The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration has issued a circular to all the local levels, asking them to submit details of their efforts to end the worst form of child labour in their jurisdictions.

As per the MoFAGA, the government is all set to update the status of child labour in the country on the basis of details collected from the local levels.

Currently, the Labor Act, Procedure for Declaration of Local Level as Child Labour Free Zone and Ten-year Master Plan on Elimination of Child Labour are under implementation.

The master plan targets to abolish the worst form of child labour by 2028. These legal frameworks aim to free each local level from the worst form of child labour and make Nepal a child labour free country in the long run as envisioned by the constitution, Labour Act and commitments made by the Government of Nepal in the national and international levels.

These legal frameworks require the local levels to focus their campaign on child labourers being used in private homes, agriculture and animal husbandry, drug smuggling, weaving, brick kiln, mines, entertainment sector, sexual exploitation, transport, garment, trafficking, street vending, herbs collection, physical infrastructure, hotels and restaurants.

The existing laws have stipulated a provision of seven indicators wherein a local level may be declared a child labour free zone. The indicators include the updated data and documentation, separate policy regarding the elimination of child labour, operation of programmes for elimination of child labour, allocation of budget for programmes, institutional arrangements, educational status of children, and provision of cooperation, coordination and collaboration.

The concerned local level should conduct a survey based on the indicators to ascertain if it is eligible to be declared a child labour free zone.

The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security shall evaluate the survey results before allowing the local level to declare itself a child labour free zone based on the proposal submitted by them.

Enrollment of school children should be 95 per cent in the concerned local level to be declared a child labour free zone. Similarly, the local levels should conduct various programmes to eliminate child labour.

Such programmes comprise public awareness raising, psycho-social counselling, arrangement of alternative income source for families of child labourers, skill training for school dropouts of children below 18 years and signing of agreement with informal sectors committing not to engage any child in labour.

A joint report released by the Central Bureau of Statistics of the National Planning Commission and International Labour Organisation states that nearly 1.1 million children are involved in child labour of which 0.2 million children are involved in its worst forms.

The statistics reveal that child labour is still significant although the overall trend is declining in Nepal (2.6 million in 1998, 1.6 million in 2008 and 1.1 million in 2018).

Published on: 20 July 2023 | The Himalayan Times