Syeda Ghulam Fatima

Syeda Ghulam Fatima
Born	Pakistan
Residence	Lahore, Pakistan
Citizenship	Pakistani
Occupation	Activist, General Secretary 'Bonded Labour Liberation Front Pakistan' (BLLF)[1]
Website	bllfpak.org

Syeda Ghulam Fatima is a Pakistani human and labour rights activist, known for her work in ending bonded labour in brick kilns, and is General Secretary of Lahore-based Bonded Labour Liberation Front Pakistan (BLLF).^[2][3]

Biography

She holds a master's degree in Political Science from Punjab University.^[4] She has been campaigning for worker's rights and against bonded labour in Pakistani brick factories, kilns. She has been threatened, attacked, and wounded because of her activism. Through her organization, the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, Fatima has established Freedom Centers where workers can go for protection and legal counsel. She is the elected General Secretary of Bonded Labour Liberation Front Pakistan. Alongside her husband, Fatima runs BLLF from a storefront in Lahore.^[5][6]

She helped to release more than 80,000 bonded laborers in Pakistan from all provinces since her engagement, and trained more than 600 women in alternative skills for poverty reduction.^[4] In September 2015, Fatima was awarded a Clinton Global Citizen Award for "leadership in civil society" in New York.^[7]

In March 2016 Fatimah was one of four finalists nominated for the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, an award given to humanitarians in memory of the Armenian Genocide ^[8]

Media coverage

In August 2015, Fatima and the Bonded Labour Liberation Front received international attention when they were featured in a 7-part series by the popular internet photojournalism Facebook page, Humans of New York.^[9] Also shared was the official YouTube video featuring the 2014 EMI award-winning Vice documentary episode about her work, aired on HBO, that links to the 'Episode 2 Extended: Forced Slavery Interview' by the award-winning journalist Fazeelat Aslam.^[10] As the result of an appeal by the Facebook page, over $2,300,000 USD was raised in several days for the Bonded Labour Liberation Front.^[11]

See also

• The State of Bonded Labor in Pakistan
• Debt bondage in India
• Slavery in Pakistan
• Child labour in Pakistan
• Human rights in Pakistan
• Feudalism in Pakistan

References

1. "Contacts". BLLF Official website. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
2. "HONY helps raise 1.2 million dollars to end bonded labour in Pakistan". The Dawn. August 18, 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
3. Amel Ghani (June 4, 2015). "Human resource: ‘Labour policy draft lacks enforcement mechanism’". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
4. "Vote for Syeda Ghulam Fatima - The News Women". thenews.com.pk.
5. "Lets Help Fatima... for Bonded Labor Liberation Front". Indiegogo Life.
6. "Call for end to bonded labour". Daily Times. January 30, 2014. Retrieved 2015-08-19.
7. "Pakistani activist Syeda Ghulam Fatima receives Global Citizen award in NY". Geo News. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
8. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/world/middleeast/finalists-picked-for-new-prize-created-in-memory-of-armenian-genocide.html?emc=eta1&referer=
9. "Timeline Photos - Humans of New York - Facebook". facebook.com.
10. "Humans of New York - Facebook". facebook.com. August 17, 2015.
11. "Humans of New York Raises $2 Million to End Forced Labor in Pakistan". NBC News. August 18, 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-19.