1. Child Labor in Nepal

In 1998, the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that 43.3 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 14 in Nepal were working.¹¹⁶⁷ A 1996 child labor survey conducted by Tribhuvan University’s Central Department of Population Studies and ILO’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) estimated 42 percent (2.6 million) of children between the ages of 5 and 14 in Nepal were working. The survey also found that 48 percent of girls between the ages of 5 and 14 years were working, while 36 percent of boys in the same age group worked.¹¹⁶⁸

An overwhelming majority of working children (95 percent) participate in family-based subsistence agriculture, while less than 1 percent work in manufacturing facilities.¹¹⁶⁹ Nepali children are known to work in the hand-knotted carpet industry, although the number has declined significantly over the years.¹¹⁷⁰ In addition, child workers are found in brick-kiln operations, tea shops, construction, portering, and domestic service.¹¹⁷¹ More than 80 percent of children working in Nepal do not receive wages.¹¹⁷² Most children who work in urban areas have migrated from rural villages. Having been separated from their families, they are vulnerable and often forced to work under exploitative and hazardous conditions.¹¹⁷³

Although forced labor is not widespread, a system of agricultural bonded labor, known as kamaiya , has been prevalent in the far-western and mid-western regions of the country. One study has estimated that 33,000 children work as bonded laborers, out of which 13,000 are thought to be kamaiya children.¹¹⁷⁴

Nepali children are trafficked mostly for the purposes of prostitution, but also at times for domestic service, and manual or semi-skilled labor.¹¹⁷⁵ Although it is extremely difficult to approximate the number of children trafficked, Maiti Nepal, a local NGO, estimates that as many as 5,000 to 7,000 Nepali girls are trafficked to India each year; many are lured away or abducted from their homes to work in brothels.¹¹⁷⁶ A recent study by the ILO estimates that there may be between 150,000 to 200,000 Nepalese girls working as prostitutes in Indian brothels.¹¹⁷⁷ Child prostitution also occurs in urban centers like Katmandu. It is believed that 20 percent of the prostitutes in Nepal are younger than 16 years old.¹¹⁷⁸

In 1996, the gross primary attendance rate was 104.3 percent, and the net primary attendance rate was 66.2 percent.¹¹⁷⁹ For that same year, the gross primary enrollment rate was 113 percent, ant the net primary enrollment rate was 79.2 percent.¹¹⁸⁰ Fifty percent of children enrolled in primary school are expected to drop out.¹¹⁸¹ Only 37 percent of first graders passed on to the second grade in 1997, with the majority repeating the class or dropping out.¹¹⁸² Girls make up nearly 42 percent of the students in primary school, but only about 38 percent of the over 1 million students in secondary school. Non-enrollment, repetition and dropout rates are consistently higher in rural areas than in urban areas.¹¹⁸³

In Nepal, most children (roughly 60 percent) who work also attend school. More working boys (70–75 percent) go to school than working girls (50–60 percent).¹¹⁸⁴

The lack of trained teachers continues to be a fundamental problem for the country’s education system. For example, statistics show that less than half of all primary school teachers are trained and only 38 percent of the female primary teachers have received training.¹¹⁸⁵

The Constitution of Nepal (Article 20) prohibits the employment of minors in factories, mines or other hazardous work.¹¹⁸⁶ Nepal has various laws that address child labor, including the

Labor Act of 1999 and the Children’s Act of 1992, which prohibit the employment of children under 14 years old from working in any kind of employment.¹¹⁸⁷ While the Children’s Act prohibits the employment of children in hazardous work, there is no definition in the legislation of what constitutes hazardous work. The restrictions on child labor do not apply to businesses with 10 or less employees.¹¹⁸⁸

On July 17, 2000, the government declared the practice of kamaiya and the incurrence of their debt, known as saunki , illegal.¹¹⁸⁹ The Ministry of Land Reforms and Management (MOLRM), with technical assistance from the ILO, drafted a Bill on the Abolition of Bonded Labour. The proposed bill provides the legal framework for enforcement of the ban by prohibiting the inheritance of private debt and annulling outstanding loans.¹¹⁹⁰

The 1990 Constitution (Article 20) and Nepali law prohibits trafficking. The maximum penalty for trafficking is a prison sentence of 20 years.¹¹⁹¹ There is no law that criminalizes prostitution or child pornography. However, based on the Children’s Act, the Women Trafficking Act of 1986, the National Code of 1963 and the Public Offense Act of 1971, they are considered illegal practices.¹¹⁹²

Enforcement and effective implementation of child labor laws is weak, mostly because child labor procedures, jurisdictions and penalties are inadequate and ambiguous.¹¹⁹³

