Perhaps the biggest news yet for our #SweepersAreSuperheroes journey. What began with sitting with sanitation workers, listening to their stories and documenting lives that had remained invisible for generations has now reached the 63rd Session of the UN Human Rights Council. The written statement specifically addresses the intersection of caste and religion in Pakistan’s sanitation workforce and draws first on the Amnesty International - Center for Law & Justice report. It recognises that hazardous sanitation work disproportionately falls on religious minorities and caste-marginalised communities and links this to discriminatory recruitment, inherited occupation, unsafe working conditions and preventable deaths. Most importantly, it calls for exactly the kind of structural change we have been advocating: * A country visit by the UN Special Rapporteurs on racism and extreme poverty to investigate caste- and religion-based labour exploitation in Pakistan. * Federal and provincial legislation against caste-based discrimination. * An end to discriminatory recruitment advertisements targeting non-Muslims and caste-marginalised communities. * Legal abolition of hazardous manual sewer cleaning/manual scavenging and compliance with international occupational-safety standards. * Accountability for preventable deaths, including responsibility of municipal authorities and private contractors. * Adequate compensation for affected workers and families. * PPE, machinery, training, fair wages and enforceable workplace protections so that no worker is sent into a toxic sewer unprotected. * Stronger labour protections, including implementation of relevant ILO standards and protection of workers’ dignity. For me, this is deeply emotional. From listening to workers and telling them their lives matter, to seeing their realities now documented before the United Nations, this is why we started Sweepers Are Superheroes. They were never asking for sympathy. They were asking for dignity, safety, equality and the right to come home alive. ❤️‍🩹 Read the UN written statement (A/HRC/63/NGO/90)⁠ documents.un.org/doc/undoc/g… #sweepersaresuperheroes #sanitationworkers #minorityrights #humanrights #pakistan

A privilege to have an in-depth conversation with His Excellency Prof. Nicolas Levart , UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, on the situation of minorities in Pakistan. I particularly appreciated his familiarity with the challenges facing marginalized communities and his pragmatic approach to minority-rights advocacy, moving beyond viewing minorities as a problem to be resolved, and instead creating conditions for them to participate meaningfully and contribute as equal stakeholders in society. Drawing on Center for Law & Justice’s research, I discussed an issue that remains largely invisible: Caste-Marginalised Religious Minorities (CMRMs), particularly within Pakistan’s Christian and Hindu communities, and how religion, caste and occupation can intersect to create multiple layers of exclusion. I also highlighted the devastating reality facing sanitation workers: 22 deaths in 12 fatal incidents in 2026 alone, and the urgent need to engage with the Punjab Government to support The Punjab Waste and Sanitation Workers (Dignity, Safety, Security and Welfare) Bill, 2026, submitted by the Honorable Member Punjab Assembly brother @AhmadIqbalCh ensuring that those performing some of our most hazardous and essential work receive the legal protection they deserve. Grateful for Minority Rights Group’s continued leadership and support, especially Claire Thomas and Yamini Ravindran for facilitating such a thoughtful and substantive conversation, and for the space to make the invisible visible. #minorityrights #cmrm #sanitationworkers #humanrights #pakistan