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In-country Research and Data Collection on Forced Labor and

Child Labor in the Production of Goods

Nepal

Submitted to:

U.S. Department of Labor

Bureau of International Labor Affairs

Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking

Frances Perkins Building

200 Constitution Ave., NW

Washington, D.C. 20210

Submitted by:

Macro International Inc.

11785 Beltsville Drive, Suite 300

Calverton, MD 20705

Main Telephone: (301) 572-0200

Facsimile: (301) 572-0999

www.macrointernational.com
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Funding for this research was provided by the United States Department of Labor under

Contract number DOLQ059622436. This research does not necessarily reflect the views

or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does the mention of trade

names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States

Government.
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Table of Contents

Summaries of Goods......................................................................................................... 4

Type I Interviews .............................................................................................................. 9

Type II Interviews........................................................................................................... 58

Site Visit –Observation Notes ....................................................................................... 86
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Summaries of Goods produced by Child Labor and Forced Labor in Nepal

Researcher: Paro Chaujar

Researcher’Note: There is a general tendency not to classify labor as forced labor,

among most people I interviewed. Force is understood mostly as physical, coercive force

employed by employers, which most believe is non-existent in current times. Withholding

of payments or the use of an advance to secure immobility of workers is not understood

as‘force’.Whileeconomiccompulsion is understood as forcing people into exploitative

working conditions, the economic compulsion is not understood as attributable to

recruitment and employment practices. Hence information on forced labor was rarely

forthcoming in my interviews. On child labor, by contrast, there was more clarity, save

for the issue of what age constitutes a child. Children over 14 were not always classified

as being involved in child labor, given the understanding that the legal age for working

in Nepal is over 14.

List of goods produced by child labor and or forced labor in Nepal

1. Bricks (Child Labor and Forced Labor)

 Large numbers of children, mostly along with their families, are engaged in the

production of bricks. They start at a very young age (six or seven) though during my

site visits I did not see children under 10 working in this sector. In the case of

Nepalese workers, the work is done mainly as a family unit. There are at least as

many adults as children employed in the brick kilns. The children are largely

involved in the process of digging clay, molding it into bricks, drying the bricks and

portering and stacking them. Children are not involved in the processes of baking

bricks in kilns. Brick kilns are mostly situated in or near urban areas and the majority

of the workers are seasonal migrants. There are also significant numbers of adult

Indian male migrant workers in brick kilns in Nepal. They are contracted specifically

for their expertise in the process of baking the bricks. They come from border

districts from the state of Bihar in India.

 Recruitment and management of workers is done by a contractor who pays advances

to heads of families, mostly adult men. Workers are hired against the advance with a

set quantity of bricks to be produced by him along with his family. This is a verbal

agreement with a commitment to work the entire season for the contractor. Breech of

contract implies financial penalties whereby the contractor will withhold payment due

to the worker (after deductions for the advance). Most work under such agreements,

hence forced labor. Breech of contract would also prevent the worker from being

hired in the future by the same contractor. Additionally, word would spread to other

contractors which could result in loss of future prospects or employment.

2. Carpets (Child Labor and Forced Labor)
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 Based on respondents and reports collected (annotated bibliography), incidence of

child labor, specifically children under 14, has declined in the production of carpets.

However, children over 14 continue to work in this sector and under 14-year-old

children are reportedly working in unregistered and unregulated factories. These

unregistered and unregulated factories outnumber the registered/regulated factories

in the country. Many believe that child labor in the carpet industry has gone

underground. In my visits to the factories, I have seen many instances of children

over 14 and younger children in some. Approximately 30 percent of all workers in

carpet factories could be children under the age of 18.

 I am informed that carpet factories are located in the Kathmandu Valley1. The

factories are situated in the midst of residential areas as well as in market places. As a

practice, recruitment involves an advance payment to the workers, against which they

continue to work until such time that they are out of money and ask for an advance

again. Children work along with members of their families or independently. As a

practice, factory owners provide for accommodations within or near the premises of

the factory. Work hours are long, about 12 hours a day. Children are engaged in

weaving as well as spinning. Workers cannot leave the factory unless they have

repaid, by labor, the amount of advance taken. Often, leaving the job implies

foregoing accrued earnings.

3. Stones (Child Labor)

 This may be one of the worst paying occupations in Nepal. Entire families work

along riverbanks to collect and break stones that are transported to construction sites

in urban and semi-urban areas. Given that entire families are involved in this work,

there would be at least as many children as adults in this sector. It offers year round

employment and is often where people, who can find no other work, end up.

Children likely start working at a very early age and there is an increasing tendency

for combining school with work due to the focus of NGOs and Government on this

sector. Children who go to school, work before and after school hours in addition to

holidays. Workers collect boulders and rocks from the riverbed then break them using

a hammer and ring (to hold the stones in place). The broken stones are stacked and

ultimately loaded onto trucks.

 Unlike other sectors I have researched, there is no active recruitment of workers for

stone quarries. Contractors lease riverbeds and workers, both local and from

neighboring villages, come to the riverbeds. Construction companies send trucks to

collect these stones from the riverbeds and the truck drivers or the contractors make

payments to the workers. The set rate for each basket of crushed stone is about NR 10

(approximately US$ 0.16) and workers pay between NR 1-2 (approximately US$

0.01 –0.03) to the contractor or he may deduct this from the payment made. There is

1 Kathmandu Valley comprises the three adjoining districts of Kathmandu, Lalitpur and

Bhaktapur.
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no system for payment of advances and, in fact, workers complain about this given

that truck schedules are erratic. Trucks may come once a week or once a month. .

4. Saree (Child Labor, Bonded Child Labor, Trafficking)

 This is perhaps the worst form of child labor in the production of goods in

contemporaryNepal.It’sarelativelynewsectoremployingalmostexclusivelyyoung

boys, working long hours. They live and work on the premises of the factories and

receive no payment whatsoever. They are given meals and a place to sleep. Factory

owners tend to be ex-child workers who worked in embroidery of saree in India. As

adults they set up their own factories in Nepal. They recruit young boys from their

villages and surrounding areas. They pay an advance to the family, assuring them that

the child will be trained in embroidery work. Once training is over the child should

start earning pay however this rarely happens. For one to two years, the children work

in these factories without any wages, up to 14 hours a day. Upon completion of the

training, or when the children return home, whether they want to or not they return to

the employer who gives a new advance to the parents. Pay is almost always adjusted

against advances, food and shelter in such a way that the child rarely returns home

with any money.

 There are several factories spread all over the Kathmandu Valley and in several semiurban/urban areas in the country. There has been no systematic study/research done

on this sector but preliminary assessments by trade unions estimate approximately

7,500 children may be employed, almost all of them trafficked. During my field

visits, I saw many children under 10 years old working. I am informed once children

get older they do not return to work in the factories given the abysmal working

conditions. Most of these factories operate in residential areas either in basements or

the top floors. Further assessment of the prevalence of child labor and forced labor in

this sector is not possible due to the limited amount of information available.

5. Food grains (Child Labor, Bonded Child Labor and Forced Labor)

 This is perhaps the most researched sector on bonded labor and child labor in Nepal.

Child labor in this sector is widespread throughout the country. The specific practice

of Kamaiya is prevalent in five districts of Western Nepal and other forms of bondage

in agriculture are found in different parts of the country. Child labor on family owned

land for subsistence agriculture, as well as bonded child labor in traditional bondage

systems or new forms of bondage continue to exist. Children work in the fields as

well as perform other tasks required by the landlord. According to one respondent, all

labor relations in agriculture in Nepal have some form of bondage, where landlords

hire an adult worker with an explicit understanding that his entire family would be at

his call. Verbal agreements are up to a year with prefixed payment modality- either a

combination of cash and kind or a provision for a small plot of land to the worker

under a share cropping arrangement. In either case, payment is subject to the

successful quality and quantity of harvest. It is not possible to specify which grains

are produced using child and/or forced labor. Under this form of bonded labor,
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individuals are not hired to harvest specific grains, rather they are hired for work in

agricultural fields growing various food grains for self-consumption of landlords

and/or for local markets at the most. Examples of food grains produced in Nepal

include cereals, rice, and wheat, etc.

 Although the traditional system of Kamaiya has been most talked about, and the

practice of bondage in agriculture has been legally prohibited since 2000, this practice

and numerous other forms continue. There is debate and disagreement on whether the

practice of Kamaiya has been effectively abolished. Some argue that it has been

abolished while adding that the rehabilitation of Kamaiyas has been ineffective and

incomplete. Others argue the practice continues because of a lack of alternatives.

There is also emerging discourse on other forms of bondage in agriculture such as

halia and huruwa/charuwa (cattle grazing) that were prohibited under the same

legislation as the Kamaiya. These forms received less attention and continue to be

widely practiced.

Establishing Existence of Forced Labor

Indicators for Involuntary Nature of Work

Indicators Sectors/Goods

Birth/descentinto“slave”orbondedstatus Food products

Dairy products

Physical abduction or kidnapping -

Sale of person into the ownership of another Saree

Food products

Dairy products

Physical confinement in the work location –

in prison or in private detention

Saree

Bricks

Psychological compulsion, i.e. an order to

work, backed up by a credible threat of a

penalty for non-compliance

Saree

Food products

Dairy products

Induced indebtedness (by falsification of

accounts, inflated prices, reduced value of

goods or services produced, excessive

interest charges, etc.)

Bricks

Food products

Dairy products

Deception or false promises about types and

terms of work

Withholding and non-payment of wages Bricks

Saree

Carpet

Food products

Dairy products

Retention of identity documents or other

valuable personal possessions
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Indicators of Menace of Penalty

Indicators Sectors/Goods

Physical violence against worker or family or

close associates

Sexual violence

(Threat of) supernatural retaliation

Imprisonment or other physical confinement

Financial penalties Brick

Saree

Carpet

Food products

Denunciation to authorities (police,

immigration, etc.) and deportation

Dismissal from current employment

Exclusion from future employment

Exclusion from community and social life

Removal of rights or privileges

Deprivation of food, shelter or other

necessities

Shift to even worse working conditions

Loss of social status
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Type I Interviews

Nepal

In-country Research - Forced Labor/Child Labor

Researcher: Paro Chaujar

List of Type I Interviews

Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)

1. Ms. Helen Sherpa, World Education International

2. Mr. Kiran Thapa, Child Development Society

3. Mr. Shiva Sharma, National Labour Academy (NLA)

4. Ms. Seema Acharya, World Education International

5. Ms. Sumnima Tuladhar, CWIN Concerned Centre

6. Mr. Jeevan Bista, Society of Development Journalist –Nepal (SODEJ)

7. Mr. Subodh Raj Pyakurel, Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC)

8. Mr. Rajendra Manandhar, Save the Children - Japan

Trade Union

9. Mr. Tej Prasad Rijal, Nepal Embroidery, Handicrafts and Sewing-Knitting

Workers Union, Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC)

10. Jaya Bahadur Yonjan, Carpet Workers Union, Nepal Trade Union Congress

(NTUC)

11. Mr. Bishnu Rimal, General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions

(GEFONT)

Government Agency

12. Mr. Bishnu Prasad Lamsal, Ministry of Labour and Transport Management

Autonomous State Institution

13. Mr. Gauri Pradhan, National Human Rights Commission

UN

14. Mr. Shengjie Li and Mr. Uddhav Raj Poudyal, International Labour

Organization (ILO) Nepal
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NGOs

1. NGO (1)

Name: Helen Sherpa

Position: Program Coordinator

Organization: World Education (WE)

Location: World Education office, Kalo Pul, Kathmandu

Date: March 17, 2008; 10.00 a.m. Follow up interview on May 1,

2008; 9 a.m.

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

In the carpet factories, adults and children both are bonded, children are also trafficked.

The advance puts them under debt bondage.

In mining, workers, including children produce gravel and coal for the construction

industry. There are huge numbers of children working in this sector, but again the

estimates by the NGO CONCERN are exaggerated. There are far more children working

in mining than in carpet factories. They are seasonal workers, who work along riverbeds.

In the brick kilns, there is incidence of bonded labor as well as trafficking. There are huge

numbers of child laborers. In the brick kilns in Terai, there are more child laborers than in

the brick kilns in the Kathmandu valley, due to intense campaigning (against child labor)

in the valley. Children and adult workers are all migrants and children are mostly

portering bricks.

In the recycling industry, children are involved in recycling metal, glass and paper.

However the trend for child labor in this sector is declining. It is becoming a profitable

business and adult workers are pushing children out of this sector. Scrap is getting better

paid, recycling is getting more professional (with garbage being increasingly sorted rather

than dumped all together). The workers in the recycling industry include Nepali runaway

boys and Indian poor migrants working as a family (including their children). Regarding

debt-bondage, there is a system of taking an advance from the scrap-yard merchant. This

is among the better paying sectors.

In the portering sector, children are engaged in construction, mining, brick kilns and in

tourism. There is not much debt (bondage) in this sector.

Regarding bonded labor in the agriculture sector, it exists in the Kamaiya system. The

child domestic workers in Kathmandu are from Kamaiya families.

Researcher’sNote:Intheteaestates,shedoesnotknowthesectorwellenoughbutsays

she knows that workers are also trafficked to the tea estates, there is an advance given.

The poor people from Eastern hills and poor Terai districts are going to work in the tea

estates. From tea estates girls are trafficked to India for prostitution.
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2. What good(s) do they produce?

Bricks, carpets, gravel, stone, coal, food (agriculture) products

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Carpet is for export as well as domestic consumption. Bricks, stones, coal, gravel, food

products are for domestic consumption. Sarees that are embroidered in Nepal are highly

likely also going to India.

4. Who employs them?

In the carpet sector, child labor is now found in sub contracted and unregulated units

(factories). Contractors for large factories (who have set up their own small factories) are

the employers of these children.

In the mining sector, the contractor is the employer. All mining is done on government

(owned) land which is leased to contractors who then employ the workers.

In brick kilns, the owners of the factories are the employers.

5. How do they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

In the stone mines, children come with families and belong to Janajati and Dalit castes.

The stone quarries serve as an informal safety net, those who find no work, come to work

in stone quarries (last resort). It is a last resort because there is no government social

securitysystem.Forwidows,forpeoplewhocan’tfind a job, their options are either to

begonthestreetsorgoworkinthestonequarries.It’sallwomen,widowswhodothis

work. Widows are thrown out of the house; they have nowhere to go, so they go to the

riverbed, break stones and manage to feed their children. Getting jobs in stone quarries is

easy. Those who have options for other jobs do not work in stone quarries. There is such

poor pay and working conditions, only the poorest and most desperate, those without any

support mechanism will work in stone quarries. Children are not being pushed into this

work,butthechildrenjusthavetohelptheirmothers.It’sdesperation.

In brick kilns, younger children tend to be working with families and older children,

above 14 are mostly single. There are increasingly Indian workers in the brick kilns.

Workersaregivenadvanceduringthe‘hungerperiod’underanagreementthatentire

families would come to work in the brick kilns. Children mostly carry bricks on their

head to porter them from one place to another. We have seen children working in brick

kilns have damaged skulls because of carrying heavy loads. And they work under

extreme heat. The worst working conditions are in the brick kilns in the Terai (plains) as

compared to the working conditions in brick kilns in the Kathmandu valley.
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6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used? (e.g. debt bondage, indentured

servitude, caste-based slavery, etc.)

There is debt-bondage in carpet industry, brick kilns and agriculture. There is child labor

in stone quarries but not forced labor.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of goods, if at all?

She says they (WE) do know that middle men and dalal (contractors) are bringing

children from their homes in villages to work in urban centres. Contractors take their

trucks to villages in districts such as Makwanpur, give money to the parents of children,

load children onto these trucks and bring them to cities and towns to work. The

recruitment method is to pay advances to parents. There is no honesty in what they tell

the parents about where children would work and under what conditions.

In carpet sector, children are trafficked, from the districts of Makwanpur, Dhading,

Kavre, Sindhupalanchowk to Kathmandu valley.

In their work with child victims of trafficking, WE has found that girls in Makwanpur

district, who were rescued from circuses in India, are now spinning wool.

8. Are they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

The wages in brick kilns are paid on a piece rate basis, workers get tokens to denote the

amount of bricks they produced.

9. What tasks do they perform?

In carpet factories children are weaving, spinning wool, cleaning it. In brick kilns,

children are mostly portering bricks.

In the recycling industry, children are involved in collecting, sorting and recycling.

Under debt bondage in Kamaiya, children work in the agricultural fields and households

of the landlords and rear animals for them.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face? (Are

otherelementsof“menaceofpenalty”present,seeabove)?

Menace of Penalty only exists in the (commercial) sex industry, where being in debt

bondage these girl children cannot leave (the work/ employer/ contractor).

In other sectors as well, parents and children fear the consequences of children running

away from the employer/contractor who has given the parents an advance. They believe

that they are indebted to the contractor/employer and cannot run away. The contractors
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are very powerful people in the communities. Parents/ children fear they will lose face in

the communities for dishonouring the debt they owe to the contractor and worse still fear

that they will not get any other work. There is a threat to their livelihoods. Contractors

can prevent them from getting work through other contractors. Children WE has worked

with have often shared that if they were to leave a certain contractor by running away,

they fear their parents could be killed.

11. Are they able to leave their workplaces at will? (If so, are other elements of

coercion present, see above)?

Thereisverylittlecaseof‘prison’inNepal.Onlyoneorganization,CWIN, has found

onecaseofchildren‘jailed’someyearsago.Thesewerechildrenworking in wool

spinning for carpets. They were rescued by CWIN. In the domestic work sector there are

prison like conditions where workers especially child workers are completely locked up,

can’tleavethepremises.Butthereisnotsomuchprisonlikeconditions in manufacturing

sectors. In the 6 years that WE has worked in the area of child labour, they came across

only one case, documented (mentioned above) of prison like conditions in manufacturing

sector. In prostitution there is prison like constraints;girlsandwomenjustcan’tleave.

There are also stories that children are locked up in embroidery factories. This is a new

sector,childrenwhocometoworkinembroideryfactories don’tknow thelocal

environment and are confined to their work places.

