Ajita Singh

Although it is often argued that for a developing country like Nepal, the prevalence of child labour is a compulsion and that if children do not work it will be very difficult for their families to make ends meet, the truth is it is such thinking that has ensured the continuity of this social evil by making the authorities complacent about child labour.

While poverty is no doubt a major factor driving many families to choose family survival over children’s education, it has at the same time become absolutely necessary for policy makers, development planners, civil society, stakeholders and every individual to work out appropriate measures and strictly implement them to eliminate child labour.

According to the international statistical measurement standards, all working children below the minimum age specified by law for entry into employment or work are considered child labourers. In Nepal, poverty, illiteracy and lack of government intervention are the major factors that have made it next to impossible to end the practice of employing children in all sorts of work. So, although the legal provisions are there, the crusade against child labour has met with only limited success because the problem is multi-dimensional.

Thousands of kids are sent to labour in the fields, graze cattle, collect fodder and firewood, or are employed as domestic help and in tea stalls and restaurants or are made to crush stones or trafficked and made to work in circuses. They are thus deprived of their childhood, education and future. The situation is indeed very depressing and it exists on such a large scale that organizations working for children’s welfare cannot make much of a difference by themselves. That is why, government intervention has become absolutely necessary.

Demographics of Nepal depict that children aged below 16 years constitute 41 per cent of Nepal’s population and 29 per cent of Nepali children do not have access to primary education. Of the working children in Nepal, 36 per cent do not go to school, 26 per cent of male children and 49 per cent female children do not attend school. Four out of 10 children work in Nepal (41.7 per cent) and six out of 10 child labourers are girls. This shows that Nepali children are deprived of basic education. Policy makers need to understand that providing free education is one way of taking the kids away from employment. Although free universal primary education is a part of the Millennium Development Goals, and the government has claimed considerable success in this regard, the facts stated above suggest otherwise.

There are 2.6 million child labourers in Nepal. CWIN data shows 31 per cent of children aged 5 to 14 are involved in some sort of child labour. These children contribute 6 per cent to Nepal’s total domestic production.

Many children have been forced into the streets. There are approximately 5,000 to 6,000 street children in Nepal. Kathmandu alone has 1,500 to 2,000 of them according to CWIN. There are many causes that bring children on to the streets. They include family breakdown, urbanization, dislocation through migration, child labour, loss of family members, exploitation by adults, emotional abuse and neglect and natural disaster. Around 95 per cent of these street children are addicted to sniffing glue. Until these socio-economic issues are addressed and children’s security is ensured, the problem of street children will remain. Overall, some 1,088 children below 19 years of age are HIV Positive and approximately 46,309 consume drugs. Among these children, 21.6 per cent are between 15 and 19 years old.

Other important issues that need to be addressed to end child labour are early marriage, prostitution and increasing number of physically challenged children. Around 34 per cent marriages in Nepal are child marriages.

Data shows 120,00 Nepali girls are sold in India every year and 20 per cent of the sex workers in Nepal are under the age of 16. Also, physically challenged children constitute one to eight per cent of the total population. They need serious attention and support from government and private institutions.

Around 1.7 million children in Nepal are engaged in economic activity, out of which 1.4 million are involved in unpaid activities and 278,000 in paid activities. Data also shows girls work longer hours than boys. Around 88 per cent girls work 14 hours or more per day while in the case of boys it is 80 per cent. Also, more children work in the mountains than in the Tarai. Children working in the mountains, hills and Tarai region are 52.3, 45.4 and 36.3 per cent respectively. This shows nothing else but the destitution of Nepali children.

These children face physical, psychological and sexual exploitations. As mentioned above, they are most vulnerable to malnutrition and several health problems. Their engagement in begging on the street, pick-pocketing, working in restaurants, bars and tempos and buses and even in prostitution depicts their poor condition.

Such a dire situation does indeed call for drastic measures. It is worth reiterating that the government must intervene in partnership with child rights organizations, otherwise the situation can never be redeemed.

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Published on: 18 July 2013 | The Himalayan Times