshold. Workers across districts report that their wages cannot cover basic needs. The disparity becomes even more glaring when compared to the highest-paid public officials. Social activist Naeem Sadiq highlights that the ratio of a janitor’s salary to that of the highest bureaucrat in the UK is 1:8, while in Pakistan it is 1:80. Compared to the highest-paid public sector heads, the ratio in the UK is 1:20, while in Pakistan it is an astonishing 1:250. These numbers reveal a structural devaluation of sanitation work, reflecting not only economic inequality but also deep-seated social prejudice.
Another layer of exploitation emerges through “ghost employment.” Several Muslim sanitation workers reportedly avoid performing the actual work, instead paying a portion of their salary to Christian workers who carry out the duties. This practice reinforces caste-based labour segregation and deprives actual workers of formal employment status, blocking their access to social security schemes. Despite being among the most vulnerable labourers, sanitation workers are largely excluded from major welfare programs. The Benazir Income Support Programme primarily covers widows and destitute women, leaving most sanitation workers out. The Workers Welfare Fund covers industrial workers, not sanitation workers. Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal offers limited coverage with cumbersome procedures. Even when workers are eligible for pensions or benefits, they face years-long delays due to bureaucratic hurdles.
The plight of sanitation workers in Pakistan is the result of entrenched caste hierarchies, discriminatory recruitment practices, lack of legal protections, institutional neglect, social stigma, gendered exploitation, and economic injustice. Their suffering is woven into the fabric of the state and society, normalized to the point of invisibility. Yet their labour sustains cities, prevents disease, and upholds public health. They deserve dignity, safety, fair wages, and equal rights not as charity, but as justice.
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