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Bonded labourers are occupying the area in front of Nepal's Parliament
and the Prime Minister's office, demanding freedom and justice.
Supporting the 125 demonstrating bonded labourers from western
Nepal, leader of the main opposition party, Unified Marxist-Leninist,
Madhav Kumar Nepal, and other opposition groups threaten to close
Parliament on 14 July if the Prime Minister does not produce a programme
of action to release and rehabilitate bonded labourers.
The demonstrating bonded labourers from the Tharu minority
are insisting the Government announces their release. Specific demands
include: release from the landlord; a minimum wage and back pay
for all of their unpaid work; ownership of the land on which they
have lived for generations; and protection from their landlord.
If the Prime Minister fails to produce a credible programme of
action, on 17 July the demonstrators plan a sit-in in the off-limit
area directly in front of Parliament.
Anti-Slavery Director Mike Dottridge said, "The Government
must free these bonded labourers from slavery as guaranteed by Nepal
law. They are simply demanding that the rights they have under Nepal's
Constitution be respected."
The demonstrations began on 1 May 2000 in the provincial capital
of Kailali District in Nepal's far-west. On 20 May, 20,000 people
demonstrated in the provincial capital.
Bonded labour is the most common form of slavery in South Asia.
People become bonded when they take loans as small as £10 to pay
for basic food, medicine, or vital social obligations, such as a
wedding or a funeral. To repay the debt, they are forced to work
long hours, seven days a week, 365 days a year indefinitely.
There are estimated to be more than 100,000 bonded labourers throughout
Nepal.
Bonded labour is prohibited under Nepal's 1990 Constitution, its
civil code and the 1956 UN Supplementary Convention on the Abolition
of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar
to Slavery.
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