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The Nepal Government's proclamation on 17 July 2000 declaring bonded
labour ended, has left thousands of families without homes, jobs
or food. Deprived of access to land they are being left to starve.
More than 2,300 agricultural bonded labourers in the country's
Western District have been forced from their homes, and the local
non-governmental organisation Backward Society Education (BASE)
estimates a further 4,000 families will deluge Kailali and Kanchanpur
Districts when the monsoon season ends.
The local NGO describes the situation as acute. They desperately
need medicines, food and shelter for the freed slaves. Infections
diseases such as encephalitis have struck areas where bonded labourers
are seeking refuge. Despite the Government's promise of relief,
none has materialised. Local NGOs are struggling to provide tents,
rice, medicines and other related relief work.
Anti-Slavery International's Director, Mike Dottridge, said: "The
situation in Nepal is desperate. The optimism following the Government's
proclamation ending bonded labour has instead been met with tragedy.
The Government of Nepal must act to support these freed slaves."
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 on an indefinite
basis.
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.
Bonded labourers' demonstrations provoked the 17 July declaration.
But it has not been supported by a law banning bonded labour or
an adequate system for release.
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