12. What are the environments in which they work?

Working and living conditions in the stone quarries is appalling. Once rocks in a river

bed are used up, workers have to move along the river to find places where there are

rocks. Hence they stay in one place only temporarily. It is not possible to set up

permanent structures/ shelters for them. They live and work under plastic sheets in hot,

dusty environments. There are no toilets and there is open defecation. These people are at

the bottom of the society, soimpoverishedthattheycan’tevenmakeprovisionsto

protect themselves by making some kind of a shelter or to protect themselves from the

hazards of this work. The hammering of stones and rocks regularly injures their bare

hands, eyes, bodies.

13. In what regions of the country do they work? Do they work in cities or in rural

areas?

Carpet factories are shifting to interior rural areas and becoming home-based. The

unregistered looms and illegal factories have the most children (employed).

Examples of districts where brick kilns are common include: Sarlahi, Sunsari and

Morang.

14. (For each good), what is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the

good?
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In the carpet industry, younger children, those under 14 are engaged in spinning but not

in weaving.

In the programs of World Education (in the brick kilns) they have found that there are

more girls than boys portering brick. Of the children working in brick kilns, identified by

WE, 76 percent girls and 24 percent boys.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced

labor and/or child labor in the production of each good (e.g. boys versus girls,

urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.)?

Muslim children are a major source of child labor in Nepal. Especially boys who attend

religious schools (i.e. madrasa) and are out of the mainstream education system and come

from poor families.

Sindhupalchowk district has the highest number of child labor in the country but it is not

included in the Child Labor Master Plan of the Government of Nepal.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in

forced labor and/or child labor in the production of each good?

(Carpet):

Estimates on the number of children engaged in the carpet sector in Nepal are

exaggerated. The trend is shifting from more children under 10 being employed in these

factories to over 14-year-old children being engaged in carpet factories (which is the

legal age for employment in Nepal). The main issue now is the occupational health and

safety and working conditions in the industry. There is incidence of debt bondage and

trafficking and all workers, more girls than boys, are from Janajati (indigenous

communities) and Dalit (untouchables).

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates on child labor in the carpet

factories (through Rapid Assessment) are exaggerated. They estimate 150,000 children

work in the industry. The estimates should be based on how much wool is imported in the

country and how many carpets were exported to find out how many laborers (including

children) would have been involved for such production.

Over the last six years, WE has identified 3,203 children under 18 years working in the

carpet factories. Five hundred thirty new children are identified every year in the carpet

factories and the percentage of those under 14 is dropping.

(Coal and Stone/Gravel Mining):

There are thousands of children engaged in mining for coal and gravel though there has

been no decent survey.
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(Child Porters):

According to the ILO estimates for 2001, there were 46,000 child porters in Nepal. It is

the sector with the largest number of child labor in Nepal, after domestic work.

Over the last six years, World Education has identified 8,700 child porters across all the

districts they work in Nepal. This is the result of a very detailed identification process

where World Education conducts house to house surveys in the communities where they

work. In addition, they have identified 20,000 child domestic workers, though the

estimate for child domestic workers is 55,000 for Nepal. Every year, 30,000 children

enter child domestic work. In the last six years World Education has seen that child

laborers are increasingly from the Janajati (ethnic communities), Dalit (untouchables)

and are increasingly female.
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2. NGO (2)

Name: Mr. Kiran Thapa

Position: Program Coordinator, Brighter Futures Programme (with

World Education)

Organization: Child Development Society (CDS)

Location: CDS office, Kapan, Kathmandu

Date: March 19, 2008; 2.00 p.m.

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

Carpet,brickkilns,othersIdon’tknow.

2. What good(s) do they produce?

Carpets and bricks.

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Carpets are mostly for export and bricks are for domestic markets.

4. Who employs them?

In the carpet sector, employers are all Nepalese, mostly from dominant caste Newar,

some are Tamang (ethnic group), some Brahmins and Chhetri (higher castes).

In some cases there is the owner of the factory who is the employer (called Malik,

Sahuji), under him normally there is a contractor (thekedar), under him a Master or

Supervisor and then the workers. Both employers and contractors bring children from the

villages where they belong. The owner/employer is often a contractor for big factories

who source carpets from the smaller units operated by contractors.

Researcher’sNote:Therespondentmanagesprogramsforeducationofchildrenworking

in the carpet factories and has more information on carpet than on bricks. Hence I

focused on getting more information on carpet from him than any other.

5. How do they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

In the carpet sector the contractor (thekedar) goes from village to village to collect

children. He gives an advance to the parents and brings the children to work in his

factory.Childrenandparentsdon’tknowwhattheywillearn.Sometimespeers/friends

bring along other children who are attracted to city life. Some children accompany family

members who are recruited by the contractor or encouraged by others in the

village/neighborhood who work in the carpet factories. They are all landless and poor

people who have no other option for work in their villages.
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6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used? (e.g. debt bondage, indentured

servitude, caste-based slavery, etc.)

Advance is the most common lure for child labor in carpet factories. These workers are in

very poor economic conditions. The advance given to them is very important (to them), it

is their majboori (compulsion/desperation)andinreturnforthat,theymustwork.That’s

the understanding on which they get the advance in the first place.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of goods, if at all?

Researcher’sNote:Respondentunderstandstrafickingonlyinthesenseoftrafickingof

women and girls for commercial sex and that too in the context of Nepal to India

trafficking. After I gave definition of trafficking, he was still unable to comment on the

question of trafficking.

8. Are they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

All factory system of payment is that after the carpet is completed, payment is made.

There is no salary system. But for daily expenses of food etc., the owner advances some

cash every week, which is deducted from payment (made) at the end of completion of a

carpet. Also all workers regularly take an advance, which can be as high as NR 25,000

(approx. USD 417)2. Generally people with larger families (working with them in the

carpet factory) take larger advances.

For children accompanying parents (working with their parents in the factories), payment

of child is calculated within payment for the family. Single children payment is normally

given to the guardian of the child, who could be a (adult) relative, neighbor or contractor

(who brought the child) and it is they who make payments to the parents.

Not all workers get accommodation from the factory owner/employer. But generally each

factory has some lodging arrangements like rooms that are shared by workers, adults and

children alike.

9. What tasks do they perform?

In carpet making, children and adults do weaving, spinning/rolling, cleaning wool, and

hammering knots into place.

In brick, children mold clay into bricks, break coal for the kilns, and carry unbaked and

baked bricks.

2

Exchange rate used is USD 1 = NR 60. (NR is Nepalese Rupees)
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10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face? (Are

otherelementsof“menaceofpenalty”present,seeabove)?

The physical environment is very poor, no light, no good food or water, no ventilation.

There is pressure to work fast; their fingers have to move fast. There is a risk of the

thread cutting their fingers. Also, they are subjected to long hours of work and the stress

of not accurately following the design. If they miss a knot, their payment suffers; hence

work requires a lot of concentration.

They have holidays on every Saturday, after 10 a.m. and every year they get two-month

holidays, once during the festival of Dashain and Tihar in October-November and once

during the agriculture sowing season in June-July.

11. Are they able to leave their workplaces at will? (If so, are other elements of

coercion present, see above)?

As long as they return their advance they can leave but they are continuously in advance

and hence continue to work. We are not aware of any incidence of beating or harassment

by the employers.

12. What are the environments in which they work?

Not answered.

13. In what regions of the country do they work? Do they work in cities or in rural

areas?

Carpet factories are mostly in urban areas.

14. (For each good), what is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the

good?

There are more girls than boys in the carpet factories. Most of them are in the age group

14-18.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced

labor and/or child labor in the production of each good (e.g. boys versus girls,

urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.)?

Mostly ethnic groups such as Tamang and they predominantly come from (the districts

of) Sindhupalchowk, Makwanpur, Kavre (hills) and some from Ramechchap, Sarlahi and

Sindhuli (plains).

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in

forced labor and/or child labor in the production of each good?
19

Thirty percent of the total workforce in the carpet industry in Nepal would be about 14-

18 years. Under 14 would be less than 10 percent.
20

3. NGO (3)

Names: Mr. Shiva Sharma

Position: Director

Organization: National Labour Academy (NLA)

Location: NLA office, Dhobhikhola, Kathmandu

Date: March 20, 2008; 12.00 p.m.

Researcher’sNote:Ihavewrittenastherespondentspoke.Hepreferredtofollowhis

own course of sharing information and I interjected in between to try to gain information

under all headings in our list. Hence this is not written in a question-answer format.

However, I have tried to give sub heads to different sections of information.

Sectors employing child labor/forced labor:

Agriculture:

The largest sector employing children is agriculture and the largest sector employing

forced labor is also agriculture. Agriculture is the major origin sector which feeds labor

into other sectors. The workers in agriculture are the disadvantaged, when they come out

seasonally to brick kilns for instance, their economic situation is a little better but the

exploitation continues. If they earned NR 30 (approx USD 0.5) in agriculture, they earn

NR 70 (approx. USD 1.2) in brick kiln. They have no bargaining power since brick kilns

offer better income than the income they earned form agriculture. It is the same with the

carpet sector.

Bricks:

In brick kilns, entire families move onto the premises of the brick kilns. About70 percent

receive an advance while still in the village. In the lean agriculture period they get the

advance and comply with an agreement/understanding for their labor. If they are

recruited through middlemen (Naike), non compliance means they will lose all other

opportunities through that middleman. The ethos of complying is high.

Why Indians come to Nepal for work in brick kilns is because entire families can be

employed in the brick kilns in Nepal and not in India. So even though income in India is

higher (for employment in brick kilns) because all family members can work in brick

kilnsinNepal,it’sabetteroption.

In Eastern and Central Terai (plains), Indians come as entire families from Bengal.

They do brick laying. In Kathmandu valley and mid west Terai (plains), Indians only

come for more skilled jobs –baking bricks and removing the baked bricks. In this case

they only come as single men. The skilled work in kilns is always done by men. Family

involvement is to maximize piece-rate (earnings). Upwards of 75 percent of labor in brick

kilns is in the brick laying, semi-skilled work that requires lot of labor and is done by

entire families.

Estimates of child labor/forced labor
21

In terms of ranking, largest child labor is found in agriculture (unspecified

goods)/livestock, about a million children. Of these 10-12 percent would be under

bondage. This is followed by domestic labor, employing about 400,000 to 500,000

children and 97 percent among them would be under worst forms of labor, including

bondage. Then restaurants are the next big sector employing children, although I cannot

give estimates for this and other sectors employing children.

Nature of forced labor: (Type of forced labor, menace of penalty, trafficking)

The system of advance and debt is in the sectors of agriculture and livestock, carpets,

brick kilns and embroidery. Trafficking is high in the embroidery sector. Young boys are

trafficked from villages in rural areas to embroidery units/factories in urban areas.

The menace of penalty for non-compliance of agreement for an advance includes

withholding of payments in brick kilns. Only expenses for food are paid regularly. In case

the worker wants to move out in mid season, he will have to forsake the payment.

Indentured labor is found in agriculture and livestock. In brick kilns withholding payment

keeps workers from being mobile at will, same with agriculture and livestock.

Nature of employment in agriculture: There are two forms of employment in agricultureattached labor and casual labor. The attached labor is for a specified period of time. A

longtimebacktherewerewrittencontractsandnowit’sjustaverbalcontract,mostlyfor

one year. Within this year, the laborer cannot leave the employer. Payment is fixed for

work over a year, in kind. Intermittent payment is made to parents but final payment is

made at the end of the year. So mobility is automatically restricted (payment withheld).

Inthehills,workersdon’tevenknowhowmuchtheywillearn.Employerstellworkers

that they will be paid depending on the quality and quantity of the harvest.

Eveninbrickkilnsespeciallyforbricklayers,theydon’tknowexactlyhowmuchthey

will earn. Payment is calculated at the end based on how much work was done (i.e.

number of bricks produced) in the season. In calculations, there are manipulations by the

employer/contractor where they pay less to workers, making it very profitable (for the

employers/ contractors).

Health hazards in brick kilns come from the dust and smoke in the brick kilns. There is

high incidence of asthma even among communities that live around the brick kilns. All

children in carpet factories who are young, just accompanying parents (and not working),

are also under health hazards from inhaling wool dust.

Social characteristics:

In embroidery, there are many Muslims. In the carpet industry, entire families are found

working. It is common to find a husband and wife working together, where the wife is

only 16 years old and is mother of a child. In the Kathmandu valley, mostly Tamang and

Magar (Janajati) are employed. They come from the districts of Kathmandu,
22

Makwanpur, Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Nuwakot, and Ramechchap. Outside the

Kathmandu valley, mostly Magar, Rai, Limbu, all Janajati are involved in carpet

factories.

Bonded labor in agriculture in the hills involves Magar, Rai Limbu, and Dalit. In the

plains, it involves Dalit, Tharu, and lower castes. The bonded child laborers in livestock

are mostly Dalit and the Kamalari, child domestic workers are mostly from the

indigenous community of Tharu.

In brick kilns, mixed groups are found in Terai and in the hills mostly lower castes are

involved. Thirty-five to 40 percent of workers in brick kilns are female.

Payment mode: In all sectors, it is piece based system of payment. There are penalties for

mistakes and poor quality of produce. The penalty is very high, especially in the carpet

industry. The pay is not according to labor cost. It is calculated to maximize profit for the

employer

Work hours: because it is a piece rate system of payment, in brick kilns workers work for

14-18 hours and in carpet and embroidery for 14 hours per day.
23

4. NGO (4)

Name: Ms. Seema Acharya

Position: Programme Officer (in charge of Dhahding and Kathmandu

Valley, for sectors of mining and entertainment)

Organization: World Education

Location: Café in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, upon return from site visit

Date: March 25, 2008; 2.00 p.m.

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

In mining in stone quarries, there is forced labor - both adults and children. Adults are

involved because they have no other option but to work in this sector - economic

compulsion. Children working in the stone quarries, are also subjected to forced labor.

Parents, particularly single mothers working in stone quarries, cannot earn as much as

they do if they do not bring their children to work with them.

In the entertainment sector and carpet sector, there is forced labor and child labor.

Children are lured by pull factors of coming to the city. Therefore they come for

employment in the carpet sector.

2. What good(s) do they produce?

Stones, sand, slate, and coal (in coalmines) using both forced labor and child labor.

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Goods are mostly for domestic consumption in the construction industry.

4. Who employs them?

See below.

5. How do they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

(Combined response for Q 4 and 5)

There are no employers in the stone quarries. Workers come with their families to

riverbanks and take stone, sand and slate out of the riverbed. There is a contractor who

buys the stones, sand, and slate from the workers and pays them on piece rate. The

contractor does not bring the workers. Migrant and local workers themselves come to the

quarries to work. The contractors take riverbeds on lease as per agreement with the local

government body, the District Development Committee.
24

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used? (e.g. debt bondage, indentured

servitude, caste-based slavery, etc.)

There is no advance given, these are migrant workers and contractors do not trust them

with advances. They only get paid for the amount of goods they produce. There is no

force from the employer. The force is economic compulsion.

Researcher’sComment:

I think the point here is that there is no force from the employer per se. First question and

this both mention force as economic compulsion. It may be worthwhile here for me to

note that when we spoke of forced labor, most respondents perceive it only in terms of

physical force applied by employer. Only once I share the definition of forced labor do

they express force in terms of economic compulsion, as in the case of this respondent

here.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of goods, if at all?

There is no trafficking to the stone quarries but I have heard that in Dhading district,

where stone quarries are along the highway, truck drivers are involved in trafficking girl

from stone quarries to other cities. They sexually exploit the girls in the trucks as well as

take them away to different areas. Truck drivers are mediators in trafficking. Parents are

told that girls will get a good job.

8. Are they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

In cash. Piece rate for every basket or tin of stones collected. Not regular wages. Not

daily. The trucks come sometimes once a week or once a month and whenever they

come, the workers are paid. Wages are paid to entire families as one unit.

9. What tasks do they perform?

In stone quarries, adults and children both collect stones/rocks from the riverbed. They

break them into small pieces using a hammer and a ring to hold the stone in place. They

fill baskets with these stones, stack them (into piles), and load them onto the trucks.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face? (Are

otherelementsof“menaceofpenalty”present,seeabove)?

Physical risk is from the hazardous nature of the work- stone pieces getting into their

eyes, hurting fingers/hands while hammering, and inhaling sand and dust. They also get

backaches.

11. Are they able to leave their workplaces at will? (If so, are other elements of

coercion present, see above)?
25

They can leave at will but there are no other jobs/alternatives for them.

12. What are the environments in which they work?

The environments are not good. They work in the open without shelter, along the

riverbed under the sun. There are no drinking water and no toilets. Even children who do

go to school and work do not attend school regularly. Particularly during festival time,

when they need money, children stop going to school to work full-time in the stone

quarries.

13. In what regions of the country do they work? Do they work in cities or in rural

areas?

They work in rural areas. Stone quarries are only along rivers and therefore in hills. There

are none in the Terai (plains). Districts include Dhading, Kaski, Lalitpur, and

Makwanpur. The stone quarries are in rural areas, in places that are close to urban centers

where large construction work is happening.

14. (For each good), what is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the

good?

There are equal numbers of adults and children in the stone quarries because entire

families are involved. Both males and females work.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced

labor and/or child labor in the production of each good (e.g. boys versus girls,

urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.)?

Large numbers from Janajati (ethnic minority) and Dalit (untouchables) work in the

industry.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in

forced labor and/or child labor in the production of each good?

There maybe about 10,000 children in stone quarries in Nepal. Coal mining is only in two

districts so maybe there are 1,000-2,000 children there and in slate mines about 1,000

children.

Researcher’sComment:

The respondent manages programs in stone quarries and has more information about

this sector. On other sectors she had limited information and I have listed here all the

information that she had on all sectors she mentioned.
26

5. NGO (5)

Name: Ms. Sumnima Tuladhar

Position: Executive Coordinator

Organization: Child Workers in Nepal –Concerned Centre (CWIN)

Location: CWIN office, Rabi Bhawan, Kathmandu

Date: March 25, 2008; 4.00 p.m. (follow up interview on April 30,

2008; 1 p.m.)

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

In brick kilns; stone quarries; carpet weaving, spinning, washing; garments; embroidery;

pashmina shawl weaving, spinning; and small production factories for food items –

breads, biscuits and confectionaries. In agriculture most people are involved –most

forced labor and child labor there. There is also debt bondage in agriculture. In tea there

is forced labor. In Printing Press, children are binding books (adolescents). Rice and other

(grain) mills, children are involved in loading/grinding.

