Situation analysis of child labour in Nepal

-ILO and FESC, Nepal    

Child labour has been accepted as an integral part of the Nepalese economy and society. For many children in Nepal, the workday starts at dawn and extends late into the evening. Every day is a day of labour for these children; they are deprived of their basic rights to protection, participation ad development. The seriousness of this issue required that all-available data be scrutinised and analyse before recommendations for change can be made. The paucity of verifiable data on this issue, however, seriously hinders the objective assessment of the extent and impact of child labour in Nepal.

It is estimated that the agricultural sector absorbs as much as 96.1per cent of the 1.15mill;ion economically active children of 10-14years followed by those engaged in construction, transportation and communication workers (2 per cent) and sales workers (1.6per cent). In Kathmandu Valley, the carpet industry absorbs a large number of children whose average age is 13 year. Children of the Bhote clan like Tamang, Lama and Sherpa comprise 85 percent of the child labours in the carpet industry. The remaining 15 per cent come from the Newar, Chettrai, Brahman and Magar communities. Child labourers in the carpet industry have migrated mainly from Ramechap, Kavre, Dolkha, Nuwakot, Makwanpur, Sindhupalchowk, Banke, Bardia, Dang, Rasua and Sunsari districts.

Restaurants in Kathmandu also employ sizeable numbers of child workers with ages ranging from 7 to 14 years. Children are also employed as domestic servants in households, although there are no reliable statistics on their actual number. An estimated 30,000 bonded and semi-bonded child labourer is engaged in domestic services on Nepal.

In major cities, particularly in Kathmandu Valley, there are a large number of street children who work mainly as beggars and rag pickers. Government polices, in the past, have concentrated on development into Kathmandu, which increased rural migration into Kathmandu and which in turn produced more street children. Some of these children have become addicted to alcohol and drugs and have resorted to gambling, pick pocketing, and stealing to survive.

Child Sex Workers : Recently an increasing number of girls are working as sex workers, both inside as well as outside Nepal. Thousands of girls and women are engaged in the flesh trade, particularly in the Kathmandu Valley where there are more than 200 brothels operating and the number of sex workers are estimated to be 5,000 of which 1,000 constitute children. The major areas of activity of sex workers are districts like, Salyan, Pyuthan, Dang and Jhapa and the towns like, Dharan, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj. Due to heavy transportation along the East-West Highway, many trucks and car drivers' stay at the small lodges/hotels, where sex workers are made to serve them. The total number of sex workers in Nepal is estimated to be 25,000 out of which nearly 5,000 are child sex worker below age of 16.

In certain communities, like Badis, girls are forced into the sex trade as asocial custom. There is a growing trend among these girls to migrate temporarily to urban areas, including Nepalgunj, the district headquarters of Banke district, where they rent houses and ply their trade. In addition to the urban areas, the Badis are also established in the rural areas of Banke, Bardia, Kailali, Kanchanpur and some other districts in western Nepal. Rajapur in Bardia district is one such rural area with a concentration of Badis. Since Rajapur lies close to the Nepal-India border, many Indian customers also visit the Badi sex workers. The total population of the Badis is said to be approximately 7,000. Commonly, Badi parents are against their daughter's marriage, since she is the one supporting the family. Under the Deuki system, girls are offered to temples as bhakal or religious gifts. The Deukis are not expected to marry and they are usually from extremely under-privileged and poor families, and these factors lead them to become sex workers as they grow up. The population of Deukis is estimated to be about 1,000.

Many Nepali females work as sex workers outside of Nepal. For example, the total estimated number of Nepali sex workers in India is said to be over 100,000. The Indian Health Organisation (IHO) also estimates that the number of Nepali sex workers in Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, and other urban centres is 100,000, although Anti-Slavery International estimates this number to be 153,000 (1987). Some studies place the number as high a 250,000. It is estimated that 5,000 to7, 000 girls and women are annually trafficked to India for the purpose of prostitution. According to Anti-Slavery International, of the total population of Nepalese sex workers in India, 20 percent are girls below the age of 16. Many of these girls are not only victims of human exploitation but are suffering from STD's and HIV/AIDS.

Economic, Social, Cultural and religious factors contribute to the growth of the sex trade in Nepal. Apart from market demand for Nepali Girls, the other causes of trafficking for prostitution are poverty, the inferior status of women in society, ignorance due to the lack of education, and persuasion from traffickers. The sex workers returning from India with material goods also influence girls in rural areas to go for prostitution. It is said that village women on behalf of the traffickers also do negotiations and such transactions also involve the girl's families. Sometimes even the parents and families lure their daughters and sisters into prostitution. In addition, organised forces said to be operating along the Indian border guarantee safe passage to the traffickers as well as to the girls being trafficked.