The Government of Nepal ratified ILO Convention No. 138 on the Minimum Age for Employment on May 30, 1997, and ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor on January 3, 2002.¹¹⁹⁴

Nepal became a member of ILO-IPEC in 1994. Since then, almost 12,000 working children and their families have benefited from more than 100 ILO-IPEC action programs and mini-programs.¹¹⁹⁵

In 2001, Nepal became one of three countries—the only one in Asia—to launch a comprehensive Time-Bound Program aimed at eliminating the worst forms of child labor within a specified time period. The ILO-IPEC program, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) targets trafficked children and children working in domestic labor, portering, rag picking, mines, and the carpet sector.¹¹⁹⁶ The government is currently consolidating several sectoral plans of action against child labor to form a single master plan of action to eliminate child labor in the next 10 years, with priority action beginning on the worst forms.¹¹⁹⁷

The Government of Nepal has drawn up a proposal for immediate action for rescue and rehabilitation of recently freed bonded laborers. The Ministry of Land Reforms and Management provided 60 million rupees (US$ 892,000) for fiscal year 1999/00 and 2000/01 for debt relief, housing, rehabilitation, and training of formerly bonded child workers and their families.¹¹⁹⁸ With funding from USDOL, ILO-IPEC launched a major project to achieve the sustainable liberation of an estimated 14,000 formerly bonded labor families, including 16,000 formerly bonded children. The project will offer vocational training, education, legal and counseling services, small business loans, and other support for newly freed bonded laborers in order to prevent them from reentering exploitative forms of labor.¹¹⁹⁹

The government has a National Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking and is in the process of developing legislation that addresses trafficking as well as sexual abuse of children.¹²⁰⁰ With funding from USDOL and the technical assistance of ILO-IPEC, the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs and the NGO Maiti Nepal have implemented a program to eliminate trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children.¹²⁰¹ Additionally, Nepal is one of three counties participating in the ILO-IPEC South Asian subregional project to combat trafficking of children for exploitative labor, also funded by USDOL.

Nepal has no specific education laws. However, the government has adopted various policies on education, including the New Education Strategy and Policy (NESP), which provides state funding for establishing schools throughout the country.¹²⁰² Although education is not compulsory, the government provides free primary education for all children between the ages of 6 and 12. Children up to grade three receive books free of charge, and children from designated remote areas receive free books up to grade five. Still, public primary schools commonly charge non-tuition fees to offset their expenses¹²⁰³ and families frequently do not have the money to pay for school supplies and clothing.¹²⁰⁴

With the realization that many of the country’s children, including child workers, do not have access to adequate primary schooling, the government and NGOs have been trying to meet the needs of many out-of-school children. The 2000-2001 federal budget calls for a 52 percent increase in government spending on education.¹²⁰⁵ In its Ninth-Year Plan (1997-2001), the government aims to make primary education easily accessible and compulsory and is currently implementing a pilot program in six districts to test compulsory primary education. In order to achieve sustainable long-term objectives, the government is working with international donors to implement a $106 million dollar Basic and Primary Education Project (BPEP).¹²⁰⁶

The following bar chart presents selected government expenditures expressed as a percentage of gross national product (GNP). The chart considers government expenditures on education, the military, health care, and debt service. Where figures are available, the portion of government spending on education that is specifically dedicated to primary education is also shown.¹²⁰⁷

While it is difficult to draw conclusions or discern clear correlations between areas of government expenditure as a percentage of GNP and the incidence of child labor in a country, this chart and the related tables presented in Appendix B (Tables 14 through 19) offer the reader a basis for considering the relative emphasis placed on each spending area by the governments in each of the 33 countries profiled in the report.

¹¹⁶⁷ World Development Indicators 2000 (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2000).

¹¹⁶⁸ The survey was sponsored by the International Labor Organization (ILO), Migration and Employment Survey of Nepal, Central Department of Population Studies of Tribhuvan University, 1995-1996, Table 5.

¹¹⁶⁹ U.S. Embassy-Kathmandu, unclassified telegram no. 001216, June 9, 2000 [hereinafter unclassified telegram 6//9/00]. Nepali people are heavily dependent on agriculture, which accounts for almost 42 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). ILO-IPEC, Sustainable Elimination of Bonded Labor in Nepal (Geneva, December 2000), 1 [hereinafter Elimination of Bonded Labor in Nepal ].

¹¹⁷⁰ Unclassified telegram 001216.

¹¹⁷¹ By the Sweat and Toil of Children: Efforts to Eliminate Child Labor, vol. 5 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor, 1998), 20-29; see also (www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/kathmandu/projects/ child_1.htm).

¹¹⁷² ILO-IPEC, “Child Labor Situation in Nepal,” fact sheet, 9.

