On October 27, TIME reported that a hostage situation involving as many as 170 bonded laborers has been unfolding in Pakistan. Officials at the U.S. Embassy based in Islamabad say that at least three landlords have held the laborers hostage at gunpoint on their respective estates since late September. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is currently in Pakistan for a three-day visit. The crisis came about following the decision made by three district courts “to declare as illegal the debts that the landlords were using to compel the workers into indentured servitude.”

The debts in question average around 1,000 Pakistani rupees -$12. A third of the hostages are said to be children, some as young as four months old. A spokesman for Pakistan’s Green Rural Development Organization told TIME that the landlords have “killed one hostage already and are threatening to kill the others unless they drop the cases and return to work.” The workers’ advocate, Amarchand Bheel, was abducted by the landlords while on his way to court.

U.S Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Luis CdeBaca has said of bonded labor: “Debt bondage is not a relic of history; it continues to exist in communities in South Asia.” He further adds: “We are exploring ways we can help Pakistan to confront the scourge of captive workers, to deliver freedom for these workers and realize the promise of Pakistan’s 1992 emancipation law.”

Pakistan’s Forgotten Plight: Modern Day Slavery -TIME