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ACT Alert
Nepal
- 1/00
Freed
but Displaced - Bonded Labourers in Nepal
Geneva,
5 September, 2000
On 17 July 2000,
the Government of Nepal formally outlawed the long-established practice
of bonded labour and waived all their outstanding debts. This system
had trapped successive generations of poor and illiterate people and
their families into bonded farm labour for local landlords to pay
off debts, incurred sometimes generations earlier. The system existed
in at least 5 districts (Kanchanpur, Kailali, Dang, Bardiya and Banke)
of the terai (plains) in south western Nepal. Up to 100,000 are estimated
to have been trapped in this system.
Though the Government
decreed the bonded labourers (Kamaiyas) to be freed and all debts
waived, the sudden development has angered the landlords and has caused
mass displacement of Kamaiyas. Many of the displaced are now squatting
in temporary transit camps or living illegally on land hoping for
Government action to allocate land and provide assistance for resettlement.
The District Development Committee has commenced the task of identifying
and registering the displaced Kamaiyas and a special committee has
responsibility in each district for taking this process forward. However,
official action is slow and uncertain. Since this emergency occurred
during the monsoon season, conditions in terms of employment, availability
of food, shelter, sanitation and health status are very poor.
ACT member, the
Lutheran World Federation - Nepal has made an assessment of
the conditions of the most vulnerable Kamaiya families in the worst
affected district of Kailali, where it has long been involved in development
work. The most pressing needs are basic survival items for the immediate
future. LWF-Nepal is proposing an appeal of around US $ 360,000 to
provide a basic package of food and non-food relief needs as well
as to meet water and sanitation needs in the transit camps and other
areas where the Kamaiyas are temporarily settled.
The ACT Co-ordinating
Office has responded with an advance of US$ 25,000 from its Rapid
Response Fund and will shortly issue an Appeal.
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