2. What good(s) do they produce?

As above.

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Mostly for domestic consumption. Carpets, pashminas, and garments are for export. I

don’tknowaboutconfectionaries–India gets noodles from Nepal

4. Who employs them?

In many situations, adults and children from rural areas have a middleman, in addition to

the employer. The employer does not deal directly with workers, but middlemen deal

with workers on their wages and physical facilities and supervision etc.

5. How do they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

Inforcedlabor/childlabor,manytimesit’sthroughtraffickingthattheycomeintothis

work. They are deceived about work and wages and brought from rural areas mostly with

fake promises. Adult workers, both men and women, as well as children are trafficked

from rural areas all over the country to urban centres such as Nepalganj, Biratnagar,

Pokhara, Hetauda and Kathmandu. Rural areas typically with access to roads are the main

source of trafficking victims. In the carpet industry for example, adult workers and

children are trafficked, they are deceived about the kind of work they would be engaged

in. From the cases that we rescue, trafficked children and adults come from different

sectors such as carpet, garments, embroidery, stone quarries (very few cases in stone

quarries though).
27

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used? (e.g. debt bondage, indentured

servitude, caste-based slavery, etc.)

It’snotonlycash/advancethatmakesitforced,butit’sanemotionalcommitment.Itis

out of desperation that they give their ownership to the Naike (middleman). Even when

an advance is not given there is a different kind of bondage –just because you need work

sodesperatelyyoudon’taskforanycommitmentforwages.Onetakesthewordofthe

contractor,forwork/wagesatfacevalueandbecome‘indebted’.Forgirls,theadditional

reason why they would go for work with contractors comes from the burden of pleasing

the family and doing something for the family to get them out of the desperate situation.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of goods, if at all?

They (contractors and employers) are bringing adults and children from rural areas to

urban centres to work in forced conditions. Sometimes they are bonded labourers since

there is some amount of money given to parents or relatives against the children.

Employers do not allow workers, children and adults but mostly children, to visit their

families,don’tpaywagesorpaythem intime and make them work under hazardous

conditions. Children and adults are also put in confinement sometimes. We have the case

of wool spinning mills (for carpet industry) in 2004, where we found 27 adults and

children locked up in a basement of the spinning mill without proper ventilation. They

were all brought from villages, they came with dreams about making a life in Kathmandu

city but ended up in such inhuman conditions. They worked and lived in a basement

where they were found locked up and never allowed to go out.

The situation is improving now with the intervention of the Maoist uprising because the

revolutionaries intervened with factories for the rights of the workers. The employers

have become more careful about how they treat the workers. If Maoist find case of

exploitation of workers they can harm the factory itself. They are bargaining for the

rights of workers even in the unorganized sectors. They have also intervened in pashmina

factories. Respondents sister owns a carpet and pashmina shawl factory, that has 16

weavers and the Maoist started unionizing these 16 people as well. So there is a lot of

threat for employers and factory owners who fear severe action from Maiost if found

guilty of ill treating workers. The Maoist also extort money from employers who were

found guilty as well as collect money to support their work of unionizing the workers.

8. Are they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

They do get paid, nowadays more than in the past. Child laborers get cash in hand;

whereas previously, the employer/Naike would pay directly to the parents/relatives,

leaving children without any benefit.

9. What tasks do they perform?
28

In different sectors there is different work. In tea (plantations) children and adults pick

leaves. Adults are also involved in spraying pesticides in the tea gardens without any

safety measures, which is harmful for their health. In bakery and confectionaries, they do

preparatory work for cooking, and cleaning the factories.

In carpet factories, children and adults are weaving, washing, spinning wool,

trimming/leveling the completed carpet.

In brick kilns, children are carrying mud, making bricks, drying them and loading them to

the kilns. Adults do these activities and also engage in baking the bricks in the kiln and

handling the baked bricks- stacking, piling. In stacking and piling children also join in.

The work inside the kiln is only done by adults.

In garment industry children are sowing with machine, stitching buttons and tags.

Cutting, which is a more skilful job is only done by adults.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face? (Are

otherelementsof“menaceofpenalty”present,seeabove)?

There is physical torture –depriving children of food and non-payment of wages for

noncompliance with demands of contractors/employers in sectors such as garments, zari

embroidery, and carpets. This is for both adults and children. We have rescued both

adults and children.

11. Are they able to leave their workplaces at will? (If so, are other elements of

coercion present, see above)?

No, but when the torture gets too much they risk their lives by running away and leave

their earnings behind. By withholding payments and delaying payments the employer

forces workers to continue to work for him.

12. What are the environments in which they work?

They work in very degrading conditions, with poor sanitation and ventilation. In tea

factories, no safety measures against pesticides are taken. There are fewer children but

still, even adults are affected by the pesticides. Workers do not use gloves, masks, or

glasses. Many of them are nearly blind because of the exposure.

13. In what regions of the country do they work? Do they work in cities or in rural

areas?

Everywhere. Most sectors employing forced labor/child labor in production of goods are

in cities. But in agriculture sector, large numbers of forced laborers/child laborers are

present in rural areas.
29

14. (For each good), what is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the

good?

Respondent cannot confirm this for all the goods but in embroidery there are only boys,

young, in the age group 11-16. In garment factories there are more boys and men but in

work that is subcontracted to homes of workers, such as stitching buttons, tags, women

and girls of a household are also employed. In carpet factories which are registered,

children over the age of 14 are found and in those that are not registered younger children

are also involved. Earlier there used to be more girls than boys in carpet weaving.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced

labor and/or child labor in the production of each good (e.g. boys versus girls,

urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.)

In garments, there are more girls than boys. Adolescents, over 12 years old and mixed

caste groups.

In carpet, there are more boys than girls. Above 14 years of age because of stricter

regulations as it has been made an issue, so employers are careful. But many carpet

factories are not registered but subcontracted, home based with contractor and there is

100 percent child labor there.

The more organized the sector, more chances of boys employed than girls.

Earlier there were more adults and children from Tamang ethnic group in carpet work but

nowit’samixedcastegroup.

In confectionary, there are more boys than girls working. They are mostly the urban poor

and come from different caste groups.

In tea, mostly children above 12 years are found because of stricter enforcement, so few

children under 14. There are more boys than girls on tea plantations in Eastern Nepal.

Adults and children from poor families belonging to different caste groups in the Eastern

region (where there are tea plantations) are working in the tea plantations.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in

forced labor and/or child labor in the production of each good?

In carpet, 30 percent of the workforce is children. Not all adults are under forced labor,

many are family enterprises.

In garments, there are fewer children than adults. After carpet surveillance increased,

many workers shifted to garments. Now garment industry is also collapsing.

She cannot provide an estimate for bakery, confectionary and tea.
30

6. NGO (6)

Name: Mr. Jeevan Bista

Position: Chairman/Executive Producer

Organization: Society of Development Journalist –Nepal (SODEJ)

Location: SODEJ Office, Kalikasthan, Kathmandu

Date: March 31, 2008; 11.00 a.m. (follow up telephone interview on

May 2, 2008)

Researcher’sNote:

The interviewee was anxious and concerned about how findings from this research would

be used. He is worried that a one-sidedpicture,presentingindividualemployersas‘bad’

instead of focusing on poor governance, would lead to ineffective clamping of industries

and factories that would ultimately harm the workers and children. He proposes that the

high incidence of child labor and bondage in the country should be understood in the

context of poor governance whereby there is no support to industries to ensure they

adhere to appropriate labor standards. He suggests that interventions should be planned

in collaboration with industries and employers, encouraging them to adopt labor

standards and creating an environment for the same through good governance. He is

very worried that this research may lead to imposition of sanctions similar to those

imposed on the carpet sector that in his opinions have harmed the workers and the

industry in the absence of proper governance.

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

In agriculture, children are involved in working for the landlord as support to the parents.

In the house of the landlords very small numbers of children are working now. Children

are working on their own family farms, not so much for landlords anymore. So, children

do livestock and agricultural work on their own land to support their parents.

Worst forms of child labor are found in hotels and restaurants, and brick kilns. They have

dual type of involvement. In bricks, they work on a commission basis: for x number of

bricks produced, y payment is made. So entire families, including children work to

produce the x quantity. Another form of involvement includes single migrant children,

older children 13-14 years old and above, who work for independent wages under a

contractor and are only partially paid for food and shelter and intermittent expenses.

In stone quarries, the same happens –a family is involved and children join in. Roughly

50 percent of the stone quarries have school programs run by NGOs and the government.

Sonowthechangemeanschildrendon’tjustwork,theyalsogotoschool.Duringoffschool hours they work.

In carpets in the informal sector, in unregistered and unregulated (factories) there are

child laborers.
31

In production of metal grills for use in the construction of houses and building, children,

mostly boys are involved in welding iron. Grill production in Kathmandu and urban

centers involves children over 12 years old, so they can handle machinery. They are

single migrant children from no specific community.

Child labor is also found in production of bakery and confectionery goods and in the

packaging tea.

2. What good(s) do they produce?

Same as above.

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Bricks are for domestic consumption only. The carpets are for both, export and domestic

consumption.

4. Who employs them?

In bricks, the owner of the kiln gives contract to a contractor. The contractor then is the

employer for the workers.

Researcher’sComment:

The respondent has more experience with and information on brick kilns. So we just

focused on this sector.

5. How do they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

There are two ways by which children come to be involved in these occupations: 1) with

parents- typical in agriculture and stone quarries; and 2) when employers pay a contractor

to recruit workers –typical in carpet and other factories which are located in specific

urban/semi-urban areas. Single children are often those who initially came with parents

but were deserted due to divorce/remarriage.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used? (e.g. debt bondage, indentured

servitude, caste-based slavery, etc.)

It is general forced labour. Workers come from the hill-side, mid western and eastern

sides and they include low caste communities and Dalits and also high caste workers.

There is a caste based slavery. Mostly they come because they are very poor. Normally in

brick kilns there is debt bondage. Before workers depart for home after season they take

advance and then because of this advance they have to come back to work with the

contractor. If contractors exchange laborers they have to pay off the debt of the laborer. If

one family earns roughly 10k in one season, their debt will not be more than 10,000. It is

basically a salary paid in advance. But it makes them bonded. Its not a serious problem in
32

bricks.It’soptional.Someworkerstakeandsomedon’t.Thosewhodon’ttakeadvance,

they get salary at the end of the season. There is 2 way compulsion, labor is not easily

available, so contractors cannot cheat the labor so much.

They are dependent on labor.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of goods, if at all?

Trafficking,Idon’tknow.Thereisverylittletraffickinginbricksandcarpets.Sexual

harassment is less in work environment (areas). There is very little trafficking in brick

kilns but high level of sexual exploitation.

Researcher’sNote: The interviewee like many other interviewees tended to think of

trafficking only in the context of commercial sexual exploitation and does not consider

those cases where children are brought by contractor against advances paid to parents

as trafficking.

8. Are they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

All payment in brick kilns is made at the end of the season. The contractor also gives an

advance to the laborer along with payment (made at the end of the season) to ensure that

laborers come again (to the same contractor). At the time of giving this advance, the

contractor bargains with the laborers such that in the agreement they work below the

standard (market) rate. The standard (market) rate is NR 265 (approx. USD 4.4) per

thousand bricks produced in the pre-baking stage. This is about 50 percent less than the

minimum wage. A family of two adults and three or four children can make more than

1,000 bricks per day. Workers have no trust in government (administration) so if they

have a conflict they would approach local political leaders.

9. What tasks do they perform?

Both adults and children mold bricks. Husbands prepare the clay, mixing water and clay.

Wives and children mold the clay into bricks. Older children, 12 and above are also

involved in portering the bricks from where they dried the bricks to the chimneys, carry

them about 100-300 meters. In the chimneys, for baking the bricks only adult males

work. Adult women carry baked bricks along with men from inside the chimney to

outside. Children are mostly not involved in the portering baked bricks from chimney to

stacks. This is a work that requires speed, has to be done fast because the earnings of

workers depend upon number of bricks they are producing per day. Children cannot do

this work at this speed hence only adults do this work.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face? (Are

otherelementsof“menaceofpenalty”present,seeabove)?

Most children want to go to school. Fifty percent attended school before coming to the

brick kilns. Once in kilns only a few are able to study –those whose parents are
33

concerned. But there is the problem of migration –six months here (in brick kilns) and

six months there (back in villages).

In the evenings, the environment in the brick kilns is tense because of alcoholism and

fighting. It gives psychological stress to children. Physical stress includes long working

hours, injuries, and problems with asthma because of pollution. They hardly get regular

vaccinations except maybe (against) Polio.

There is no punishment from employers.

11. Are they able to leave their workplaces at will? (If so, are other elements of

coercion present, see above)?

Eighty to 90 percent of the workers, including children, are free to leave their work. The

small percentage that are not free to leave is because of the withholding of payment.

In brick kilns, contractors make advance payments to workers and even if they want to

leave the work, the payment is withheld. They are not bonded but cannot move because

of the money. One contractor can take workers of another contractor by paying off the

advance to the new contractor (and in this way, workers move from one site to another).

In brick kilns, it is a seasonal job, only performed in winters. In summers they go back to

their villages. They might be involved in any other sector back home. In brick kilns, they

are able to save some money to last them in the non-brick season. There is less

exploitation in agriculture since it is hard to get labor in agriculture. In agriculture they

earn NR 100-200 (approx. USD 1.6 –USD 3.3) per day, which is more than what they

get in bricks (calculated per day), not long working hours, normally eight hours per day,

plus they get food from employers. In bricks, they end up earning more per day because

payment is piece based not hours of work and they end up working more hours.

Researcher’sComment:

Payment in agriculture is based on daily wage and for a fixed amount of 8 hours of work

per day. Whereas in Brick Kilns the payment is based on piece rate. In 8 hours, the

amount of brick produced per person is worth less than what one could have earned in 8

hours in agriculture work. However, since brick kiln workers work more than 8 hours a

day, they end up producing more bricks in a day than possible in 8 hours and earn more

in a day than what they would earn as agricultural workers.

12. What are the environments in which they work?

There is dust everywhere. There is no drink-able water available, workers only have poor

qualitywater.Theydon’thavetoilets.Theyliveinsmallhuts,whereentirefamiliessleep

andcook.It’sjustapileofbricksforwallandroofismadeofplasticandsomeiron

material(Ican’tunderstandtheNepalesewordheusestodescribethis material made of

iron that is used in the roof).
34

13. In what regions of the country do they work? Do they work in cities or in rural

areas?

Brick kilns are found in all urban and semi-urban areas since there is no long

transportation of bricks

14. (For each good), what is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the

good?

In brick kilns among children, there are equal numbers of boys and girls involved.

Average age of working children is above six or seven years. Above 14-15 years of age

children normally start working independently, outside of the kilns.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced

labor and/or child labor in the production of each good (e.g. boys versus girls,

urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.)?

Children and adult bonded laborers come from all communities, high caste, low caste are

involved. Dominance is Dalit andlowcastebecausetheydon’tgetjobsinothersectors.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in

forced labor and/or child labor in the production of each good?

According to CONCERN Nepal, there are 60,000 children under 14 years old in brick

kilns in Nepal. (His organization does not have its own estimates for child labor and in

their work, they follow estimates provided by ILO)

Some issues the interviewee wants to mention:

1) the problem of child labor/forced labor in Nepal must be understood in the context of

poverty and poor governance in the country.

2) interventions should be careful –not to hurt the laborers, for example through trade

sanctions, etc.

3) interventions should emphasize awareness and mobilization.

4) the Government of Nepal budget for development is less than the total funding to the

NGOs. NGO accountability is low and monitoring is poor.

5) workers are exploited because of weak governance system. All brick kilns are illegalall brick kilns should be registered and regulated simultaneously, at the same time and

with equal criteria. So that competitive advantage would be the same. Employers are not

at fault, they are only stuck in a highly competitive market.
35

7. NGO (7)

Name: Mr. Subodh Raj Pyakurel

Position: Chairperson

Organization: Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC)

Location: INSEC Office, Kalanki, Kathmandu

Date: March 31, 2008; 3 p.m.

Researcher’sNote:Therespondenthadlimitedtimeforthisinterviewandweagreedto

cover broad topics from the list of questions. Since format was not followed in interview,

I have given sub heads .

Sectors where child labor/forced labor is used:

Bonded labor is found in agriculture, zari embroidery, and in carpet ancillary units. The

employers give a monetary advance to parents and bring children to work. The

remuneration is so low plus they charge interest on the advance. Parents need money

again (after the end of contract period) and then again they get an advance from

contractors.

Child laborers in agriculture are not in good condition but at least they are able to get two

meals a day –even those working under landlords. Food quality may not be good and

they would be out of school. Because work in the agriculture sector is not considered

hazardous, no one is paying attention to it. These are the children most vulnerable to

trafficking –external and internal –getting into worst forms of child labor.

I am most worried about children in the service sector. After the insurgency, large

numbers of people moved to Kathmandu (valley), lots of children were brought by these

migrant middle class people, without paying any advance to the parents. Parents were

relieved. In conflict areas there is no education, etc. Parents thought that by sending

children with these migrating families, at least their child would be safe from the conflict.

So children ended up working as domestic laborersinthosepeople’shomes.From1996

onwards this started. None of them got any education, they came at age 10 and now they

are 20 years old. They moved from one house to another, one employer to another. Girls

tend to stick to one employer. Many girls moved from domestic work to bars and

restaurants where a large number of them are sexually exploited.

How do workers come to be involved in this type of labor:

In bricks, suppose a contractor brings a child by giving NR 5,000 (approx. USD 83) to

parents and says the child will work for three months. In three months, the employer

(contractor) can show that child worked for less than NR 5,000 (approx. USD 83) worth

of bricks and brings the child back and gives a new advance to the parents. Too much

interest is charged, calculated per season (not per annum) amounting to nearly 100

percent. All power is with the lender.
36

There are two systems of employment in agriculture in villages: 1) annual payment

contract where workers work against fixed amount of grains and 2) fixed land is given for

ownusetoworkersagainstthisthelaborerhastoworkonthelandlord’sland.Entire

familiesareexpectedtoworkunderbothsystems.Inthelatter,theworkersdon’tgetany

time to do work on their own land. All family members are involved in all kinds of workflattening rice, cleaning rice, digging, everything. These systems are not restricted to

Kamaiya system but are pervasive in agriculture work in Nepal. The difference with

Kamaiya is in terminology and in it being more organized.

