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PROMINENT DELEGATION MEETS NEPAL
PRIME MINISTER
ON ENDING BONDED LABOUR
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A high-level delegation from the London-based
human rights organisation Anti-Slavery International will be in Nepal
from 4 8 January to urge the Government to adopt legislation banning
bonded labour.
The delegates will meet Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Leader
of the Opposition Madhav Kumar Nepal, Speaker of House of Representatives
Taranath Ranabhat, Chairman of National Assembly Mohammed Mohasin
and Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhaya, as well as other key opinion
makers, to pressure for effective action to end this form of slavery.
The three-person team, led by Justice P N Bhagwati, Vice-Chairman
of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, includes the Earl of
Sandwich, a member of the British-Nepalese Parliamentary Group, and
slavery expert Dr Kevin Bales. They will join a prominent human rights
delegation in Kathmandu comprising Chairman of the Informal Sector
Service Centre (INSEC) Sushil Pyakurel; Swami Agnivesh of the Bonded
Liberation Front, India; I A Rehaman of Pakistan Human Rights Commission;
and Professor Akio Kirimura of Japanıs Buraku Liberation Research
Institute.
The visit is jointly organised with INSEC, Nepal's foremost human
rights organisation, whose activities include awareness raising through
radio programmes and literacy classes as well as advocacy and lobbying
for legislation. The visit will also include a seminar on bonded labour
legislation on 5 January.
Bonded labour (also called debt bondage) is the most common form of
slavery in South Asia. People become bonded labourers when they take
or are tricked into taking loans as small as £10 (US$15) to pay
for such fundamental means of survival as food to eat, medicine for
a sick child, and for social obligations the costs of a wedding
or a funeral. To repay the debt, they are forced to work long hours,
seven days a week, 365 days a year. They receive basic food and shelter
as "payment" for their work, but may never pay off the loan, which
can be passed down through several generations.
Even though bonded labour is prohibited by Nepalıs Constitution, there
is no legislation to prevent it. The Government of Nepal, though acknowledging
bonded labourıs existence, maintains that it is confined to the Far
Western Region, affecting 8,000 ethnic Tharu families. But
the problem is far more wide-spread. Research studies have shown that
bonded labour occurs among "untouchable" (dalit) agricultural
labourers throughout the country. According to the United States Department
of State there are an estimated 100,000 bonded labourers in southern
Nepal alone.
Nepal ratified the 1926 United Nations Slavery Convention and the
1956 UN Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the
Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, and
therefore has an international obligation to ensure that slavery is
abolished. But Nepal has not ratified the International Labour Organisation
Convention (No. 29) on Forced Labour which includes a ban on debt
bondage a key concern of the visiting delegation.
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| Notes to the editors: |
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Members of the delegation are available for interview: the Earl
of Sandwich and Kevin Bales are in England until 3 January; Justice
P N Bhagwati is in New Delhi, India; all are in Nepal from 4-8 January.
All speak English, Justice Bhagwati also speaks Hindi
For further information, or to arrange interviews in Nepal, please
contact Kundan Aryal, on
Tel: 00 997 1 278 232,
E-mail: insec@mos.com.np
or at
INSEC: Tel: 00 997 1 270 770
Fax: 00 997 1 270 551
For further information, or to arrange interviews, contact Beth
Herzfeld, Anti-Slavery Press Officer on:
Tel: 020 7501 8934
Fax: 020 7738 4110
E-mail: b.herzfeld@antislavery.org
** Please note that Anti-Slaveryıs office will be closed from 25
December to 3 January
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| 20 December 1999 |
PR/12/99 |
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