¹¹⁷³ “National Plan for Immediate Action Against the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Nepal: Summary Strategy Paper 2001-2005” (Geneva: ILO-IPEC), 3 [hereinafter “Action Against the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Nepal.”]

¹¹⁷⁴ ILO-IPEC, “IPEC Country Profile: Nepal,” at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/timebound/ nepal.pdf on 2/14/02.

¹¹⁷⁵ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2000 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 2000), Section 6f [hereinafter Country Reports 2000—Nepal ].

¹¹⁷⁶ South Asian Sub-Regional Programme to Combat the Trafficking of Children for Exploitative Employment in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, project document (Geneva: ILO-IPEC, February 2000), Section 1.2.3.

¹¹⁷⁷ ILO-IPEC, Time-Bound Pamphlet on Nepal, 2001. Of those girls who are rescued or are able to return to their villages from India, a sample study found that 37 percent were infected with HIV. ILO-IPEC, Nepal Implementation Report , 1998-1999, Section 1.2.3 [hereinafter Nepal Implementation Report ].

¹¹⁷⁸ Country Reports 2000—Nepal at Section 6f.

¹¹⁷⁹ USAID, GED 2000: Global Education Database [CD-ROM], Washington, D.C., 2000.

¹¹⁸⁰ World Development Indicators.

¹¹⁸¹ Sustainable Elimination of Bonded Labor in Nepal at 1.

¹¹⁸² Nepal Implementation Report at Section 1.2.1.

¹¹⁸³ Sustainable Elimination of Bonded Labor in Nepal at 1.

¹¹⁸⁴ Country Reports 2000—Nepal at Section 6d.

¹¹⁸⁵ MOE National Centre for Education Development, Development of Training Package on Child Rights, Human Rights and Gender Equality for Primary School Teachers , report to ILO-IPEC (Kathmandu, 2000), as cited in Sustainable Elimination of Bonded Labor in Nepal at 2.

¹¹⁸⁶ National Planning Commission of Nepal, Situation Analysis of Child Labor in Nepal (Kathmandu, July 1997), 71 [hereinafter Situation Analysis of Child Labor in Nepal ].

¹¹⁸⁷ The Labor Act defines a minor as anyone between the ages of 14 and 18, and the Children’s Act identifies a child as below the age of 16 years; see Situation Analysis of Child Labor in Nepal at 70-71. See also Yubaraj Sangroula, “Child Labor: Legislation and Enforcement Situation” (Kathmandu: Tribhuvan University, Faculty of Law, 1997), 8-10 [hereinafter “Child Labor: Legislation and Enforcement Situation”].

¹¹⁸⁸ Situation Analysis of Child Labor in Nepal at 71, 73.

¹¹⁸⁹ Sustainable Elimination of Bonded Labor in Nepal at 3-4.

¹¹⁹⁰ Ibid. at 3.

¹¹⁹¹ Country Reports 2000—Nepal at Section 6f.

¹¹⁹² U.S. Embassy-Kathmandu, unclassified telegram no. 001664, August 21, 2000.

¹¹⁹³ “Child Labor: Legislation and Enforcement Situation” at 15.

¹¹⁹⁴ For a list of which countries profiled in Chapter 3 have ratified ILO Conventions No. 138 and No. 182, see Appendix C.

¹¹⁹⁵ ILO-IPEC Country Profile: Nepal (Geneva: ILO-IPEC, 2001), 1-2.

¹¹⁹⁶ ILO-IPEC, “Supporting the Time-Bound Programme in Nepal: The IPEC Core TBP Project” (Geneva, September 2001), 26.

¹¹⁹⁷ “Action Against the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Nepal” at 9.

¹¹⁹⁸ “Action Against the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Nepal” at 9.

¹¹⁹⁹ Sustainable Elimination of Bonded Labor in Nepal at 28.

¹²⁰⁰ Unclassified telegram 001216.

¹²⁰¹ ILO-IPEC, Setting National Strategies for the Elimination of Girls’ Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Nepal (Geneva, 1997), 1.4, 2.5.

¹²⁰² Sustainable Elimination of Bonded Labor in Nepal at 2.

¹²⁰³ Ibid. at 1.

¹²⁰⁴ Country Reports 2000—Nepal at Section 5.

¹²⁰⁵ Unclassified telegram 001216, 6/9/00.

¹²⁰⁶ Sustainable Elimination of Bonded Labor in Nepal at 2.

¹²⁰⁷ See Chapter 1, Section C, 5, for a fuller discussion of the information presented in the box. See also Appendix B for further discussion, and Tables 14 through 19 for figures on government expenditure over a range of years.