IQBAL MASIH
Iqbal Masih
is a right because...
"Nonostante la giovane età ha inseguito il suo sogno di giustizia, combattendo contro lo sfruttamento minorile per garantire a tutti i bambini il diritto allo studio, allo svago e all'amore di una famiglia"
In the 90s of the twentieth century, a lively and brave boy played a decisive role in the fight against child slavery and for children’s rights: his name is Iqbal Masih.
Iqbal was born in 1983 in the poor community of Muridke, near Lahore in Pakistan. His family, because of serious economic difficulties, contracted a debt and to repay it the young Iqbal was sold as a worker. So the boy became one of many “ debt slaves” in a carpet factory. Despite working in inhumane conditions for more than 14 hours a day, six days a week, he never managed to earn the outstanding amount for creditors.
Together with the other children, companions in misadventure, he suffered mistreatment, humiliation and terrible living conditions but never gave up his dream of freedom and faith in the future. When with a lot of effort and a lot of courage, he managed to escape from the carpet workshop, he casually found himself at a rally of the Liberation Front from Slave Labor. He immediately realized that those people could have helped him and his friends. He was one step away from freedom, but had the misfortune of meeting corrupt cops: he was brought back to the factory and had to endure terrible punishments. Since then he was even chained to the chassis, with which from morning to evening he was forced to weave the carpets to sell to rich European and American customers.
Shortly after the first escape, the boy again managed to escape and get in touch with Ehsan Khan, one of the leaders of the workers’ Union. It was really the latter to help Iqbal and his friends, freeing them from slavery.
Since then Iqbal - finally free - resumed his studies and learned to speak in public about children’s rights; he made speeches in a lot of cities of Pakistan, telling his story; he visited lots of illegal factories and encouraged a lot of children to escape from the places where they were forced to work as slaves.
His reporting activity provoked so much anger and thirst for revenge: he received several death threats from mafia organization that managed the “debt slaves” trade. Iqbal never gave up and never forgot the injustice he had endured.
The boy also had the opportunity to travel and to spread the terrible stories of enslaved children abroad. In 1994, Boston University awarded him the Reebok Price of Human Rights, which prompted the Pakistani government to listen to Iqbal's complaints: dozens of carpet factories were closed and the children were freed.
On 16th April 1995, Iqbal was brutally murdered. A farmer was held responsible for the murder, but it was immediately clear to the whole community that the mafia organization of carpet manufacturers was involved in the incident.
Despite the brevity of Iqbal's life, his dream of justice and his faith in the future have convinced thousands of people to search freedom and to rebel to guarantee all children the right to study, leisure and love of a family. Even today, years later and thousands of kilometers away, his story and his commitment keep teaching the way to freedom and justice.
Classe 1A - I. C. “M. Montessori” – Scuola Secondaria di I Grado “F. M. Mirabella” Alcamo (TP)
Traduzione a cura della classe 4N – Polo Statale di istruzione secondaria superiore “Piersanti Mattarella” – Castellammare del Golfo (TP)
