Geneva, Sept. 25 -- Humanitarian and refugee rights advocate Elisa Allegra Ferrante, while addressing the 63rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, raised concerns over the working conditions and alleged discrimination faced by sanitation workers in Pakistan.

Addressing the Council, Ferrante said sanitation workers continue to face life-threatening conditions due to the practice of manual sewer cleaning without adequate safety measures.

She said that since April 2026, 16 sanitation workers have reportedly died due to suffocation and exposure to toxic gases.

Ferrante alleged that sanitation workers, overwhelmingly belonging to non-Muslim minority communities, are routinely subjected to hazardous manual s...