Children's Cry

Despite continual efforts, leaders are yet to give due attention toward the plight of children

By KESHAB POUDEL

Kale Gharti, an abandoned child, works as a waiter in a small tea shop in the capital city of Kathmandu. Gharti's daily chores begin at five o'clock in the morning.

Eleven-year-old Gharti fled from his rural home in Ramecchap two years ago to escape starvation. Gharti is not the only child working as a waiter at small tea shops, hundreds of children like Gharti are cleaning tables and washing dishes at local tea houses.

Over the last one decade, the situation of children in Nepal has improved significantly but the over exploitation of children like Gharti continues. "If I had enough food to eat at my house, I would have never fled my village," said Gharti.

Studies show that urban areas like Kathmandu are facing problems of homeless children. Unlike Gharti some childen are encouraged by their parents, who live in nearby slum areas like in Bishnumati and Bagmati, to take up the profession of rag picking to make a living.

Renu Chaudhary (not a real name), who works as a domestic helper in Baneshwor has different story to tell. Nine- year-old Chaudhari's daily chores begin at 5:00 in the morning. Her first duty is to collect milk from a local dairy booth. Chaudhary, who works in the house of a senior government official, has to work 15 hours a day without getting proper food. From cooking food to washing clothes and taking small children to school Chaudhari has to do all kinds of jobs.

Although no body knows the number of such children working in different houses and tea shops in Kathmandu, it is emerging as a major children's problem.

Once or twice a year, plight of such children comes out in the open when media publishes some true-life stories. But the practice goes on.

Many organizations have been working to protect the interests of street children in Nepal but only few organizations are working to highlight the problems related to the young domestic servants.

After sustained efforts Nepal's non-governmental organizations are able to reduce the number of street children. "Due to growing public awareness and activities of NGOs, the number of such children has already declined," said Gauri Pradhan, President of Child Workers in Nepal Concern Center (CWIN). "There are only few children roaming in the streets now".

The State of the World's Children 2000 has also recorded some positive indications on the state of children and women in Nepal. Nepal has achieved tremendous success in reducing infant mortality rate over the years.

Despite great strides that have been made over the years in the areas of welfare of children, Nepal still has a long way to go.

According to the State of the World's Children 2000, UNICEF's year-end survey released early this week, Nepal secures 51st position among the countries of the world in the under-5 mortality rate. The under-5 mortality rate of Nepal in 1960 was 297 per 1,000 live births whereas it has declined to 100 in 1998. Similarly infant mortality rate was 199 in 1960 which has come down to 72 in 1998. The fertility rate has also declined over the years. In 1960 it was 5.8 which has come down to 4.4 in 1998.

In adult literacy, Nepal has made steady progress in the last 15 years. In 1980 female literacy rate was just 7 percent compared to 38 percent to that of male. In 1995, the male literacy has gone up to 54 as against 19 percent of female. Net primary school attendance between 1990-1998 has also increased.

The progress between 1990-1998 was tremendous in all sectors but the problems like the children like that of Kale Gharti needs to be sorted out.

Despite these progress, the state of Nepalese children still needs to be improved. The infant mortality rate in Nepal is still one of the highest in the world. There hasn't been study to know how many young boys and girls are endangered from abuses and trafficking.

"There are large number of children who need special protection from different forms of abuses,"said Gauri Pradhan.

The UNICEF report also shows the continual increase in the number of school going children in the country. Nepal has made some improvement in almost all sectors but it is not free from children's problem.

Whatever the improvement Nepal has made, state of the children in the country is far from satisfactory. Large number of children continue to flee their home and are forced to live as street children.

Although Nepal has already signed on more than half a dozen of international conventions on child rights, it is yet to implement all of them in their true spiriit. The number of violations of children's rights occurs around the country every day.

Lack of political and social commitment is responsible for the present situation, say activists.

Rural children are brought to urban areas to be employed as domestic servant. "It is a very unfortunate phenomenon to employ children as household servant," said an NGO worker. "At a time when child activists are themselves exploiting children how can one expect to end discrimination against them."

Now the attention is on political leadership of the countries to safeguard future of the "countries' futures." "Of course, there are some bright sides. "Advances in science and technology have helped us push polio to the brink of eradication and drastically reduced deaths caused by measles, at the same time a vacuum of leadership has allowed the merciless targeting of children and women in armed conflict, the frightening transformation of AIDS into the number one killer in Africa and a devastating free-fall in development assistance to the poorest nations," said Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF, speaking at the international launch of the state of the world's children 2000. " If we don't seize the start of the new millennium to solve the terrifying plight faced by our children, then we are guilty of contributing to their suffering and to the wholesale abuse of their rights. The choice is ours."

The report notes that ambitious commitments made to children by he world's governments at the beginning of the 1990s have not been fulfilled, due largely to a lack of commitment among leadership. This failure has magnified the impact of entirely preventable calamities.

Despite unpredictable wealth in the global economy - world currency markets exchange US$ 1.5 trillion each day- more than 1.2 billion people in the world struggle to survive on less than $ 1 a day - and more than 600 million of them are children.

"The world has the resources and experience to know what works for children. The time has come for us to put our words into action. If we do, we can make significant changes for children within a single generation," Bellamy said.

Bellamy announced a three-pronged new agenda to tackle the major challenges facing children as they enter 21st century, which combines early childhood care and development, basic education and renewed focus on adolecent.

"The number of people living in poverty continues to grow as globalization - one of the 20th century's most powerful economic phenomena - proceeds along its inherently a systmetical course: expanding markets across national boundaries and increasing the incomes of a relative few while further strangling the lives of those without the resources to be investors or the capabilities to benefit from the global culture," said the report.

As pointed out by the State Of World's Children 2000, exploitation of children like Kale and Renu will continue as long as the political leadership does not take strong initiative.