New Delhi - Nepali children are fleeing their villages to escape conflict. More than 100 children who don't have proper addresses and names of parents have ended up in orphanages in the Indian capital. "I came from Taruk district," says 14-year-old Rahul who can't remember the names of his parents. Manoj, another child, says he too came from Nepal but he does not know the name of his village or how he came to New Delhi. "So many requests come to us to return these children back to their villages, but without proper introductions and addresses, we have difficulties releasing them from the orphanages," said Durga Prasad Aryal from the Migrant Nepali Friends Group. In the past year, the organisation has helped 60 women and children to return but lack of documents and proper introduction makes it difficult to get authorisation from the courts to repatriate the children.

The organisation recently rescued about 45 Nepali children from Apollo Circus and sent them back home to Nepal. "It takes months to clear the legal process and produce documents for their release," says Aryal. At times, when finding evidence of their whereabouts is difficult, UNIFEM helps to hand the children over through ABC Nepal, a Kathmandu-based NGO.