In places where the NGOs are intervening, the incidence of debt bondage is reducing

especially in urban centers. But in peripheral areas, even like Bhaktapur, exploitation is

very high. No minimum wages are paid in brick kilns. Most workers are also neither

aware of their wages nor about how much advance/interest they have –they just listen to

the contractor and accept their.

What type of forced labor exists?

Employers treat the advance as debt –this is the basis of bondage and this justifies long

working hours. Coercion is from the advance treated as debt with high interest.

Which communities are most vulnerable to child labor/forced labor?

The communities that are most vulnerable are the indigenous communities. In zari

making there are more Madhesi (Madhes is the term used to describe people living in the

Terai/plains. Similarly, Pahadi is the term used for people living in/from the hills) from

the Terai region. Very few are from high castes. In bricks there are mostly workers from

indigenous communities from west and mid west region. Both boys and girls.

Estimates

In terms of estimates, 5,000-12,000 children are trafficked every year to India for zari. I

myself was involved in rescuing some children when news about a group of children

being trafficked from Nepal to India by train reached me through another NGO. When

we intervened and tried to rescue the children, the parents criticized us. They said it was

none of our business to stop their children from going to India to work and earn a living

and that they had consented to the children being taken to India. The police also told us

that there was nothing we could do in this case.

The respondent does not have estimates on child labor/forced labor. Suggests I refer to

ILO estimates.
37

8. NGO (8)

Name: Mr. Rajendra Manandhar

Position: Programme Manager

Organization: Save the Children - Japan

Location: Save the Children - Japan, Baluwatar, Kathmandu

Date: March 28, 2008; 5 p.m.

Researcher’sNote:Save the Children Japan is not working on child labor or forced

labor issues. However they have conducted a study (included in Annotated Bibliography)

to show how children out of school should be considered as child labor. Their focus is on

providing education to children. The respondent did not have much information or

experience with issues related to adult labor but knew a bit more about child labour.

Mostquestionsthatareunansweredareprimarilyduetorespondents’lackoffamiliarity

with the issue and partly because he did not have much time for this interview. I

considered interviewing him nonetheless because of the report they had published and

because, among all the country chapters of Save the Children, only the Japan chapter

had any programme (albeit indirect) with child laborers. This interview could be

completeddeletedbutIfinditusefulinthatit’stheonlyonewherethepesticidesectoris

dwelled on.

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

In brick kilns in rural and urban areas; in carpets in urban areas; in bidi (cigarette)

making, mostly in villages, home based; in stones in villages, breaking stones and

collecting sand. In garments, there are many children employed, not trafficked. They are

primarily boys. In the garment sector, there is no advance, no trafficking and no forced

labor, though they work long hours. They also work in motorcycle workshops. For

agriculture, many children seasonally migrate to India with adults for harvesting in

Punjab.

In the field we see many children go to work in brick factories. When we ask parents to

sendchildrentoschoolparentssaidtheywon’tgettoeat.Butwithincreasedinteraction

with us, we explained to them that adult wages are low because of child labor. We could

convince parents to send children to schools, then employers had to pay more (to adults)

and they did. Children also had independent earnings in brick kilns –for carrying 1,000

bricks they get NR 60 (approx. USD 1) or less.

In the bidi sector, children are paid in cash. There is no advance. Children are mostly out

ofschools.Theyworkintheowner’shome,rollingbidi and get paid on piece rate basis.

Theydon’tworkaspartoffamilylabor.Childrenworkinginbidiindustryareasyoung

as seven to eight years old and they are both boys and girls. Employers are mostly

wealthy villagers who are local people. I have seen in Terai districts of Barah and Rohtat.

Children are involved in packaging of poisonous pesticides –to kill rats etc. –in

factories. Such factories operate in houses, small establishments in Kathmandu area.
38

Children inhale the poisonous dust. I have seen personally in Kathmandu, even adults are

working in this sector. In one site I saw only two to three children were employed. Not

many people work in a unit. I have seen this is Naradevi area of Kathmandu city, which

isneartheBagmatiriver.Idon’tknowtheprofileofthesechildren.Theywere14years

and over but younger children are also there where mothers and daughters are involved.

They are the poorest. They were from the hills not Terai.

2. What good(s) do they produce?

Bricks, stones, garments, carpets, bidi, pesticides

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

N/A, Researcher did not have time to ask.

4. Who employs them?

N/A, Researcher did not have time to ask.

5. How do they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

Ingarmentindustry,children’suncles,fathersandneighborswhoarealreadyemployed

in garment factories, bring these boys along when they turn 12.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used? (e.g. debt bondage, indentured

servitude, caste-based slavery, etc.)

Itisnotforcedlabor.That’sonlyin Kamaiya and Kamalari (systems). Maybe I lack

knowledge. Though Kamaiya is abolished, in practice it continues. Other forms of labor

in Far Western region, such as Haliya, Huruwa and Charuwaha has forced labor.

Debt bondage is found in the Kamaiya system.Idon’tknowmuch.InKamaiya system,

parents/grandparents have taken loans and keep taking loans and it gets bigger and

bigger. There is an agreement that loaner and entire family is employed. The loan is in

written form. Kamaiya is mostly among the Tharu in the far West. Other communities are

involved in debt bondage under employers in agriculture as well as homes of employers.

They are mostly Dalit form the hills. Both boys and girls are involved. In Kamalari

system only girls are involved. It is forced labor. Parents take an amount for one year,

every year the agreement is renewed. Kamaiya agreements are for generations, all family

members are involved.

Researcher’sComment:

This is the respondents view. Again is a case of limited understanding of what constitutes

forced labor. The sectors he mentioned above are all child labor related. According to

respondent forced labor is found only in the case of the Kamaiya system. There is far
39

more information and understanding of the Kamaiya system among most respondents,

given the fact that it was popularized by movements, campaigns and by legislation.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of goods, if at all?

In magazines I have read about trafficking in carpet factories.

8. Are they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Response included in Answer to Question 1

9. What tasks do they perform?

Response included in Answer to Question 1

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face? (Are

otherelementsof“menaceofpenalty”present,seeabove)?

N/A Respondent could not answer

11. Are they able to leave their workplaces at will? (If so, are other elements of

coercion present, see above)?

Workers are not free to leave the employer in Kamaiya system. But now it is abolished,

but still continues since many are not resettled. Children under this system are involved

in agriculture work, grazing cattle, collecting firewood, and picking lentils. These are

smallplantssochildrencando(canpickthem).Forrice,it’sdifficultforchildrentopick.

Even children going to school work seasonally in picking lentils. They are not bonded

laborers but during the season they do not go to school but pick lentils.

12. What are the environments in which they work?

In the pesticides factories, conditions are very bad. Damp and cold room, workers sit on

the floor, fill poison dust into polythene bags, weigh them and seal them.

13. In what regions of the country do they work? Do they work in cities or in rural

areas?

N/A Researcher did not have time to ask this question.

14. (For each good), what is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the

good?

N/A Researcher did not have time to ask this question.
40

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced

labor and/or child labor in the production of each good (e.g. boys versus girls,

urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.)

N/A Researcher did not have time to ask this question.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in

forced labor and/or child labor in the production of each good?

N/A respondent is unable to estimate, suggests referring to ILO documents.
41

Trade Unions

9. Trade Union (1)

Name: Mr. Tej Prasad Rijal

Position: Chairperson

Organization: Nepal Embroidery, Handicrafts and Sewing-Knitting Workers

Union (affiliated with the Nepal Trade Union Congress -

NTUC).

Location: NTUC office, Kupondole, Lalitpur, Kathmandu

Date: March 5, 2008; 2.30 p.m.

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

Child labor is found in transport, embroidery, carpet (some), stone quarries, metal

handicrafts, brick kilns, construction, domestic services and in hotels and restaurants.

Forced labor (I had to provide definition) is found in Kamaiya system in agriculture.

There are no children in the Kamaiya system. (He says he knows less about forced labor).

2. What good(s) do they produce?

In the embroidery sector, children produce embroidery on sarees, salwar-kurta, and

pashmina shawls. In the carpet sector, they produce carpets; bricks in brick kilns,

household decoration items in metal handicrafts sector.

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Embroidery on sarees, etc. is for domestic markets all over Nepal in the 75 districts.

Carpets are for export mainly but also for domestic market. Chinese/Tibetan carpets are

more popular in the domestic market.

4. Who employs them?

In the embroidery sector, most employers are Indians who have moved to Nepal and set

up embroidery units. They come from the bordering states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in

India. They are small entrepreneurs who take orders (for sarees) from retailers and

wholesalers –more wholesalers from big cities such as Kathmandu and Pokhara. The

retailer and wholesalers give sarees (material only) and sometimes also designs for

embroidery to the employer. The employer then gets his workers (children included) to

make the required embroidery on the sarees.

In the carpet sector, the employers are Nepalese and some Tibetan settlers/refugees. Most

child laborers are employed in the homes of contractors who have been contracted by big

carpet industrialists.
42

In the stone quarries, contractors of construction of houses and buildings employ

workers, including children in the quarrying of stones.

In the metal handicrafts sector, contractors who get orders from different shop-owners for

special handicrafts employ workers/children.

5. How do they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

In the embroidery sector, the employers directly recruit children. They get them from the

villages. The employer tells the parents that he will train their children for one year.

Sometimes he gives an advance to the parents for taking their children. In such cases,

childrenaftergettingtrainedforoneyear,start‘earning’.Theirwagesarecalculatedona

piece rate basis and they are only paid at the time when they return back to their

home/villages. He also deducts the advance from these wages.

In majority of the cases an advance is given. An advance is given to ensure that children

continue to work. Once a child returnshomeanddoesn’tcomebacktotheemployer,the

employer visits the parents again and gives them another advance so that their child

would have to go and work for him again. We have surveyed in villages and found out

that once children return home, they do not want to go back to the employer because he

beats them. We also found that the employer again goes to the parents, he knows the

parents are desperate (majboor) and gives them an advance and takes the children with

him.

In metal handicrafts, we have not researched this sector much but we have found that

children and adults from Dalit castes (untouchables) who also worked in metal tool

manufacturing back in their villages - producing agricultural implements, knives –are

brought by the contractors to Lalitpur (in Kathmandu). He teaches them the work and

employsthem.Wedon’tknowifanyadvanceisgiven.Childrenarenotaccompaniedby

adults from their families but other adults are also employed. In metal handicrafts there

are more adult workers than children, the opposite of embroidery sector.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used? (e.g. debt bondage, indentured

servitude, caste-based slavery, etc.)

Children cannot leave the embroidery units because of the advance that employers have

given to the parents. In whichever sector employment involves an advance the children

cannot leave the employer. The children cannot leave at any cost. If they leave, then the

employer will try to get the advance back from the parents in whichever way. We have

seen a case where a child about 15-16 years old, ran away from an embroidery unit. The

employer got hold of his older brother who worked as an electrician nearby and

threatened the brother, called the police who also threatened the brother and forcibly got

the money (advance) back from the brother.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of goods, if at all?
43

Trafficking is relevant in the case of Nepalese children trafficked to India for (work in)

the circuses. In embroidery sector also many children are trafficked from India (to Nepal)

but when we survey we can see that children are forced to say they are Nepalese and not

Indian.

(Researcher asked if the advance related employment of children in embroidery

constitutes trafficking and the respondent says it could be possible).

8. Are they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

In the embroidery sector, for the first year, when they are kept as trainees, they get no

salary. Even though what the embroidery children do (during this trainee period) is not on

practice pieces but on final pieces (products), children work for free. After about a year

they start earning. At the maximum a child earns NR 1,500 (approx. USD 25) a month

but this salary is not paid every month. The employer gives the children NR 50 (approx.

USD 0.8) or so every week to watch movies or maybe NR 200-400 (approx. USD 3.3 –

USD 6.6) sporadically. He provides only food and shelter and pays once a year to the

parents when he visits them in the villages. The employer we met yesterday (Bhaktapur),

was lying about the wages and also about the work hours. Children work from early

hours of the morning, till past midnight, often up to one or two in the morning. With the

union’sintervention, now the employers have stopped beating children but earlier even

that used to happen. In one case a landlord in whose house the employer was running an

embroidery unit, complained to the trade union that the employer beats the children. The

union intervened, threatened and beat up the employer and took him to the police station

where he was kept overnight in custody. After this the employer shut down his factory

and ran away. At that time, he had eight children employed in his unit and he gave them

away to another employer. Two of these children were a bit older and went back to their

homes.

Children are given food, the expenses for which are deducted at the rate of NR 200

(approx. USD 3.3) to 250 (approx. USD 4) per week. This money is actually added to the

advance against the child by which he ensures that child continues to work for him even

after completing training –duringwhichtimethechilddoesn’tearnanything.

9. What tasks do they perform?

Embroidery factories: the children do embroidery with sequins (sitara), beads (jari pote)

and stones.

Metal handicrafts: children hammer metal into shapes, make designs on them with small

hammers and sharp tools.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face? (Are

other elementsof“menaceofpenalty”present,seeabove)?
44

Physical stress faced by child workers is the stress of work and of beatings. Emotionally,

thestressofwork,nevergettingtogooutorplay,childrencraveforfreetimebutdon’t

get it.

11. Are they able to leave their workplaces at will? (If so, are other elements of

coercion present, see above)?

No. They are only allowed one holiday on Saturdays when they go to watch movies. He

(employer)doesn’tallowthechildrentoleave.Thepenaltyisthepayment of advance.

12. What are the environments in which they work?

Working conditions in the embroidery sector are very bad. Dark and dirty rooms; work

and sleep in the same room. In metal handicrafts, its is also bad but not as bad as the

embroidery sector.

13. In what regions of the country do they work? Do they work in cities or in rural

areas?

Embroidery factories are mostly in the Terai region (plains). We estimate that

embroidery factories are in 30-40 districts of the country. They are mostly in urban, semiurban centers but employ workers from villages. The districts include: in the Kathmandu

valley (Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur), Kavre (Banepa), Chitwan (Narayanghat),

Nawalparasi (Kawasoti), Rupandehi (Butawal), Sunsari (Itahari, Dharan), Mohotari

(Jaleshwar, goshala), Siraha (Lahan), Saptari (Rajbiraj), Morang (Biratnagar), Jhapa

(katkarbitta), Kaski (Pokhara, Mahendrapul).

Handicrafts factories are mostly found in Kathmandu valley, but workers come from

villages in different districts.

Carpet factories are in Kathmandu valley, districts Banepa, Makwanpur, Sarlahi, Chitwan

and Pokhara.

14. (For each good), what is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the

good?

Embroidery- only boys, aged eight to14 mostly, fewer in the age group 14-18 and under

eight.

Handicrafts –only boys, aged 12 and over.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced

labor and/or child labor in the production of each good (e.g. boys versus girls,

urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.)
45

In embroidery, it is almost exclusively boys, from rural areas, many Muslims (minority

community) and from among Hindus, mixed caste groups.

In handicrafts, its only boys, from rural areas, Dalit (untouchables) specifically

Vishwakarma and Sarki caste groups traditionally associated with metal work in their

villages.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in

forced labor and/or child labor in the production of each good?

According to our survey, there are 1,200 embroidery units in Nepal employing about

7,500 children under 18 years of age. Almost all children are employed against advances

given to parents. (This is not based on a formal survey, they have made sporadic visits in

all districts to collect this information).

10. Trade Union (2)

Name: Jaya Bahadur Yonjan, aged 33, male

Position: General Secretary

Organization: Carpet Workers Union (affiliated with the Nepal Trade Union

Congress - NTUC).

Location: Bhaktapur, while on site visits

Date: March 14, 2008; 11.30 a.m.

Researcher’sComment:

The respondent has most experience of and information on the carpet industry and

hence focus of the interview was on carpet industry.

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

In carpet sector.

2. What tasks do they perform?

In carpet factories, children are engaged in weaving carpets as well as rolling cotton and

woolen threads (spinning). They also do any other work the contractor gives them.

3. What good(s) do they produce?

Carpets.

4. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

For export mostly, though some are for the local market.

5. Who employs them?
46

6. How do they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

7. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used? (e.g. debt bondage, indentured

servitude, caste-based slavery, etc.)

8. How is trafficking in persons related to forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of goods, if at all?

9. Are they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Researcher’sNote:Respondent has given a combined response to Questions 5, 6, 7, and

9. On question 8, regarding trafficking, the respondent is unaware of the issue.

The contractor brings children and adult workers from the villages. When he brings

children, the verbal agreement is that for the first three months the children will work for

free, but will be given food and shelter. After that they are paid between NR 500 (approx.

USD 8.3) –NR 1,200 (approx. USD 20) per month. It is not paid monthly but given (as

consolidated) toparentsatthetimethecontractorvisitsthevillage.Wedon’tknowhow

often he makes the payment. Payment is adjusted against the advance (advance amount is

deducted from the final wage calculation). Advance ranges from NR 2,000 (approx. USD

33) –NR 10,000 (approx. USD 167). It is a case of (debt) bonded labor and children

cannot leave the workplace.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face? (Are

otherelementsof“menaceofpenalty”present,seeabove)?

Work hours are from two a.m. to midnight, with three to four hours of sleep. The

childrenarebeatenontheirhandsiftheydon’tworkwell.Theydon’tgetaweekly

holiday.

11. Are they able to leave their workplaces at will? (If so, are other elements of

coercion present, see above)?

If a child leaves, then the contractor can threaten his/her parents to return the advance.

Often parents then take an advance from another contractor to return the previous

advance and then give their child to the new contractor.

12. What are the environments in which they work?

It is not a good environment. Every day children only eat daal-bhaat (lentils and rice).

For sleeping, the left over wool is used to make a bed for the children on which they

sleep. They sleep in the same place (room) where they work. Two to three children share

one blanket. Threads used for knotting/ weaving regularly cuts their fingers. All day they

sit kneeling in front of the looms, knotting (weaving) away. They have a mat on which

they sit on the floor.

