Iqbal Masih (1 January 1983 – 16 April 1995) was a Pakistani child labourer and activist who was a member of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF) in Pakistan, campaigning against abusive child labour in the country. He was assassinated on 16 April 1995, at the age of 12, and was posthumously awarded the Tamgha-e-Shujaat by the government of Pakistan.
Family background and bonded labour
Iqbal Masih was born on 1 January 1983 in Muridke, Punjab, Pakistan, into a poor Punjabi Catholic family. His parents were Saif Masih, a labourer, and Inayat Bibi, who worked as a house cleaner. Saif later abandoned the family, leaving Inayat to work and Iqbal's older sisters to take care of him and his siblings.
In 1986, Saif Masih was to marry off one of his sons but he lacked savings and was unable to finance this: banks would not provide loans while government aid programs were few. He took a loan of 600 rupees from a (carpet factory owner), using the only collateral he had, his children. The loan was to be paid off by four-year-old Iqbal's labor, and included undisclosed interest and expenses, an institution known as . Due to the illegality of selling children, the transaction was informal, allowing the loaner to add arbitrary expenses to the loan without oversight.
Expenses were to include the cost of a year of training (during which Iqbal would not be paid), tools, food and fines for any mistakes Iqbal was to make.
At the carpet maker's, Iqbal was chained to a loom and made to work as much as 14 hours a day. He was fed little and beaten, more than other children because of his attempts at escaping and refusal to work. These conditions stunted his growth; he had the height and weight of a 6-year-old when he was 12.
Explaining the background behind bonded labourers in Pakistan, American professor C. Christine Fair states that "Large numbers of Christians in the Punjab and Sindh, in particular, are trapped in bonded labour or slavery in work like brick kilns and carpet-weaving. Around 80% of brick kiln workers in some areas are Christians working to pay off family debts long since paid in absolute terms, yet who are illiterate and remain powerless to do anything about their circumstances. The plight of Pakistan's bonded labourers came to international attention briefly with the murder of 12-year-old Christian Iqbal Masih in 1995".
Escape and activism
At the age of 10, Iqbal escaped his slavery, after learning that bonded labour had been declared illegal by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He escaped and attempted to report his employer Ashad to the police, but the police brought him back to the factory seeking a finder's fee for returning escaped bonded labourers. Iqbal escaped a second time and attended the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF) school for former child slaves and quickly completed a four-year education in only two years. Iqbal helped over 3,000 Pakistani children that were in bonded labour escape to freedom and made speeches about child labour all over the world.
In 1994 he received the Reebok Human Rights Award in Boston, and in his acceptance speech he said:
thumb|Plaque in memory of Iqbal Masih in [[Almería, Spain]]
thumb|[[Ehsan Ullah Khan visits the Iqbal Masih Square in Santiago de Compostela, Spain]]
thumb|'The girls and boys of Vitoria-Gasteiz in homage to Iqbal Masih', memorial in [[Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain]]