More than a million child labourers

Over a million Nepalese children are working as child labourers in Nepal, with 127,000 involved in the worst forms, according to the government’s National Living Standard Survey (NLSS). “This is our society’s bitter reality,” said Gauri Pradhan from the local NGO, Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN), which has been leading the campaign against exploitation of children for the last 19 years. Children between the ages of five and 14 years are working as labourers in agricultural farms, tea gardens, fruit fields, brick kilns, carpet and garment factories, hotels and private households, according to CWIN. “Child labour remains a major challenge for Nepalese society,” Pracha Vasuprasat from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said in Nepal. The ILO has been working since 1996 to combat child work through its International Progamme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). The government, the ILO and numerous child rights NGOs claim that they have helped to reduce the number of child labourers from 2.6 million in 1999 to 1.83 million in 2004. “There is now more awareness. More children are enrolled in schools and society has become more understanding in rejecting child labour,” said Uddhab Poudyal from the ILO. “Increased access to education in rural areas is of paramount importance and, besides, the government should have an effective mechanism to monitor organisations and groups hiring children as labourers,” he added. Poudyal also said that the problem could have been combated to a much larger extent if it hadn’t been for the violent conflict between the government and the Maoists, who have been waging an armed rebellion for the last 10 years. He explained that the conflict has led to large-scale displacement of children from their villages. Children from the poorest families who have fled their villages due to lack of security and threats from both the government and Maoist armed combatants, ended up working in the cities and towns under the most exploitative conditions. However, activists claim that there is still an opportunity to combat child labour in the Himalayan kingdom. The peace process is already under way with both the Maoist leaders and the interim government conducting peace talks for a political resolution and nation-building. “Nepal has already entered what many regard as a new political era,” said Vasuprasat, adding that with political stability, there will be economic growth - a crucial factor in eliminating child labour.