13. In what regions of the country do they work? Do they work in cities or in rural

areas?
47

In Kathmandu city, especially in the areas of Boudha, Jorpatti, Swayambhu, Banasthali,

Chakrapath, Mahaankaal, Attarkhel, Mulpaani. Elsewhere in the valley, the factories are

in Bhaktapur district (Suryavinayak, Kamalvinayak, Sallaghari, Jagati, New Thimi, Old

Thimi, Bode); in Lalitpur district (satdobato, Jwalakhel, Bhainsepati, Nakku, Chyasal,

Imatol); and other districts include Kavre, Makwanpur, Sindhupalchowk, Saralahi,

Dhading, Jhapa, Pokhara, Chitwan, Nepalganj, Nuwakot.

The children working in the factories are never from the areas where the factories are

located, but come from far off villages.

14. (For each good), what is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the

good?

Both boys and girls are engaged in carpet factories. Children from the age of 10 and

above.

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced

labor and/or child labor in the production of each good (e.g. boys versus girls,

urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.)

They are mostly from adivasi communities (tribal), Janajati (indigenous, ethnic groups)

such as Tamang, Rai, Limbu, Gurung, Magar, Tharu, Chapang, and Chowdhury. Also

Dalit (untouchables) are engaged.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in

forced labor and/or child labor in the production of each good?

Earlier we had data but increasingly it is difficult to obtain data because contractor and

workers lie (about the age of children and incidence of child labor), due to increasing

media and other attention to child labor in the carpet factories. But I would estimate that

between 35,000-40,000 children are engaged in carpet factories in Nepal.
48

11. Trade Union (3)

Name: Mr. Bishnu Rimal

Position: General Secretary

Organization: General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT)

Location: GEFONT, Putalisadak, Kathmandu

Date: March 28, 2008; 6 p.m.

Researcher’sNote:Ididnotfollowquestion-answer formatasperrespondents’comfort.

I have inserted sub-heads.

Sectors employing child labor:

Child labor in big numbers is found in agriculture. Then in construction, transport,

domestic labor, street vending, brick kilns, and stone/sand quarries. Carpets are a

traditionalchildlaborindustrybutthenumberoffactoriesarereducingandthat’swhy

the number of child laborers in the carpet sector is reducing. Maybe this is also because

of activism and compulsion of employers. A major export country is Germany and we

can only sell RugMarkcarpetstothemthereforetherecan’tbechildlabor(inRugMark

factories).

In zari embroidery too there is child labor but this sector is not under trade union

movementandtherehasbeeninsufficientintervention.Idon’t think there are any

children in garment manufacturing.

Forced labor in Nepal:

The system of recruitment is that of forced labor. Somehow up to 1990 the tendency was

that people came to Kathmandu for jobs and now they go abroad. Earlier, poor people

asked people in services and professionals to take their children for work. Either the

gentle people took their children or parents fell under debt trap. Some parents approach

middlemen to provide jobs to children in construction, etc. The economic compulsion has

become part of a culture. Middlemen and employers exploit this culture/psychology.

They offer advance and promise of wages to parents against children. Middlemen operate

in sectors of carpet, brick kilns, domestic work and construction. Some children are under

trafficking conditions. Children are trafficked from different rural areas to urban centres.

In carpet, previously, middlemen got advance from employers. He would give little of the

advance to the workers and only pay them survival money.

Characteristics of laborers: age, gender, ethnicity:

There are more girls than boys in carpet work. There are mixed ethnic and caste groups

working in carpet factories. Generally laborers are recruited from eastern and central

hills, not Terai, and factories are in the Kathmandu valley. Weavers and spinners are

from the hills while coloring and dyeing is done by the Terai people. We lobbied against
49

the peshgi (advance) system of owners giving advances to the contractors in the carpet

sector.

In brick kilns, equal numbers of boys and girls work and whole families are employed.

After the Maoist insurgency, from the western hill region of Rolpa and Rukum districts,

displaced people came to urban centers to work in brick kilns, mostly in Kathmandu

(valley). In Nepalganj, only single Muslim men work in brick kilns and their sons, not

daughters. In Eastern Nepal there are many Indian migrant workers in brick kilns. Skilled

jobs are performed by Indian and manual by Nepalese. The contractor/middlemen are the

employers basically. All agreements on advance are verbal and contractors withhold

payments to keep workers, season after season.

System of advance:

Now the workers get the advance and weekly food expenses. There is no withholding of

payment and they are free to leave. There is no bondage in carpet. There is forced labor

in carpet because of social obligation. Also people may not leave the carpet job since they

may not get other jobs. Employers, middlemen exploit social links and dependency.

Nature of bonded labor in Agriculture:

In agriculture, there are three types of terminology in Nepalese- 1) Khaitala- those who

work on agricultural fields, these are daily wage workers; 2) Gothala-those who herd

cattle and 3) Naukar –those who work as domestic workers and also plough the land.

In gothala, there are mostly children, attached with their bonded or non-bonded parents.

Landlords ask for children (of adult workers) to work for them and children do all three

types of work. Very few children are involved in khaitalaonlytypeofwork.It’smostly

during harvest and cultivation season, but the number of children in Khaitala is small.

Most children are found as gothala, they are not paid any wages, only get meals. Whether

under bondage or not, children work for the same landlord as their parents. In agriculture,

they are involved in production of food grains such as wheat, rice, lentils and even

sugarcane.

Kamaiya is a long-term contract between landlord and worker. It involves once a year

payment in cash and kind.

Menace of penalty:

Menace of penalty has overall reduced except in the form of withholding payments.

There is physical assault in the case of the carpet industry. In the haliya (ploughmen)

bonded system in agriculture, if the contract is breeched there is social boycott of the

worker. In Kamaiya areas, due to social activism now such menace is impossible. It is the

victory of the movement. Many are however forced to go back into the Kamaiya system

because there are no alternatives for their employment and livelihood.
50

United Nations

12. UN (1)

Names: Mr. Shengjie Li and Mr. Uddhav Raj Poudyal

Position: Director ILO office in Nepal and Chief Technical AdvisorIPEC/SECBL

Organization: ILO-Nepal

Location: ILO-Nepal office, Dhobhighat, Kathmandu

Date: March 20, 2008; 10.00 a.m.

Researcher’sNote:

This interview was not conducted in strict order of our list of questions. Many answers

were under first section which I have now moved under appropriate questions. Those that

are left out are because of time constraints

1. In what occupations/activities do forced labor victims and/or children work?

In brick kilns, carpets and embroidery there is child labor, forced labor and also some

trafficking. In stone quarries, cattle herding (dairy products) and agriculture there is child

labor. In stone quarries there is no forced labor but in cattle rearing and agriculture under

the Kamaiya system there was and continues in some places debt bondage.

In stone quarries there is lots of child labor. In animal rearing for dairy products, there is

both child labor and bonded child labor.

In the brick kilns, the employers are Nepalese and they recruit children. There are few

factories as joint ventures between Nepalese and Indians or Chinese. Brick kiln industries

can be classified as organized or unorganized. The organized ones include big factories

that are regulated by the state labour department. The unorganized are registered kilns but

not under labor regulation. The regulated ones are registered under the Industrial Act and

therefore are part of the formal sector and these big factories do not have child labor or

forced labor. Small factories are only registered under the local government, the District

Development Committee.

2. What good(s) do they produce?

Bricks, carpets, stones, dairy products, and food products (unspecified).

3. Are goods for domestic consumption or export?

Carpets are for export and domestic consumption. Other goods are for domestic

consumption.

4. Who employs them?
51

In carpet, the employer is the owner of the carpet factory. He usually has a contractor

who recruits laborers for him and under the contractor there is a supervisor.

In the embroidery sector, in some cases the employer directly recruits workers but it is

mostly a contractor who recruits children. The contractor works for many employers.

In agriculture and cattle rearing, the employer is the landlord, the owners of the land.

5. How do they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

In stone quarries, entire families work together and they are mostly migrants. Two forms

of employment are found- self employed and employed under contractors. In the latter,

the contractor takes the riverbed on lease from the government and employs workers or

the workers come to work in river beds as self employed. In stone quarries, workers

maybe trafficked. There are some reports. There is an incidence of trafficking of young

girls from the stone quarries into commercial sex in urban centres such as Kathmandu

and also trafficked outside Nepal into India. Stone quarries and carpet factories are

targets of traffickers to take young girls for commercial sexual exploitation because there

is no protection system.

For other sectors see response to Q 6 below.

6. If applicable, what type of forced labor is used? (e.g. debt bondage, indentured

servitude, caste-based slavery, etc.)

In all sectors where advance is given, the advance becomes a debt, without paying it

back, the workers cannot leave. If they do (leave) they will be harassed.

In brick kilns there are written agreements called Tamsukh, only in the case of Indian

workers –stating –I (worker) will work for you (employer/ contractor) for this period for

x pay. The Indian workers are not under bondage but the Nepalese are under bondage. In

the past Nepal imported bricks from India, India has more skilled workers in brick kilns

that’swhyIndianworkersarehired.Nepaliworkersaretraffickedfromruralareasand

work in brick kilns under bondage.

In some cases under the Kamaiya system, the debt is as old as four generations. There is a

verbal agreement like in the Kamaiya system. Workers protection lies with the landlord.

Debt having interest rates as high as up to 60 percent and therefore they are bonded. Very

rarely are there cases where children can be allowed to move out for other employment.

Payment is in cash and or kind at the discretion of the landlord.

7. How is trafficking in persons related to forced labor and/or child labor in the

production of goods, if at all?
52

8. Are they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

9. What tasks do they perform?

In the case of bonded child labor in animal rearing entire families are under bondage of a

landlord, adults are mostly engaged in agriculture, children, mostly boys are engaged in

cattle rearing- herding, milching and girls are engaged in domestic work (for the

landlords). These girls are called Kamalari, Jana or Gharelu.

10. What physical and psychological risks do they or family members face? (Are

otherelementsof“menaceofpenalty”present,see above)?

N/A Researcher did not have time to ask this question

11. Are they able to leave their workplaces at will? (If so, are other elements of

coercion present, see above)?

In carpet, in some cases workers work 14-18 hours and there is a restriction of

movement. Not all adults in the carpet sector are forced labor, but all children in the

carpet sector are forced labor.

12. What are the environments in which they work?

N/A Researcher did not have time to ask this question

13. In what regions of the country do they work? Do they work in cities or in rural

areas?

They ask me to refer to ILO reports for details.

14. (For each good), what is the typical age/gender of individuals producing the

good?

N/A Researcher did not have time to ask this question

15. What specific groups of people are more vulnerable to engagement in forced

labor and/or child labor in the production of each good (e.g. boys versus girls,

urban versus rural, indigenous/ethnic groups etc.)

Bonded laborers are mostly Dalit (untouchables) and Adivasi (indigenous communities)

and Janajati (ethnic communities). The Janajati dominate the carpet sector the stone

quarries and the embroidery sector. A large number are Muslims.

16. What is the estimated number/percentage of adults and/or children engaged in

forced labor and/or child labor in the production of each good?
53

They ask me to refer to numerous ILO publications for the same. They are listed in the

Annotated Bibliography.
54

Government

13. Government (1)

Name: Mr. Bishnu Prasad Lamsal

Position: Joint Secretary

Organization: Ministry of Labour and Transport Management, Government

of Nepal

Location: Singha Durbar, Kathmandu

Date: March 27, 2008; 11.00 a.m.

Researcher’sNote:Thisintervieweedidnotprovetobethemostappropriate

representative to interview at the Ministry. I could not follow on with every question and

had to resort to prompting him with my own findings from this research, to get him to talk

more about child labor, given that he began the interview by saying there is no child

labor/forced labor in Nepal.

I was to interview the Minister of Labour and Transport Management, however, given the

pre-election priorities; it was not possible to organize a meeting with the him. His

Personal Assistant referred me to this joint secretary. The ILO had recommended that I

interview the Section Officer on Child Labour at the Ministry but the PA insisted on the

joint secretary. Post elections, I will still try to interview the Minister himself or the

Section Officer.

In the formal sector, we do not have any forced labor/child labor officially (speaking). In

the informal sector, we have some problems. Labor administration is very weak. Only 13-

14 labor inspectors for the whole country. In the formal sector we have good monitoring

systems on child labor. Always (monitoring) reports say no child labor in formal sector.

(I ask about children working in stone quarries as an example)

Father and mother (are) working in stone crushing, children are only supporting their

parents.

In small scale restaurants and bars, family owned business, where children are supporting

their parents. Maximum (child labor) in home based (industry) –children are not

involved in paid activities.

In agriculture sector also there is a supporting system. Parents use their children to help in

the fields, unpaid.

(Prompting about carpets)

In formal carpet sector, there is no child labor on their premises. But in outsourced work

thereischildlabor.Wedon’thaveanydata.
55

This year we will conduct he National Labour Force Survey, after that we can say

(estimates).

(Prompting about brick kilns)

In brick kilns also children are working to support parents. Children help in portering the

bricks. For their work they have no direct pay but indirectly paid in parent salary. They

are not child labor but they are working with parents. Parents have low earnings.

Minimum wages in agriculture in NR 100 (approx. USD 1.7) per day; in tea (plantations)

it is NR 95 (approx. USD 1.6) per day for picking leaves worth 10 kilograms, people can

earn (worth) 25-30 kilograms per day. For all other sectors, including brick kilns, carpets,

the minimum wage is NR 125 (approx. USD 2) per day.

There is no trafficking involved.

Forced child labor exists only in the case of Kamalari (domestic work in the house of

landlord). But government has already declared its prohibition.

Forced labor in adults, its mostly economic compulsion, not forced by employers.

There are equal number of boys and girls working. They are more from Janajati and

Dalit communities. It is not based on caste but on poverty. In the hills the Janajati are the

landlords and children and adults form higher castes are working (for them) out of

financial compulsion because they are very poor.
56

Autonomous and Independent State Institution

14. Autonomous and Independent State Institution (1)

Name: Mr. Gauri Pradhan

Position: Member

Organization: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)

Location: NHRC Office, Pulchowk, Kathmandu

Date: March 31, 2008; 3 p.m.

Researcher’sNote:Mr. Gauri Pradhan is also the founder of CWIN, the NGO working

on child rights issues in Nepal. They are known to be among the very first NGO in the

country to raise the issue of child labor. He is now President of CWIN, having

relinquished his directorship after joining NHRC. He has also authored reports and

papers on child labor in the past. The NHRC has not looked into the matter of child

labor/ bonded labor in the recent years but in the past they have investigated cases based

on reports filed by NGOs. The interview did not follow the sequence of the questions from

the template but broadly covered major areas.

Forced labor depends on how it is defined. In the case of forced labor in Nepal, it is

mostly debt bondage labor. Most child laborers in Nepal are forced laborers or pushed by

circumstances.

In agriculture there is traditional bonded labor. In contemporary sectors, society has

accepted that poor families will send children to work to get some financial benefits and

where they do not have to worry about food for their children. This is a traditional

conception. Nowadays, the issue of debt bondage is critiqued. Due to social pressure,

newspapers reporting –there was a case of school teacher in Kailali district who gave a

loan to a family and in return employed their girl child as a domestic worker. But due to

media shaming she returned the child. Kailali is the origin of the Kamaiya system and

even in that area the message (awareness) of the rights of children has increased. In the

last 10 years the incidence of bonded labor has declined. The Kamaiya (practice) has

reducedbutthepracticeofKamalari(girlchilddomesticservants)inlandlords’houses

continues in villages and in cities.

Restaurants have high incidence of debt bondage among child laborers.

In carpet, many children still continue working –they have moved from weaving to

spinning. Child labor in the carpet sector has gone underground, more invisible. There are

still children in the carpet sector, large numbers. In spinning, children are in worst

conditions. I wish there would not be a trade sanction against this but better regulation is

required.

Brick kilns in the Kathmandu valley are of two types –those that are seasonal and those

that are regular. The seasonal brick kilns operate from after harvest till plantation.

Contractors hire land on which they set up brick factories. Families in the Terai belt,
57

from villages bordering India are given advances by the contractor after the harvest

period. So the workers come seasonally. Large numbers of children under 14 are working

very hard in making bricks. Children work along with families and also as single

children. To the end of the season, the workers hardly get any payment/ money to take

back with them because they have worked against an advance.

Construction is a booming business in Kathmandu and there must be thousands of

children from border villages under debt bondage. There might also be cases of

trafficking. Whenever there is an advance, there is trafficking (unspecified origins and

destinations).

Laborers are not free to move. They are under the control of the contractors. These

children are not free to move. On Saturdays, you can see lots of child laborers from the

carpet factories at movie halls (so they become visible, since Saturday is their weekly

off). There is no physical confinement in brick kilns but in carpet it continues.

Advance is the main reason for immobility. In carpet, the contractors are also harassed.

They get advances from different employers and children are moved from one factory to

another (by the contractor) especially if there are police raids/reports on existence of

child labor in a particular factory then contractor moves children to another factory,

another owner. Police are also bribed by contractors/ owners, to evade prosecution for

employing children.

Payments are made in cash and kind depending on the sector. It is made to the parents.

In the carpet sector, mostly Tamang (ethnic) community coming from the surrounding

districts of Kathmandu is involved. Parents get an advance from contractors and send

their children to Kathmandu.

Girl children are sexually abused. Tamang are an open (liberal?) community and easily

trafficked. Carpet factories are transit for trafficking. Many Nepalese children found in

red light areas in Mumbai were previously carpet workers.

The social characteristic pattern of child laborers is changing. Earlier it was Tamang in

carpet but now there are mixed groups. Tamang continue to be most vulnerable to

exploitation in carpet factories. In bricks, traditionally the Newar (the dominant caste and

native inhabitants of Kathmandu Valley) were involved in brick laying. Now children

and migrants from border towns and migrants from hills and their children are found

working in brick kilns. Janajati as well as high castes are found in brick kilns.
58

Type II Interviews/ FGDs

Nepal

In-country Research - Forced Labor/Child Labor

Researcher: Paro Chaujar

Total number of interviews/ FGDS: 13 (4 in brick kilns, 2 in embroidery units, 4 in carpet

factories and 3 in stone quarries).

List of Type II Interviews/ FGDs

Brick Kilns

Site 1, Hosanna Brick Kiln, Hairisidhi

VDC, Kathmandu District

I. FGD with about 10 adult men from

India

Site 2, Tata Brick Kiln, Hairisidhi VDC,

Kathmandu District

II. Interview with Father of child workers

Site 3, Bhaktapur, Kathmandu Valley III. Interview with adult worker (male)

IV. Interview with woman brick kiln

worker.