Education of Child Labourers: Child labourers are not only overworked but are socially and economically exploited. They are easily targets for exploitation because most of them are illiterate, uneducated and unaware of the dangers inherent in their labour. Non-Formal education (NFE) classes to rectify the situations have thus far had little success. Although many NGOs have been conducting NFE programmes the coverage is limited, and more focused attention is required for the risk-prone industrial areas. Some NGOs have organised programmes in this particular field, to improve their teaching and counselling skills. Integrated programmes which include components such as literacy classes, income generating programmes, health and sanitation activities are gaining popularity because there is a lack of appropriate tools to tackle the shortage of shelter, job insecurity, exploitation by the adults, and deprivation of education and medical facilities as faced by most of Nepal's improvised children.

Working Environment

The majority of the children have to work long hour under very difficult circumstances. The average working day is 12 hours long, for which they are woefully underpaid. For example, a child carpet labourer on an average earns about Rs. 500 a month in addition to free food and shelter, while a stone quarry child labourer earns only Rs. 450 a month and a child who labourers in a brick kiln earns about Rs. 1,050 a month in addition to a temporary shelter. Most of the earnings of the child labourers are used to supplement the income of their large families, ranging between six to ten members, whose economic status is usually impoverished. Rarely are the children allowed to keep any of their earnings.

Most child labourers have top cope with chronic problems. Child labourers, especially in the carpet factories, are reported to have developed respiratory diseases, poor eyesight, ENT and gastro-intestinal problems, pneumonia, malnutrition, anaemia and skin problems. There are no provisions to look after the infants of working mothers in carpet factories, and so mothers usually keep their infants with them while they work. This exposes the infants to the same unhealthy conditions under which the mothers work. Similarly, the children in tea estates commonly complain off ever, dizziness, tuberculosis. The street children, on the other hand, suffer from illness such scabies and colds, as well as headaches, diarrhoea, dizziness, tuberculosis and ENT infections. In spite of  this apparent direct connection between the diseases of the child labourers and their work environment, employers have made little effort to improve the working environment, employers have little effort to improve the working conditions.

 Efforts towards Child Labour Elimination: Over the past few years, several NGOs and INGOS have made efforts to address the problem of child labour in Nepal. Some bilateral and United Nation's agencies such as ILO and UNICEF have also helped create awareness about the problem of child labour.

His Majesty's Government of Nepal (HMG/N) has shown positive signs of commitment towards eradicating child labour at the international, regional and national levels. At the global level, the government has endorsed the World Deceleration on the Survival, Protection and Development o Children and has proposed to "work" for special protection of the working child and for the abolition of illegal child labour. It has also ratifies the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, making a commitment to protect children from economic exploitation and to work for their rights to physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. The government has also pledged to fix a minimum wage, standardise working conditions; and to enact suitable legislation to enforce these regulations. At the regional level the government has endorsed the Colombo resolution of the SAARC Ministerial meeting, which confirmed its commitment to work towards "eliminating child labour in a progressive and accelerated manner".

At the national level, the Constitution formulated in 1990 contains specific provisions, which prohibits child labour in factories, mines or any other hazardous occupations. Over and above, the government formulated a "Ten Year National Programme of Action for Children and Development" through a National Task Force, co-ordinate by the National Planning Commission.

 HMG/N has also enacted two pieces of legislation; the Children's Act 2048 and Labour Act 2048, in 1992. The children's Act 20498 defines the minimum age (14 years) for the employment of a child and also spells out regulations regarding remuneration and working hours for the child workers. Similarly, the Labour Act 2048 prohibits the engagement of the minors in establishments.

In February 1995, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ministry of Labour (MOL) and the ILO to establish the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) with a view to enabling the government to progressively prohibit, restrict, and regulate child labour on the one hand and to create awareness in the national and international community of the consequences and solutions to the child labour problem on the other hand.

However, despite the commitments made by the government, the lack of awareness and consciousness among the government agencies as well as the public, including employers, on the issue of child labour makes it difficult for such legal instruments to be effectively enforced.

Additionally, the extreme poverty, indebtedness, illiteracy and underdevelopment among the majority of the Nepalese population create barriers to the enforcement of the laws.

International Reactions

During the recent years some carpet importing countries, particularly Germany, have threatened to ban the import of Nepalese carpets on the grounds that the carpet industries utilise child labour. The United States government has been strongly considering the Harkin Bill, proposed by Senator Tom Harkin, which would prohibit the import into the United States of any product made with child labour. These import restrictions are causing widespread concern, given that the carpet industry is one of Nepal's top foreign exchange earners. To save the industry and to discourage the use of child labour, a "Rugmark" system has been introduced. Only those carpets from factories are free of child labour are eligible to carry this mark.( compiled by ILO/IPEC and FESC, Nepal).                       

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