A Merry Christmas for eight-year-old Neha for the first time!

Eight-year-old Neha can celebrate a very special Christmas with her father Nadeem Masih and her mother Sumera: For the first time, the family has time for each other and can look forward to carefree, joyful hours.

“As of today, they are free from debt bondage. All debts have been paid off, making the father both legally and physically free from bondage. Furthermore, the family has been relocated to a safe and peaceful environment, allowing them to make a fresh start without fear. Your support has fundamentally changed their lives, restoring their dignity, freedom, and hope for a better future,” wrote Sajid Christopher of the Pakistani partner organization, Human Friends Organization (HFO), in an email to the ISHR on October 30, 2025. “The Human Friends Organization will continue to support the family on their path of healing and development,” the message added.

It was high time for the family to be freed: despite being of school age, their daughter had never attended school. Neha only knew the grounds of the factory where her parents toiled day in and day out. There was a real danger that the burden of debt would fall on her. The girl has now begun her schooling and, through graduation and subsequent vocational training, can escape forever the misery in which she has lived until now.

Before Neha was born, her parents wanted to ease their initial start in family life with a manageable loan. However, they fell prey to an unscrupulous lender who offered them a wage advance and a job. What Nadeem couldn’t foresee was that, despite working hard under extremely difficult conditions, he made no progress in paying off the debt over ten years. On the contrary, he frequently suffered income losses: torrential rains that soaked the bricks laid out to dry, and health problems due to the smog, which is among the worst in the world in the region – to name just two examples.

“The family is under enormous pressure: whenever they are unable to work due to illness or adverse weather conditions, they receive no wages. To cover the most urgent expenses, Nadeem borrowed further sums from the brickyard owner during this time. These loans have accumulated into a considerable debt for him. It amounts to 326,275 rupees (just under €1,000; editor’s note),” Sajid Christopher told us on October 15, 2025.

Fortunately, the HFO met them during a visit to the distillery for a survey: Sajid Christopher and his team compile lists of families they consider particularly vulnerable during such operations. They then regularly present these cases to the International Society for Human Rights in order to help rescue children and survivors of violence from the vicious cycle of forced labor. With donor support enabling ISHR’s commitment, Christopher proceeds to engage the brickworks management in negotiations.

In this case, everything happened quite quickly. For Neha, every day there could have been one too many, as girls and young women in the brick factories, which are predominantly operated on the basis of debt bondage, are particularly vulnerable: to sexual harassment, abuse, violence, and even forced marriages. The National Commission for Human Rights of Pakistan has provided substantial evidence of this in its study “Exposing Exploitation and Abuse in Punjab’s Brick Factories,” published this year.

“The reality is that debt bondage has been illegal in Pakistan since 1992. But it persists because the authorities fail to enforce the law,” laments Sajid Christopher. Hundreds of thousands are affected.

A disproportionate number of Christians perform arduous labor as debt bondmen. Beyond providing humanitarian aid, the ISHR is also demanding legally mandated protection at the political level. We have assured Christopher that we will help other families whose children are particularly vulnerable due to these circumstances. The equivalent of €2,000 typically suffices to settle outstanding debts, allowing families to re-establish themselves.