Embroidery

Site 1, Thankot VDC, Kathmandu district V. Interview with Employer

Site 2, Thimi VDC, Bhaktapur district Observation notes only

Site 3, Thimi VDC, Bhaktapur District. VI. Interview with adult male worker

Carpet Factory

Site 1, Bhaktapur district VII. Interview with adult male worker

Site 2, Bhaktapur district Observation notes only

Site 3, Bhaktapur district Observation notes only

Site 4, Kathmandu City VIII. Interview with adult woman worker

IX. Interview with adult woman worker

Site 5, Kathmandu City Observation notes only

Site 6, Kathmandu City X. Interview with adult male worker

Stone Quarries

Site 1, Lalitpur District XI. Interview with woman worker
59

XII. Interview with women migrant

worker from India

Site 2, Lalitpur district XIII. Interview with woman worker
60

Brick Kilns

1. Brick Kiln Site 1

Hosanna Brick Kiln, Hairisidhi VDC, Kathmandu District, Nepal (about 15 km from

Kathmandu city).

March 3, 2008

Researcher’sNote:BothIndiansandNepaleseworkersareemployedhere.TheIndians

are from district Darbhanga in India, while Nepalese are from Allapot VDC, Kathmandu

district. Indians are involved in baking of bricks and post baking activities, such as

removing bricks from kilns and stacking them while Nepalese in digging clay, modeling it

and portering it. Indians tends to come as single men without families while Nepalese

almost always are accompanied by family members. Most children seen working at the

time of the visit and photographed were Nepalese.

I. FGD with about 10 adult men from India

Researchers Comments: I had very little time to talk with these men. When I visited them

they were busy stacking baked bricks. Since its piece based work, they were working very

fast to stack up as many bricks and giving me time meant they left the work and lost time

for stacking the bricks. I did not take much of their time and just got some basic

information. I have not followed Question-Answer format as per our list of questions but

have categorized the FGD discussion by broad questions. Some information about their

work I have got from the trade union representative accompanying me on this visit. These

are recorded at the end of the FGD note.

1. How many workers in FGD? Age, Gender, Caste?

Ten workers aged 20-35 all from Paswaan caste (dalit) from the Darbhanga district in

Bihar, India.

2. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

There are a total of about 60 Indian men employed here in the brick kilns. Only two adult

men are accompanied by families. One of them is a widower accompanied by two kids, a

girl aged 12 and a boy aged 16, both work with him (photographed). The wages are

earned as a family unit depending on the amount of work done, which is registered by the

Naike every day.

3. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Bricks.
61

4. What tasks do you/they perform?

N/A Researcher did not have time to ask this question.

5. Who is your/their employer?

N/A Researcher did not have time to ask this question.

6. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

7. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

8. Do you/the child owe a debt (saunki) to your employer that you work to pay

back?

9. If so, how was this debt incurred?

Combined response to Questions 6, 7, 8, 9

This group of Indian workers arrived at the brick kilns with a middleman/contractor/

Naike, who belonged to their village/area. Some of the workers have familial relationship

with the Naike. They arrived in December and would leave in May. All of them took

loans/advances from the Naike before they left for work in the kilns. The advance ranges

from 1,500 to 3,500 (Indian Rupees or Nepalese Rupees, not clear). They have a verbal

agreement with the Naike that they will not leave the kilns/will work till the season is

over. They are not informed about the wages they will receive at the end of the season.

Every week they receive about NR 300 (approx. USD 5)3for their food expenses. Last

year they earned at an average NR 2,300 (approx. USD 38) for every month that they

worked (for about four to five months). They expect a similar amount this season after

deductions of the advance.

10. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

N/A Researcher did not have time to ask this question.

11. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

N/A Researcher did not have time to ask this question.

12. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

N/A Researcher did not have time to ask this question.

3

Exchange rate used is: USD 1 = NR 60. (NR is Nepalese Rupee)
62

13. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to eat?

See combined response to Q 6,7,8,9

14. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

Iftheyleavebeforetheendofseason,breaking‘promise’/agreement,theywillbepaid

only half of what work they have done (earnings will be withheld). They have one day

off in the week, every Saturday.

15. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplaceof

employment)?

They all live at the site. See also combined response 6,7,8,9 for how they got here.

16. How old are you?

See response to Q 1.

17. What is your education level?

18. (Whether the person is male/female)

All in FGD were men.

Information from Shyam Khatri, President, Nepal Building and Construction

Worker’sUnion:

The union is running a school near the premises where young children (under eight or so)

belonging to Nepalese workers attend from 11 am to one pm every day, except Saturday.

The Indian workers in brick kilns come mostly from Bihar in India. They are mostly

single men. They are employed for working in the kilns, in the baking of bricks, which

requires special skills that Indian workers are known for, while Nepalese workers are

hired for the work pre-baking –digging soil, modeling clay into bricks and portering,

stacking them before they can be baked. The union has organized the Nepalese workers

but not the Indian workers. The children working in the brick kilns are almost exclusively

Nepalese,sinceit’stheNepalesewhocometoworkinbrickkilnsasentirefamilieswhile

Indianscomeassinglemenmostly.Theworkofbakingthebricksisa‘male’job.
63

2. Brick Kiln Site 2

Tata Brick Kiln, Hairisidhi VDC, Kathmandu District, Nepal (about 15 km from

Kathmandu city).

March 3, 2008

Researcher’sNote:TherearebothIndiansand Nepalese workers here, Nepalese are

involved in digging clay, modeling it into bricks and stacking them, while Indians are

involved in baking, stacking, and post baking activities, etc.

II. Interview with Father of child workers, boys, aged 15 and 18. Third child is a girl,

younger (age not specified) who goes to school (not trade union school but private

school). They belong to Nagarkoti, Sundarajal village, Allapot VDC, district Kathmandu.

They came to the brick kilns (brought by Naike) in November and will stay on until May.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Exact work includes digging, modeling clay into bricks, portering and stacking bricks

before they are baked.

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Bricks.

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Exact work includes digging, modeling clay into bricks, portering and stacking bricks

before they are baked.

4. Who is your/their employer?

The brick kiln is owned by four employers, all Nepalese belonging to Newar caste (Dhan

Bahadur Maharjan and Nabin Maharjan are two of them).

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

Father took an advance of NR 10,000 (approx. USD 167) before season began from the

Naike. In return for this he has signed a written contract that he will work to produce

150,000 bricks. His sons work with him to do this. They are all making bricks.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

The older child, aged 18, will get a separate income starting this season, but the father is

not aware of how much the son will earn, it all depends on the amount of work done by

the son (numbers of bricks produced). Wages are paid at the end of the season after
64

deducting the advance and deducting weekly payments made for food expenses. These

‘weekly’paymentsaremadeeveryninedays.Eachworkerinthefamily(fourinthis

case) receive between 300-400 NR (approx. USD 5 –7) for food expenses. This amount

is deducted from final payment that is made at the end of season.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt (saunki) to your employer that you work to pay

back?

See response to Q 5 and Q 6

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

See response to Q 5 and Q 6

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

N/A Researcher did not have time to ask this question.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No.

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

There are no threats. If they fall sick the employer/Naike asks them to leave for their

home. He says if they live here they must work or else just leave.

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

The employer gave them (every worker/worker family) NR 200 (approx. USD 3) at the

beginning of season to construct their shelter/hut (made of brick walls and tarpaulin

and/or hay roof). This money is not deducted from payment at end of season.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

His children could leave, as long as the father stays on. The agreement binds him to

complete work worth 150,000 bricks, it does not matter for the Naike who in the family

completes it. But the father says children will not leave because they have nowhere to go

to and he needs them to work with him to meet the agreement and to earn at the end of

season.Theydonothaveacopyoftheagreement.It’sinan‘office’oftheemployer.The

agreement has the following details: name of thefather,hisfatherandhisgrandfather’s

name; amount of advance taken; amount of bricks that need to be produced to pay off the

advance; if they leave before completing the required amount of work they would be paid
65

only for 50 percent of the total work they have done (worth 50 percent of the bricks

produced). I am not sure if this is also written in the agreement.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplace

of employment)?

All workers live at the site.

15. How old are you?

Hedoesn’tknow(maybeabout40).

16. What is your education level?

Illiterate.

17. (Whether the person is male/female)

Male
66

3. Brick Kiln Site 3, March 4, 2008

Location: Bhaktapur, Kathmandu Valley (about 25 kilometers from Kathmandu city).

Researcher’sNote:Ithasrainedthepreviouseveningandnightsothereisnotmuch

work going on, many workers are not even at the sites.

III. Interview with adult worker (male)

Name: Gopal Khadka,

Age: 30 years,

Origin: Nepali, belongs to a village in Rammechhap district.

Employment history: He has been working at this particular brick kiln for the last four

years. He previously worked in a carpet factory nearby.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

His exact work involves digging soil/clay and modeling clay into bricks. He says children

working in the brick kilns also do these activities. There are about 2,000 workers in this

brick kiln where he works. About half of them are under 18 years old. About 50 percent

of the workers here are Indians. His own children are young, under six and do not work.

His wife works with him.

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Bricks.

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Digging soil, modeling clay into bricks, portering and stacking them.

4. Who is your/their employer?

Lakshmi Maharjan (is Nepali).

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

He worked four years ago in a carpet factory in Thimi, which is near where he works

now. People from my village came to work in this brick kiln through an agent (Naike)

who paid every household (an advance) to get them to work in the brick kiln. He also

took advance from this agent and moved from the carpet factory to work in this brick

kiln. Since then he has kept on taking an advance, ranging from NR 10,000 (approx. USD

167) to NR 25,000 (approx. USD 417). His current advance is NR 25,000 (approx USD

417).
67

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

He is paid in cash at the end of the season, which is six months. He gets about NR 400-

500 (approx USD 7- 8) every nine days for food expenses. This is deducted from the

final payment. The advance is also deducted from the final payment.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt (saunki) to your employer that you work to pay

back?

Yes. In addition to the advance, he took a loan from the Naike. At this time he has a loan

of NR 2,000 (approx. USD 33). He took this for medical expenses.

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

The Naike gives the advance himself (meaning, it’snotaskedfor,it’sthewaytheydofor

all workers). The other loans he take from time to time to meet other expenses.

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

There are no dangerous tools.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No, the employer/Naike does not give physical punishment.

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

No threats but wages are deducted from the fixed amount if work is not done.

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

The Naike gave him (and other workers) NR 200 (approx. USD 3) to put up a shelter

(when they come at the beginning of the season) and for food expenses, he get NR 400

(approx. USD 6) every nine days. All workers get this much.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

Yes, he can leave the workplace but need to take permission. But he cannot leave the

work/brick kiln (employment) until the end of the season

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplace

of employment)?
68

Place of origin is a village in Rammechhap district. He came here looking for work.

Right now, he and his family live in this jholi (temporary shelter) at the work site.

15. How old are you?

30 years

16. What is your education level?

Never went to school (is illiterate).

17. (Whether the person is male/female)

Male

IV. Interview with woman brick kiln worker.

Name: Sunita Subba

Age: 22

Origin: Last lived in Pokhara

Employment history: She has been working in this brick kiln with her husband for the

last six years. The step daughter joined them in this work about four years ago, when she

was 12.

She has a step daughter(fromhusband’sfirstmarriage)aged16,workswiththeminthe

brick kilns. She has four more children, all girls, aged two months, five years, seven years

and 11 years.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

Brick kilns.

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Bricks.

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Making bricks (i.e. molding clay) and stacking them.

4. Who is your/their employer?

Lakshmi Shreshtha.

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?
69

My husband received an advance of NR 12,000 (approx. USD 200) from a Naike while

he was working at a construction site in Pokhara, Nepal (one of the biggest cities in

Nepal, after Kathmandu). The Naike asked him to bring his family to the brick kilns.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

Attheendoftheseasonwearepaid.Shedoesn’tknowhowmuchtheywillearn.Every

nine days they get between 1,200-1,500 (together for the 3 of them working from this

family- husband, wife, daughter) for food expenses.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt (saunki) to your employer that you work to pay

back?

Yes, last May (May 2007) we took NR 12,000 (approx. USD 200) as a loan.

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

We need money after the season ends. We have young children who go to school. For

their expenses, clothes, we take a loan.

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

No dangerous tools.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No.Ifwedon’tdothework(required),wearescolded.Ifweareill,hedoesn’t

understand.Hedoesn’tpayforillnesses.

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

We are scolded, threatened that weekly payment (food expenses) will not be paid if we

don’tcompletework.

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

We got NR 200 (approx. USD 3) for constructing shelter at the beginning of the season.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

Wecanleave,hedoesn’tstopusbecausewecompleteourwork.Hedoesn’taskifwego

out. One person (worker) from the family can leave work in mid season but not the entire

family.Wehaveeaten[sic.](taken)hisadvance,that’swhywecannotleave(Thisisa
70

common expression, we have eaten (off the advance) and therefore (are morally obliged)

not to leave.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(to this place

of employment)?

Explained in earlier questions.

15. How old are you?

22

16. What is your education level?

Never went to school. The 16 year old daughter has studied up to class two or three. Her

younger children are currently in school.

17. (Whether the person is male/female)

Female.
71

Embroidery Units

4. Embroidery Unit Site 1

Thankot, Thankot VDC, district Kathmandu (about 15-20 kilometers from Kathmandu

city).

March 3, 2008

Researcher’Note:Thissiteisaprivateresidencerentedbytheemployer. There are two

rooms of roughly 12 x six feet where sarees are spread on wooden frames and around

which workers (adults and children) sit on the floor, embroidering, using sequins and

threads including zari (golden thread). The workers also sleep in these rooms. The

Sarees are made for the Nepalese markets and sold in Kathmandu city mostly. There are

two other rooms, one is a living/ bedroom for the employer and his family.

V. Interview with Employer

Name: Hridaya Narayan (male)

Age: 27

Origin: a village in Mohatari district (bordering the state of Bihar in India).

Employment history: He set up this embroidery unit three or four years ago.

He says he has 10 children employed at his unit. All children are above 14 years of age

(above 14 is the legal age for working in Nepal. From my observations, see also pictures,

many of these children are easily under 14). Most of the children have been working in

this unit for about one to two years, some have been here only a few months.

The owner says children end up in his unit in three different ways:

- owner brings them from the village (which is either his own village or a neighboring

village), he pays an advance to the parents

- parents bring their children to him and he gives them an advance

- relatives/siblings bring along children

Those that are unskilled/untrained join as trainees and do not get any wages. He says he

provides them food, shelter (the room to sleep in) and takes care for any medical

expenses. Once trained after about one to two years, he begins paying them. For a skilled

child, the advance given to parents ranges from NR 5,000 –10,000 (approx. USD 83 –

167). The skilled children are mostly those who have previously worked in India (Delhi/

Mumbai).

Monthly wages are not paid. Only when the child/parents ask for money, he gives it to

them.Itisagaingivenas‘advance’,againstwhichthechildisexpectedtoworkforthe

amount.
72

He says children are free to leave if they want and he settles the (outstanding) advance

with their parents.

The children work from nine am to eight pm. They get breaks for lunch and dinner.

The children are involved in doing embroidery on the sarees. The employer traces the

design on the Sarees and children then embroider. They embroider with sequins, threads,

including golden thread and decorative stones. They mostly work on sarees but

sometimes they work on salwar-kameez (long shirt and trousers, normally worn by

women). The sarees are mostly chiffon or georgette.

He says that children are best suited for this work since being young they can be trained

and their fingers being small help them pick up the work. He says he himself learnt as a

child when he worked in similar units in Delhi, India.

Eventhoughhedoesn’tpaywagesmonthly,theaveragerangeofper month earnings for

the current 10 workers are as follows

- two are trainees and do not get paid (only get food, place to sleep)

- two earn NR 2,200 (approx. USD 37)

- two earn NR 2,500 (approx. USD 42)

- the others earn NR 3,200 (approx. USD 53); NR 2,800 (approx. USD 47); NR 2,700

(approx. USD 45) and NR 2,300 (approx. USD 38)respectively.

Employer says he gets a minimum of NR 400 (approx. USD 6) for each saree he delivers

to shops (who have provided him with the Saree) and a minimum of seven to eight sarees

are embroidered every day.

The sarees are for the Nepalese market, sold in shops in Kathmandu and other cities.

Two of the child workers have been to school before, dropping out after class eight and

class five. Others have never been to school

(My observations: The information from the employer cannot be entirely honest. These

children are clearly exploited and their working conditions are extremely poor. They sit

all day (nearly 12 hours), on the floors, embroidering away with needles, threads and

decorations).

Researcher’sComments:TheinterviewwasconductedwiththeemployersinceIcould

not interview children and in this sector children are employed as singles and not along

with family members. It appeared that the employer was not keen for my interactions with

workers –adults or children, though after some time he did allow for pictures to be taken

(as long as I did not take copies of his embroidery designs). The employer seemed the

only adult who I could interview here. I used broadly the questions from Type I and Type

II as relevant. I would classify this as Type II since I interviewed him in lieu of workers/

children. But let me know what you think is better. Also I could not follow the question-
73

answer format. I had to move gradually from conversations to specific questions, as he

grew more at ease. He was generally suspicious and obviously defensive about why he

had young children employed.
74

5. Embroidery Unit, Site 2,

Thimi VDC, Bhaktapur district.

March 4, 2008

No interviews. Only photographs and Observation Notes

6. Embroidery Unit, Site 3,

Thimi VDC, Bhaktapur District.

March 4, 2008

Researcher’scomment:Thisfactoryisontwofloorsofaprivatebuilding,whichhas

been rented by the owner. The owner is reluctant to allow my visit and interview but the

trade union intervenes and I am allowed to see the workers working on the sarees. There

are about four frames in this one room and about five to six workers, most of them under

18, all boys, doing embroidery with threads, sequins and beads. I am able to get some

time from the oldest worker who says he is 18. The employer sits with us during the

interview. I sense that I should make this quick and short. I did not use my questionnaire

sheet but ask questions casually, in order that the employer does not get upset, interfere

or prevent me from talking to the worker. The responses here are not in Question-Answer

format but include all information shared by the worker.

