Nepali Times
Editorial
Caution: children at work



DAVID DUCHEMIN/WORLD EDUCATION
More than half of Nepal's population is below 20 years of age. Nearly 8 million of them are children between 5-17 years, and 3.2 million of them are skipping school to work. Half of all working children are deprived of education, and have to toil in hazardous conditions.

Those are the numbers. But behind the appalling statistics are tragic individual stories of stolen childhoods, and of children who suffer physical and psychological abuse. Each story of abuse is an indictment of an uncaring state that has left its future citizens to fend for themselves. The political class is so busy politicking, it has no qualms about preying on the most vulnerable section of society.

They say you can tell a lot about a country from the way it treats its children. From the way we mistreat ours, our criminal neglect in not giving them normal childhoods, we should be hanging our heads in shame. Nepal signed the UN Child Rights Convention in 1990 and other international treaties to protect children from the worst forms of child labour. Parliament passed the Child Protection Act in 1992 and the law prohibiting bonded child labour. Yet, as with many of our laws, they exist only in paper.

To be fair, there has been a sharp drop in the absolute numbers of child workers. The National Labour Force Survey of 2008 shows that child workers in the 5-15 age bracket dropped from 2 million in 1998 to 1.5 million in ten years. The number of older working children also showed a decline as the carpet and pashmina industries collapsed, spreading education brought down the number of bonded labourers, and the expansion of road networks reduced the number of children working as porters.

However, there has been an alarming increase in the number of children in the 15-17 age bracket who are working in exploitative sectors like brick factories, domestic work, fabric embroidery, manufacturing, garages, and in the sex industry. The national-level exclusion of marginalised groups from decision-making is also reflected in the children. A Rapid Assessment survey conducted by World Education and Plan International this year showed that nearly half the children in a sample group working in brick factories were Janajatis and 20 per cent were Dalits. The figures are similar for tea shops, restaurants, and domestics. More girls than boys were found to be working, and 60 per cent of those toiling in hazardous circumstances were, in fact, girls.

The opportunity cost of such staggering numbers represents a huge loss to the nation. The repercussions of this will be felt long into the future as the child workers of today grow into teenagers, young adults and citizens of tomorrow.

The government has re-adjusted the targets and now says it wants to ban the worst forms of child labour by 2016 and all child labour by 2020. Given the political disarray, the lack of focus on service delivery, the public's lack of awareness and even acceptance by families of child labour, it will be a challenge to meet even those extended targets.

More worrisome is the progress Nepal made in child and maternal survival in the past 15 years seems to have stalled largely due to a plateauing in the female literacy rate. This is bound to have an impact on efforts to reduce the number of child workers as well.

Political transition can no longer be an excuse. We have to get our children out of the workplace and into schools, and we have eight more years to complete that task.

Read also:
Lost innocence

Cheated of their childhood, BHRIKUTI RAI
There are fewer Nepali boys and girls working, but the ones who do are in dangerous occupations

Bonded child labourer to CA member



1. Jimmy
You are right, political transition is no longer an excuse for the criminal neglect of children in Nepal. Unfortuantely, it is also the lack of political will and focus that has lead to child labour and all the other forms of exploitation of Nepal's margninalised. Laws alone will not save the children as long as there is no government worth its name.

2. DG
Who does care for the children,s rights even in the so called advanced countries?
Female circumcision is now being condemned.
But male circumcision is done in advanced countries without the consent and knowledge oftthe children victims. They can only decide whether they want to mutilate their body when they are adult and in a stage to take mature decisions.
Their parents or the religious clerks have noo right to take decision on their behalf.
Only Judaism prescribes it as a religious duty.
Even there is no mention about iut in the Koran.
It has been a tradition in part of Africa and Middle East from the tribal days.
The decision by a German Court on this aspect should draw the attention of the child right adoacate , now is the time.






3. Kirsten
Child labour is the symptom of a problem, not the cause.  The cause is a structural deficiency that leads to poor governance which in turn affects every facet of development in the country. Fix the structure and child labour as well as the solutions to other problems like unsafe drinking water, trafficking, energy and water shortages, the apalling pollution in the Bagmati will all fall into place.  

4. Flexible 1
The cause is a population with no moral or ethical values. This includes politicians, judiciary, police, shopkeepers, taxi drivers, farmers, teachers ...... everyone

5. Ankit Prarajuli
Child labour is not necessarily bad. Lot of children help their families out. 

LATEST ISSUE
638
(11 JAN 2013 - 17 JAN 2013)


ADVERTISEMENT



himalkhabar.com            

NEPALI TIMES IS A PUBLICATION OF HIMALMEDIA PRIVATE LIMITED | ABOUT US | ADVERTISE | SUBSCRIPTION | PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS OF USE | CONTACT