VI. Interview with adult male worker

Name: Zakhir Hussain

Age: 18

Origin: village Basantpur in Sarlahi district

Employment history: He does embroidery on sarees. He has been doing this work for the

last seven to eight years. He has been working in this particular factory for the last four

years. He learnt this skill in Kathmandu city in a factory in Baneshwor.

The owner is from his village and Zakhir approached him for work. He earns NR 5,000

(approx. USD 83) per month (calculated on the basis of daily wage but paid at the end of

the month). He also gets expenses for food every week (NR 400/ USD 6). The food

expenses and cost of shelter provided by the employer is deducted from the wages paid at

the end of the month. He works from eight am to 11 pm, with a lunch break for an hour.

He gets allowance for breakfast (food expense money) and the employer provides tea in

between.

He says he goes home when required. In agriculture season he goes home for one month

and then comes back to this factory. At the time he goes home, the owner gives him NR

400-500 (approx. USD 6- 8) as bonus/ to meet travel expenses (called kharcha paani).
75

Carpet Factories

7. Carpet Factory Site 1, Bhaktapur district

March 14, 2008

Researcher’sNote:Thefirstsiteisabuildingwithfourfloors,ontwofloorsthereare

looms. Children were working on top floor, which I am told is a strategy to keep children

out of immediate sight.

There were about 15-20 workers on about six looms. Children in the age group 12 and

above have been working there for the last two years at an average (information from

union representative). The children are both boys and girls (see pictures) I was advised

to keep a low profile so refrained from taking notes. I observed cuts on the hands of the

workers including children. I am informed those are cuts from the threads they use. They

were sitting, kneeling on the floor or on wooden benches suspended from the ceiling (see

pictures) as the weaving progresses, they move from the floor to the benches suspended.

The room is pretty dark, there are windows on one end which gives some light. Once it

gets dark, they work under light bulbs.

VII. Interview with adult male worker

Researcher’scomment:Icouldnotfollowquestion-answer format since there seemed to

be reluctance on part of workers. Kept it like a casual conversation and the note here has

all information shared by this worker.

Briefly interviewed a 19 year old boy who has been working in the carpet sector for about

five years and in this loom for about two years. Upon asking what he earns he is unable

to say how much he earns in a month because payments are made after every couple of

months, the last payment he received two months ago was about NR 5,000 (approx. USD

83). He takes advances regularly; his latest outstanding advance is NR 2,000 (approx.

USD 33). His mother is back in the village in district Kavre, one brother younger to him

is involved in Thanka paintings in Bhaktapur and his father is also working in the

Kathmanduvalley(can’trememberinwhatoccupation).Hegetsonedayholiday

(Saturday). He says he works on the loom from morning to night, gets two meals a day

and sleeps in a room in this building with all other male workers. There are some other

children younger to him working alongside. He says they come from different districts,

names Sindhupalchowk as one. All workers regularly take an advance, he cannot say how

muchtheyallearn.Hesaystheemployerdoesn’tbeatthechildrenorotherworkers.
76

8. Carpet Factory Site 2, Bhaktapur district,

March 14, 2008

No interviews, no photographs.

This is also in a (brick) building, like an annex to the house of the employer. Its one floor,

groundfloor,largehallwithover20looms.Ididn’tseeanychildrenworkingonthe

looms, one child (infant) was in a makeshift crib, some four to-five children under eight

years were seen in and around the factory premises, mostly around their working

mothers. At this site I was advised not to take pictures or interview workers.

9. Carpet Factory Site 3, Bhaktapur district,

March 14, 2008

No interviews. Only photographs and Observation Notes.

Researcher’sNote:SinceIwasunabletointerviewworkers,Ihaveinterviewedthetrade

union representatives in charge of the carpet sector and Bhaktapur district. See their

interview (Type I) for information on child labor/forced labor in the production of

carpets in Nepal.

10. Carpet Factory Site 4, Kathmandu City

March 19, 2008

Name of Factory: Sagun Carpet Factory (has two units in this area, I visited only one

unit). Kapan VDC, Ward Number 1, Phaika, Kathmandu District.

Employer: Ganga Shreshtha (is also the owner and recruits directly, not through

contractors)

Number of Employees: Unit 1: 90, 20 are under 18 years old. Of these five are under 14

years old. Unit 2: 40, four to five are under 18 years old, none under 14.

VIII. Interview with adult woman worker, whose children work with her

Name: Nirmala Sunuwar, aged

Age: 36

Origin: Ramechhap district, Preeti VDC.

Employment history: The respondent has been working in this factory for the last 10

years (been in carpet weaving for last 22 years) and the daughters started working

alongside her about three to four years ago.

Husband works in Saudi Arabia. She lives near the carpet factory in private rented

accommodation with three children- daughter 17 years old, daughter 16 years old and a

son 14 years old. All of her children go to school. The daughters work with her outside

schoolhours.Thesondoesn’twork.
77

The working hours are five am to seven pm. The interviewee informed that she gets about

two to three hours break in between.

The interviewee informs me that there are more girls than boys under 18 in her factory,

most are with their parents who also work in the factory. About three children are without

parents, aged 16-17 years old. They all come from district Makwanpur. Other than her

children, all other children working in the factory do not go to school. Children are

engaged in both weaving and spinning. Weavers in general earn more than spinners. The

parents of all children working in these factories have taken advances from the owner.

According to her the single children are paid fixed wages, she is not aware of the exact

amount.

1. In what occupations/activities do/did you/the child victim(s) work?

In the carpet factory where I weave carpets, also my older daughter weaves and my

younger daughter spins (the wool).

2. What good(s) do you/they produce?

Carpets.

3. What tasks do you/they perform?

Same as above.

4. Who is your/their employer?

Ganga Shreshtha.

5. How did you/they come to be involved in these occupations/activities?

She has been working in the carpet factory for 22 years, she earlier worked in her village

and then moved from factory to factory. The current employer gave her an advance and

she moved to work in his factory.

6. Are you/they paid for their work? If so, how? (i.e. cash, in-kind).

She is paid on a piece rate basis, on per square meter of carpet woven. She earns on a

weeklybasis,NR500(approx.USD8)everyweek.Theyoungerdaughter’sworkispaid

forwiththemother’sworkandtheolder daughter earns about NR 1,500 (approx. USD

25) every month.

7. Do you/the child owe a debt (saunki) to your employer that you work to pay

back?
78

She regularly takes loans/advances from the owner, current outstanding is NR 3,000

(approx. USD 50) which she took three months ago. It will be deducted from the wages at

the rate of NR 200 (approx. USD 3) per week (so she effectively gets (NR 300 or USD 5

per week as wages). The children have not taken any advances.

8. If so, how was this debt incurred?

See response above

9. What are your/their working conditions? Are there dangerous tools, machinery,

fumes, or other physical risks?

N/A Research did not have time to ask this question.

10. Are you/the child beaten/abused by the employer?

No beating or harassment by the employer.

11. Are you/they threatened by the employer if certain job tasks are not performed?

What kind of threats?

No.

12. Does your employer provide food and shelter? If so, do you/they have enough to

eat?

Employer provides accommodation but she lives in a separate accommodation since she

has many children and cannot share a room with other workers.

13. Are you/they able to leave your/their workplaces at will?

She has no contract, written or verbal with the employer. She says no worker in this

factory has any contract.

14. Howfarawayisyour/thechild’shome?Howdidyou/theygethere(tothisplace

of employment)?

15. How old are you?

36.

16. What is your education level?

N/A Research did not have time to ask this question.

17. (Whether the person is male/female
79

Female.

IX. Interview with adult woman worker who works along with two children in the

carpet factory

Name: Sunmaya Lama

Age: 35 or 36

Origin: district Makwanpur, VDC Thaparbadi

Employment history: Children joined parents in this work 3 years ago. Parents have been

working for longer (not specified).

Researcher’sComments:IdidnotfollowQuestionandAnswerformatwiththissecond

respondent from this site since the employer seemed to be getting impatient. Have asked

broad questions form our list and all information shared by her is recorded here.

She works in this factory with her husband and has five children two of whom work with

her in the carpet factory; two daughters aged 18 and 15 respectively. The other children: a

son aged 13 goes to school anddoesn’twork,adaughteragedninegoestoschooland

doesn’tworkandheryoungestdaughteragedfivedoesn’tgotoschoolandstayswithher

mother in the factory. They have been in this factory for the last seven years, returning to

their villages during the festivals of Dashain and Tihar (October-November).

Wages are paid every 10 days on the basis of work done (piece rate basis). The entire

family (four working people, two adults, two children) earns about NR 5,000 (approx.

USD 83) every 10 days. From this about NR 1,000 (approx. USD 17) is deducted against

the advance they have taken. The latest advance is about NR 15,000 (approx. USD 250) –

16,000 (approx. USD 267). The employer provides shelter near factory premises (see

picture). All family members work on one loom at a time. The children joined parents in

this work about three years ago. Prior to joining them they were in the village.

Employer does not beat or harass. They are free to leave. However not all family

members are allowed to leave during annual festivals if the family has outstanding

advance at that time. And the time when they take the advance is precisely the time of

festival (dashain). So some family members, mostly one of the parents stays back while

the other parent takes the children back to the village for festivals. Their working hours

are from five am to seven pm and they have holiday on Saturdays.

11. Carpet Factory Site 5, Kathmandu City

March 19, 2008

No interviews, only photographs and Observation Notes
80

12. Carpet Factory Site 6, Kathmandu City

March 19, 2008

Name of Factory: Om Namah Buddha Carpet Factory

Address: Tenzing Chowk, Mahankaal, Kathmandu

X. Interview with adult male worker, who works along with wife and sisters under 18.

Researcher’sNote:Thisinterview was conducted while the respondent was weaving. He

did not want to get away. He did not seem to want to spend too much time on the

interview so I just asked few questions from the list. The responses are not in QuestionAnswer format for this reason. All information shared by him is recorded here.

Name: Bishal Lama

Age: 20

Origin: district Makwanpur

Employment history: He learnt weaving about five years ago in a factory in Kathmandu.

He works in this factory with his wife and two younger sisters, aged 15 and 16

respectively. The sisters joined him and his wife for work, three months and over a year

ago respectively.

They all work from four am to eight pm, with a one-hour break at 10 am (from 10 am to

11 am, the NGO conducts non-formal education classes on the factory accommodation

premises). On Saturdays they work from four am to 10 am and after that they have the

rest of the day off.

They all get paid as one unit. Every week they receive NR 500 (approx. USD 8) towards

food expenses. Final payment is made per completed carpet. In the final calculation the

employer deducts the weekly food expenses. It takes this family of four workers, between

one to two months to complete one carpet. The last carpet they completed earned them

NR 11,000 (approx. USD 183) from which the advance amounting to NR 9,000 (approx.

USD 150) and weekly expenses were deducted, fetching them nothing in hand. They then

received weekly expenses for the following week.

He got involved in working in this factory when the employer/owner of the factory

visited his village to collect workers by giving an advance. The employer is also from the

same village.

He says he can leave jobs as long as the advance is returned.

Every year during the festival (Dashain) they go to the village. At that time they get an

advance of NR 3,000-4,000 (approx. USD 50 - 67) and so after the festival they have to

return to this employer/factory. If they do not return to this factory, the employer who is

familiar with the village will somehow extract the advance from them.
81

Theemployerdoesn’tbeatthembutpressuresthemtofinishwork(fast).

Total employees in this factory are 35, about 10-12 are under 18. Most of these are 15-16

year olds. There are none under 14 according to him.
82

Stone Quarries

13. Stone Quarry, Site 1, Lalitpur District.

March 25, 2008

VDC, Lele, District Lalitpur, about 13 kilometres from Kathmandu City but very poor

roads, go up a hill and down again to river Nallu Khola, along which several stone

quarriesaresituated.It’s a stretch of more than two kilometeres along the river that has

stone quarries alongside.

Researcher’sComment:Thereseemedresistanceonpartofworkersheretositforan

interview. Later I understood that they were wearied of the contractor who lives near the

site and who was watching us. I did not use the interview list with the following 2

respondents,toavoidattractingthecontractor’sattention.Theresponsesarenot

organized in Question-Answer format. All information shared by the respondents are

included in the next 2 interviews below.

XI. Interview with woman worker, working along with three children in a stone quarry.

Name: Sita

Age: 29

Origin: She is a local worker, her village is a few minutes walk from this stone quarry in

Lalitpur district.

Employment history: (did not ask)

She belongs to a high caste (Chhetri). She works in the quarry with her three children,

two boys, aged 14 and 11 and a girl aged 13.

She works from six a.m to 10 a.m in the mornings and then from 2.30 to 4.30 in the

afternoons. Its too hot in between to work. The 13 year old daughter and 11 year old son

go to school and work before school starts from six a.m. to eight a.m. and then after

school.Theolderson,aged14isdeafanddoesn’tgotoschoolbutworkshere with her.

Her husband works with them sometimes. They are all paid as a single unit.

They collect stones from the riverbed and break them into smaller stones, make piles of

these to indicate volume (measured by a straw basket). They wait for trucks to arrive to

collect the stones they have broken and to receive payments. There is no employer. They

are paid by the truck driver. She came here to work by herself and sells the stones to the

truck. For one basket of broken stones they receive NR 10 (approx. USD 0.2). In one day

they manage to break stones worth 10 baskets. The last time the truck came was

yesterday and they received NR 500 (approx. USD 8) as a family for the stones they had

broken.
83

Researcher’sNote:Afterthisinterviewwasover,afewwomen workers accompanied us

and then quietly shared that we were being watched by their contractor. So there is

certainly a contractor involved and the women say he owns the quarry and they have to

pay him NR 1 (approx. USD 0.01) per basket of stones that they are paid for by the

trucks. Hence, they receive a net of NR 9 (approx. USD 0.15) per basket. From

discussions with the NTUC representatives who had accompanied me earlier to brick

kilns I had heard that contractors take the river bed on lease from the District

DevelopmentCommittee(localgovernmentbody)andthen‘charge’workersfor working

on that part of the riverbed.

I was at the site from 10 am to 12 pm and the children of this woman were working with

her here and were not in school. It was not a school holiday either.

XII. Interview with women migrant worker from India who works here with children.

Name: Sahida Khatum

Age: 35

Origin: Motihari district in Bihar, India.

Employment history: She has been working here for the last three years and has never

gone back to her village.

She lives in rented accommodation near the stone quarry.

She has three children working along side her in this quarry: daughters aged 15 and 11

andasonagedseven.Theoldestdaughterdoesn’tgotoschoolbutworksfull-time with

the mother. The younger children aged 11 and seven work with her before and after

school hours.

The mother looks for stones in the river, fetches them and then they all together break

stones with a hammer, while holding stones in place with a kind of a rubber ring (see

photograph).

They came to work in this site when her husband brought them from the village after he

heardofworkavailableinthequarry.Thehusbandhimselfdoesn’tworkatthequarry

but is involved in making/repairing cotton stuffed blankets (locally known as Razai) and

making and repairing umbrellas as a mobile worker.

There is a family here they refer to as the malik meaning owner/employer. But the stones

are collected by and paid for by the truck drivers, not the person she calls malik. The

truckcomesonceeverythreetofourdays,sometimesonceaweekandthat’swhenthe

payment is made. They produce about eight to 10 baskets of broken stones in one day.

Theiremployerdoesn’tnotgiveanyexpensesforfoodorshelter.

Wedon’twanttoleavethiswork,wewillhavenootherworkthen(iftheyleft),thereis

no (other) work available. There are many children working here at this time its too hot

so they have gone home for lunch.
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14. Stone Quarry Site 2, Lalitpur district

March 27, 2008

Researcher’sNote:Thisstonequarryisalongthesameriver, Nallu Khola. It is part of a

large compound owned by someone called Kishna Bhai. There are large machines here

for crushing stones. Along the river-bed here one sees several piles of broken stone,

broken by workers.

XIII. Interview with woman worker who works here with children.

Name: Sita Sanjil

Age: 34

Origin: neighbouring VDC (Bhattedada) within this district (Lalitpur Ramechhap district,

Preeti VDC.

Employment history: Working at this stone quarry for the last four years

Researcher’sComment:Whileinterviewingthisrespondent,severalmencameand

surrounded us and started mocking the respondents. They were other workers from this

site and were mostly truck drivers who are also close to the contractor. I refrained from

using the interview list and stuck to broad questions in a conversation mode. All

information shared by respondent is recorded here.

She belongs to Dalit caste and has been living and working at this site for the last four

years. She has three children –all boys aged 14, 12 and nine, attending school in grades

six, five, and three at a nearby government school. They all work with her outside of

school hours, from six a.m. to nine a.m. and 4.30 pm to six p.m. She comes to work at

nine a.m. while the children come at six a.m., she says she has to cook and do household

chores in the morning, so she goes later than the children and stays on to work till six

p.m. (I was at this site till five p.m. and her children were still working with her, so in all

likelihood, the children work till six p.m. and they all go back home together).

She says her employer is the contractor who owns this stone quarry (including all the

machineshere,it’scalledafactory). His name is Bhai Kisna. She says they receive NR

8.50 (approx. USD 0.14) per basket of stones collected (NR 0.50 less than at the other

site, see interview above). The truck comes to collect the stones and make payments. This

stone is taken by the trucks to Kathmandu. The schedule of the trucks is erratic and

sometimes the truck driver informs the workers about the next visit and sometimes he

doesn’t.Hecomesonceaweekoronceamonth.Theygetnoadvanceforthework.The

last time the truck came to collect stones and make payments was a month ago and they

(as a family) earned NR 850 (approx. USD 14).
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To meet daily expenses they often take loans from moneylenders (not employer/

contractors). These are local moneylenders in the village and they do not charge any

interest. The last loan she took from a moneylender was NR 1,000 (approx. USD 17),

which she returned within a month.

Her husband works in another stone quarry.

The exact work done by children includes fetching stones from the river bed and breaking

these stones. The older son and the mother also load the stones onto the trucks. They do

not get any expenses for food/shelter from the employer. They are free to move out. The

contractor asks the workers to involve children in the work.

The number of families/ workers at this quarry varies from time to time. She works year

round but many workers come during lean period in agriculture. At this time there are

about 40 families working at this quarry, each family has between three to five children

working with them
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Site Visit –Observation Notes

Nepal

In-country Research - Forced Labor/Child Labor

Researcher: Paro Chaujar

(Total Number of Sites Visited: 16)

1. Brick Kiln Site 1

March 3, 2008

Name of Brick Kiln: Hosanna Brick Kiln, Hairisidhi VDC, Kathmandu District, Nepal

(about 15 km from Kathmandu city).

2. Brick Kiln Site 2

Tata Brick Kiln, Hairisidhi VDC, Kathmandu District, Nepal (about 15 km from

Kathmandu city).

I have written one observation note for both sites. They were adjacent to one another and

it was not easy to tell where one site ended and another began.

Brick Kiln Site 1 and Site 2 are adjacent to each other along with several other brick kilns

(one brick kiln has one chimney). They are all situated amidst agricultural fields that are

owned by and/or tilled by locals from this village. The workers work in open land areas,

digging clay, often muddy, with legs immersed in the mud while digging. There are no

gloves or shoes/boots. Digging is done manually with a local tool (like a spade). Clay is

modeled with a model frame into perfect rectangles and let to dry before they are taken

by the Indians to bake. At the baking site, few workers are involved in actually placing

the bricks for baking, more are involved in carrying/stacking the bricks. It is dusty and

faces and bodies of all workers are covered in mud/dust. There is no protection from

breathing in the mud and dust nor from the sun. They all get an hour break during lunch

time and work begins at sunrise and ends after sunset (in other sites I visited see below,

work started at one am).

As I walked towards Site 1, I saw 3 children, Nepalese boys, involved in digging clay

(see pictures). They seemed to be between 12-14 years old. One of them was in a kind of

a mud pit, digging out mud. There was some water in this pit. It was wet, muddy and the

boys legs were covered in mud.

The Brick Kilns look like this: there are parts where mud is being dug, mostly that creates

mud pits. Around and close to the mud pits are flat areas where workers mold the mud

into bricks, using a frame. Then there are areas where the modeling bricks are laid out

for drying. Close to this is the area where the dried bricks are stacked. Often the
87

temporary shelters where works live are next to these piles of bricks. These temporary

shelters (see pictures) have brick walls, are no more than 4 feet in height (I had to bend a

lot to enter them). The roof is made of straw, tarpauline, plastic sheets. Inside and outside

these huts there are cooking utensils, kerosene stoves.

At the time of my visit to Site 1, among children, under 18, I saw only boys among the

Nepalese involved in digging mud. I also saw some children around the pile of dried

bricks. They were stacking dried bricks into piles (see pictures). Here I saw younger

children (maybe 10 years old or so) and also girls.

In Site 1 I conducted an FGD with a group if Indian men near the chimney where they

were working. These men were involved in removing bricks from the kilns and stacking

them onto piles. These piles must be about 12-15 feet high. The men would stack a pile at

about 5-6 feet, climb on them and then pile further. There were rows of such stacks (see

pictures). The work involved rapid movements, where they were passing bricks to one

another and stacking them. The workers were covered in dust, their hands, faces, entire

bodies. There were no gloves, no protection against inhaling dust, etc. The Indian

workers come only as single men and during my visit I saw 2 children, a boy and a girl

who had come from India with their parents. This I was told was an exception. Mostly

Indian men come without families. The children, like adult workers were covered from

head to toe in dust. They were not working in the chimney or in the process of stacking

baked bricks. The Indian workers tend to live near the chimneys and I gather that is

because their work primarily involves baking the bricks.

In Site 2 I conducted interview with Nepalese adult male worker. The arrangement at Site

2 looks similar to Site 1. The Nepalese workers tend to live further off the chimneys,

close to where mud is being dug, molded, sun-dried and stacked. Here too I saw boys

(aged 12-14) digging mud, some stacking bricks. In all, in both the Sites, during the time

of my visit, I did not see more than 12-15 children. The work in the sites, I am told is at

its peak before sunrise and wanes as it gets hotter and then peaks again in late afternoon.

During the day, there is less work happening in pre baking stage, though the chimney

work was in full swing.

3. Brick Kiln Site 3, March 4, 2008

Location: Bhaktapur, Kathmandu Valley (about 25 kilometers from Kathmandu city).

There are several chimneys here and I understand that a group of 4 Nepalese jointly own

this set of brick kilns. It has rained on the previous night and early morning and there is

hardly is not much work going on at the site during the time of my visit. I see many

workerssittingtogether,childrenwalkingaround.Itsalmostlikeit’sadayoff.Upon

enquiry I find out that due to the rain their work has been hampered and the workers will

wait till the site is dried up in the sun before starting to work. Many workers have gone

out of the site to run errands or to visit nearby town areas.
88

The arrangement of the site is similar to the previous sites I visited. The area near the

chimney has stacks of baked bricks and settlements of Indian workers, while the

Nepalese live and work a bit further off, where they dig mud, mold, stack, sun dry the

bricks. The huts here are also made of brick walls and plastic sheet for roof. They are no

more than 4 feet high. I do not see children or adults digging mud or stacking bricks.

There are some children, boys and girls both who are seen in the area where coal has

been stacked. They are picking the coal, breaking them into smaller pieces. I am

informed that this is the coal for the chimneys where bricks are baked. The children wear

no gloves or have any protection against inhaling coal dust. The workers, children and

adults that I see in this site are not covered in dust (its not dusty today since the rain has

settled all dust and the ground is wet). The children are in fact dressed like they would on

their weekly holiday.

One of my interviews in conducted with an adult woman worker inside her hut since she

is nursing a new born baby. Her step daughter works along with her and her husband in

the brick kilns (see interview for details). The inside of the hut is quite cramped. Very

low ceiling and the length of the inside of the hut could not have been more than 10 feet

and the width not more than 5-6 feet. At one end of the room was a bed (wooden) on

which the woman sat with her baby. At the entrance of the hut was space for cooking,

with gas stove and utensils. I am told than the children of this family sleep on the floor of

this hut or outside the hut if it is not raining.

4. Embroidery Unit Site 1

Location: Thankot, Thankot VDC, district Kathmandu (about 15-20 kilometers from

Kathmandu city).

March 3, 2008

This factory is situated in the ground floor of a private house rented by the employer. It is

in a residential area. I am told numerous such factories are operating in the houses in this

residential area.

There are two rooms of roughly 12 feet length and 6 feet width where sarees are spread

on wooden frames and around which workers (adults and children) sit on the floor,

embroidering, using sequins and threads including zari (golden thread). The workers also

sleep in these rooms. The Sarees are made for the Nepalese markets and sold in

Kathmandu city mostly. There are two other rooms, one is a living/ bedroom for the

employer and his family. There is a toilet.

Both rooms have poor light coming in from the windows on one of the walls. In one

room there are both adult and children, more children than adult and in the other room, to

which I am taken later, there are only children. All workers are male. Their clothes are

hung on the walls or lying around in the room. I am told they sleep in the same rooms on

the floor. The workers sit in an uncomfortable way –very little space, just enough for
89

them to fit between the wall and the frame or between one frame and another. They sit

kneeling around the frame, neck bent over their work. I am told they work from dawn to

dusk in this way, getting only a break at lunch-time.

There were at least 10 children working in this factory at the time of my visit and they

were mostly under 14 even though the employer said they were all above 14 (the legal

age of working).

5. Embroidery Unit, Site 2,

Thimi VDC, Bhaktapur district.

March 4, 2008

This factory is situated on the second floor of a private building in the midst of a

residential and market place in Thimi, a small town. The other floors of this building

serve as a private hospital.

The embroidery factory consists of a large hall, about 30 feet in width and 60 feet in

length The workplace serves as a living room for the workers, who sleep and eat there as

well. There are about four frames on which four sarees are being worked on at the time of

my visit. At each frame, about six children, all boys, in the age group six to 18 are

working, doing embroidery with threads, sequins and beads. (I think some of these

children are under 10, but the trade union representative accompanying me says they are

between 12 and 18). At the time of the visit there are about 15 children working here.

There are clothes, mattresses, blankets, utensils, kerosene stove (for cooking), some

potatoes, vegetables lying around. Outside this room, near the stairs is a bathroom. This is

perhaps amongst the best lit factory I saw in my site visits. It has windows on 2 sides. I

am told these children come from villages in the districts of Mohatari and Sarlahi.

There are no adult workers in this factory at the time of this visit, neither is the employer

around. I am told I can talk to the boys since the employer is not around but I do not. I

have taken some pictures since the union representative said it should be all right but then

I am asked to leave.

6. Embroidery Unit, Site 3,

Location: Thimi VDC, Bhaktapur District.

March 4, 2008

This factory is a few building away from the previous factory (see above) I visited. Two

floors of this building have been rented by the employer/owner The owner is reluctant to

allow my visit and interview but the trade union intervenes and I am allowed to see only

one floor where the workers are working on the sarees. There are about four frames in
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this one room and about five to six workers per frame, most of them under 18, all boys,

doing embroidery with threads, sequins and beads. Its very cramped and workers are

sitting in the narrow space between the rows of frames (see pictures). They sit kneeling

around the frame. The wall along the length of the room has windows but there is not

sufficient light at the side furthest from the windows.

7. Embroidery Unit, Site 4,

Thimi VDC, Bhaktapur District.

March 4, 2008

I did not conduct any interviews here.

This was by far the worst site I have seen in all my visits (see pictures). It has the

youngest of boys and in the worst of environment. This factory is situated at the basement

of a large residence. There are 2 rooms. In one room there are mostly older boys, above

16 and adult male workers and in the other room there were only young boys, some of

whom I suspect are only 8 years old. There were 6 or 8 boys in one room where I have

taken pictures. There were 2 frames on which two sarees were spread. The boys sat

kneeling at the frames, some of them were so young that they were too short for the

frame (see in picture boy on right- his arm).

8. Carpet Factory Site 1, Bhaktapur district

March 14, 2008

The first site is a building with four floors, on two floors there are looms. Children were

working on top floor, which I am told is a strategy to keep children out of immediate

sight.

There were about 15-20 workers on about six looms. Children in the age group 12 and

above have been working there for the last two years at an average (information from

union representative). The children are both boys and girls (see pictures) I was advised to

keep a low profile so refrained from taking notes. I observed cuts on the hands of the

workers including children. I am informed those are cuts from the threads they use. They

were sitting, kneeling on the floor or on wooden benches suspended from the ceiling (see

pictures) as the weaving progresses, they move from the floor to the benches suspended.

The room is pretty dark, there are windows on one end which gives some light. Once it

gets dark, they work under light bulbs.

9. Carpet Factory Site 2, Bhaktapur district (No Pictures)

March 14, 2008
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This is also in a (brick) building, like an annex to the house of the employer. Its one floor,

groundfloor,largehallwithover20looms.Ididn’tseeanychildren working on the

looms, one child (infant) was in a makeshift crib, some four to-five children under eight

years were seen in and around the factory premises, mostly around their working

mothers. At this site I was advised not to take pictures or interview workers.

10. Carpet Factory Site 3, Bhaktapur district,

March 14, 2008

This is again in a building, there are looms on about three floors. I had access to one floor

only. I was earlier advised not to take pictures/interview, but after a brief introduction

with the employer and talking to workers, was allowed to take pictures. I saw about four

children under 18 here, talked briefly to three girls aged 12, 13 and 15, who have been

working for about two years in this loom (see pictures). They all come from

Sindhupalchowk. Some were sitting kneeling on the floor while others were on

suspended benches. They all wore bandages on their fingers and wrapped their palms in

discarded wool, to protect themselves from cuts. The work site faces the road on one side

and is open on the side towards the road, while the other end is very dark, with no

windows or light and there were no lightbulbs which I was told were only used after sun

set.

11. Carpet Factory Site 4, Kathmandu City

March 19, 2008

Name of Factory: Sagun Carpet Factory (has two units in this area, I visited only one

unit). Kapan VDC, Ward Number 1, Phaika, Kathmandu District.

Employer: Ganga Shreshtha (is also the owner and recruits directly, not through

contractors)

Number of Employees: Unit 1: 90, 20 are under 18 years old. Of these five are under 14

years old. Unit 2: 40, four to five are under 18 years old, none under 14.

This factory is situated in a residential area in Kathmandu City. It is a large hall adjoining

a building with about 3 floors. The latter has rooms for lodging of the workers. Outside

the factory is a shed where wool is being spun. I only saw adult women engaged in

spinning wool. Opposite the spinning shed is a toilet which is unclean. Inside the hall

there were at least 10 looms, arranged one after another in rows. Workers sat on wooden

benches that ere set on the floor or suspended from the ceilings, to facilitate weaving

longer carpets (they start weaving at the bottom and keep moving upwards. There were

adult men, women, as well as children working here. Almost all children were here with

some family member or relative. I did not see under 14 year old children in this site.

Lighting is not equally sufficient in all parts of the factory and their is wool dust

suspended in the air.
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12. Carpet Factory Site 5, Kathmandu City

March 19, 2008

The second carpet factory we visited in Kathmandu was also a registered factory. I was

not able to interview any workers. There appeared to be some hostility on the part of the

owner. I did manage to take some pictures though. The factory had some 10-15 looms

and about 30 workers at the time of the visit. There were about six children under 18

working in the factory, most seemed over 12. Two of these children were wearing school

uniforms and I understood that those were the only clothes they had from their school

back home in the village. These two children, one boy, about 10 and one girl about 13,

were weaving carpets alongside their sister and brother-in-law.

There were many, about 10 young children (under six or seven) loitering around in the

factory, playing with wool, tools and walking around the looms where their parents were

weaving carpets. There is a lot of wool dust suspended in the air. Lighting is sufficient in

some parts closer to windows while poor at looms that are further off. There were no

electric lighting.

Thefactoryislocatedinaresidentialarea.It’sinacompoundwhichhastoiletsandsome

open space, living quarters and a large hall that serves as the factory.

13. Carpet Factory Site 6, Kathmandu City

March 19, 2008

Name of Factory: Om Namah Buddha Carpet Factory

Address: Tenzing Chowk, Mahankaal, Kathmandu

Thisfactoryislocatedinaresidentialarea..It’sinabuildingwithoutabout3-4 floors.

On the ground floor is a large hall where looms have been set and on the second floor are

rooms where the workers live. In this site I saw the most number of children under 18

working (among all carpet factories visited). Some workers, adults and children were

sitting in benches set on floor, facing the loom while others were sitting on benches that

were suspended from the ceiling. There is a lot of wool dust suspended in the air. There is

poor ventilation in this factory and the windows in either side of the walls do not provide

sufficient lighting. There is no electrical lighting.

14. Stone Quarry, Site 1, Lalitpur District.

March 25, 2008

VDC, Lele, District Lalitpur, about 13 kilometres from Kathmandu City but very poor

roads, go up a hill and down again to river Nallu Khola, along which several stone

quarriesaresituated.It’sastretchofmorethantwo kilometers along the river that has

stone quarries alongside.
93

This stone quarry is a small area along the river bed with a couple of piles of broken

stones and some temporary shelters to demarcate families that work here. I do not see any

men crushing stones and children outnumber women. At the time of the visit I saw about

six adult women and 10-12 children in this area, indicating at least six families work

here. The quarry is a level lower than the main road and on the main road is a house of

the contractor (overseeing the quarry). The place where workers are breaking stones is

only a few feet away from the river. The river is dry, just a little stream running along. I

was here at 10 a.m. in the morning, it was hot, windy and dusty. I was informed by the

workers that many workers had left since it was too hot and would return after it cools

down, after 2.30 pm or so.

It appears that a set of piles of crushed stones, indicates work area of a family. They all

work in the open, few feet from the river which was at that time almost dry. Some of the

workers have put up temporary shades under which they crush stones when it gets too

hot. This is made with a frame of 4 sticks over which they fling some piece of cloth. At

the time of my visit most workers were crushing stones in the open, under direct heat of

the sun.

The basket in which stones are piled are woven baskets made of some kind of a straw.

The basket is the unit of measurement for their payment. The instruments used for

breaking stones include a hammer and a ring of rubber that is used to hold the stones in

place. The workers hammer the stones in the ring to break them. The workers have no

protection against the sun, the dust, or the hammer. They break stones with bare hands

and stone pieces keep flying all over the place, often hitting the workers. Their eyes seem

particularly at risk as they squint while breaking to prevent stone pieces getting into their

eyes. I am informed that this site belongs to a contractor who lives in a house about 6 feet

above the river-bed where they are working. There is a government school adjoining this

site.

15. Stone Quarry Site 2, Lalitpur district

March 27, 2008

This stone quarry is along the same river, Nallu Khola. It is part of a large compound

owned by someone called Kishna Bhai. There are large machines here for crushing

stones. Along the river-bed here one sees several piles of broken stone, broken by

workers.

This stone quarry is a much larger site than the one visited earlier. It includes a factory on

the site where stone is crushed with heavy machinery. I am informed that children are not

involved in the factory work. At the time of the visit, there were about five families,

breaking stones in specified areas. It appears that each family marks an area along the

riverbedwheretheybreakandpilestones.Eachgroupofpiledstonesnotifiesthe‘area’

of a family. The river was almost dry and I was informed that work intensifies during and

after monsoons that brings more water and therefore more stones. The distance between
94

the river and where the workers work is hardly a few feet. At the other end of the river, as

far as one could see there were piles of stone on either side of the river, some houses, a

couple of factories.

I could see children and their mothers breaking stones, about six adult women and 12

children in one spot. A few children (aged over 10) were walking on the river bed with

the straw basket hanging on their backs, suspended from a rope supported at their heads.

They were looking for stones and collecting them in the baskets.

While I was interviewing this woman worker, a small child, under three years old was

seenbreakingstones.Obviouslyheisnot‘employed’buthesitsalldayalongwith his

mother and when she is not using her tools he just picks them up and starts hammering

away at the stones (see pictures). All workers around me when I was interviewing this

woman laughed and joked about this.

I did not see any men breaking stones. I saw them mostly around the heavy machinery.

This evening, there were many trucks coming to and from the riverbeds, each time they

passed by, the workers were covered in dust. It’s very windy here and dust and small

stones are swept constantly on the faces of the workers. The women try to cover their

faces and mouths with their scarves but the children have no protection. They break

stones with bare hands, using a hammer and a rubber ring to hold the stones in place. The

stone pieces fly around hitting them all over. There is no protection for the eyes, for the

hands or against the dust.